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New BlackBerry Flip

October 14th, 2008 · 19 Comments

I got another phone yesterday, the new BlackBerry Flip.

BlackBerry 8220

It’s a full-featured BlackBerry phone in a flip (clamshell) format — the first flip BlackBerry on the market.

I used to have a Kyocera 7135 flip Palm phone. It seemed small when I bought it, but this one is much smaller, and very light.

I think the iPhone is probably a better all-around toy and gadget, but this one flips, and is much lighter and smaller than the iPhone, all features that are important to me.

I think I’m going to like this, and probably keep it, but I’ve got 14 days to be sure.

Tags: Computers, Tech & Science

19 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Donna // Oct 14, 2008 at 10:20 pm

    Best of all: it has Marvell technology (a chip I worked on)! Can’t wait to see it. I think I want one, but will wait until Verizon services them.

  • 2 Don // Oct 15, 2008 at 6:32 am

    Blackberrys are really good phones. I think the iPhone has a lot of potential and the App Store has opened it way up but for business the Blackberry is still probably better.

  • 3 Don // Oct 15, 2008 at 4:44 pm

    I just looked and I can’t tell. Does it do 3G or only EDGE? Does yours do Wi-Fi?

  • 4 Daryl // Oct 15, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    It is just EDGE. It does have WiFi, and if connected to any WiFi, phone calls will use that connection for free instead of the mobile cell towers.

  • 5 Jocelyn // Oct 15, 2008 at 7:23 pm

    aunt donna, I have verizon too. do you text? We should exchange #’s I love having pple to send liam pix msgs to.

  • 6 Don // Oct 15, 2008 at 7:43 pm

    That’s kind of cool to use VOIP automatically.

    Jocelyn sends me pics and I have to go to a web browser to see them. I dislike that about the iPhone. But the 3G is definately a LOT better than the EDGE was on my old iPhone.

  • 7 Donna // Oct 15, 2008 at 8:18 pm

    I’m a very novice texter. That’s one reason I want a phone with a better keyboard. Joc, I’ll send you my cell phone number. I don’t know if I can see pictures on it, but I’ll try. (I have an LG Chocolate.)

  • 8 Daryl // Oct 15, 2008 at 8:31 pm

    The BlackBerry also supports IM (ICQ, AIM, MSM etc) through either WiFi or EDGE, which is kind of cool, except that my kids rarely use IM anymore.

    Everything is text messages for them.

  • 9 Donna // Oct 16, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    Do you still like it?

  • 10 Daryl // Oct 16, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    I like it more and more.
    The screen is a little small for normal web browsing, but it works great for mobile websites.

    Otherwise I like pretty much everything about it. I’m still learning about all its features.

  • 11 Don // Oct 17, 2008 at 8:17 am

    Can you pinch the screen smaller and larger? The iPhone does have a killer browser.

    Does it have GPS? Does it allow you to add applications and if so can anyone program them?

  • 12 Daryl // Oct 17, 2008 at 10:10 am

    Can’t pinch the screen. It’s not a touch screen. You can zoom in and out, and pan, but it’s slow. I’ve compared browsers with Derek’s iTouch, and it’s not even close.

    It does not have GPS (though Bluetooth GPS pendants are available).

    You can download a Google Maps app that will estimate your position based on cell tower signals, but it’s not as accurate as real GPS.

    There are a lot of apps available, including third-party apps. Lots of free apps too. But I know that Palm has more, Windows Mobile has more, and I bet the iPhone has more too.

  • 13 Don // Oct 17, 2008 at 5:25 pm

    iPhone has over 1,000 now. But probably only about 20 that either of us would consider worthwhile.

  • 14 Derek // Oct 22, 2008 at 1:50 am

    Before your trial is up, take a look at the G1, also on T-Mobile. You can look it up on wikipedia, or on t-mobiles main site (there’s a link to it on the left).

    I have no clue how much it weighs or how big it is, but you can see it’s not a flip phone, so you might not be interested.

  • 15 Daryl // Oct 22, 2008 at 12:42 pm

    Looks pretty cool in the same way the iPhone is cool. But I’m pretty much a flip guy all the way.

  • 16 Donna // Oct 26, 2008 at 9:24 pm

    I take it you’re keeping it?

  • 17 Daryl // Oct 27, 2008 at 7:10 am

    Today is the end of my 14-day full-refund return period, and I am definitely going to keep it. The more I get used to it and learn how to use it, the more I like it.

  • 18 Eric // Nov 18, 2008 at 7:10 am

    So, I’m thinking of an upgrade myself to the new Blackberry Storm. I would like to know what all you techies think about that one, when you get the chance to look at it.

  • 19 Daryl // Nov 18, 2008 at 9:46 am

    My son Devon is also looking closely at the Storm.

    I think it’s a good challenger to the iPhone. From what I understand the iPhone has a little better browser and is a little better at Multimedia. I think the Storm is better at email.

    People who have played with it say the touch screen on the Storm is pretty cool, with the tactile feedback. The iPhone multi-touch pinch-zoom is also very cool.

    The Storm is available at Verizon, so that could be a big factor if you don’t want to switch to AT&T.

    The Storm will be out this Friday. Go take a look at it.