BlackBerry flips out

Research In Motion this week unveiled the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone, the first BlackBerry phone to come in the popular flip form factor.

The new BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone, released this week, provides flip phone fans with all the power of a BlackBerry smartphone in a fun and familiar design.

One quick flip of the handset opens up a wide range of Internet and multimedia capabilities, all in one smartphone.

The quad-band EDGE based BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphone presents a sophisticated look with a sleek design and a chrome-finished frame surrounding a smooth, luminescent face. Packed with powerful features, it weighs only 3.6 ounces and measures approximately 3.9‚ x 1.9‚ x 0.7‚ .

Featuring two high-resolution, light-sensing colour displays, the external LCD makes it easy to preview incoming e-mails, text messages and phone calls without opening the handset, while the large, 240 x 320 internal LCD displays messages, videos and web pages with impressive detail and contrast.

‚The popularity of BlackBerry smartphones has grown tremendously around the world and the introduction of this exciting new flip phone will help extend the reach of the BlackBerry platform even further,‚ said Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO, Research In Motion. ‚The BlackBerry Pearl Flip is a full-featured smartphone with a unique and friendly design and it is a natural choice for flip phone users who want to start doing more with their phone than just talk.‚

According to RIM, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphone flips open and cradles the face naturally and comfortably during phone calls. It ncludes many premium phone features, including Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialling (VAD), support for mp3 ring tones, smart dialling, conference calling, speed dialling, call forwarding, voicemail attachment playback and enhanced background noise cancellation.

It also features a speakerphone and Bluetooth 2.0 for use with hands-free headsets, stereo headsets, car kits and other Bluetooth peripherals such as a GPS receiver. The removable/rechargeable 900 mAhr battery provides four hours of talk time and over 14 days of standby time.

Featuring a large SureType QWERTY keyboard that makes typing messages and dialling numbers fast and easy, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip, like all BlackBerry smartphones, provides integrated access to the BlackBerry wireless services. Users are able to easily access up to 10 supported personal and work e-mail accounts, send and receive text and instant messages, and connect on popular social networking sites with friends, family and co-workers.

The DataViz Documents to Go software suite is also preloaded, allowing users to edit Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files directly on the handset. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip is supported on BlackBerry Internet Service, BlackBerry Unite!, BlackBerry Professional Software and BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which provides tight integration with corporate email systems and the security and IT policy controls that enterprise customers require to confidently allow smartphones in their organisation.

With an advanced media player for displaying pictures, listening to music and watching videos, videos play smoothly on the large internal display, playlists can be managed directly on the handset and there’s an equalizer with 11 preset filters ‚ including “Lounge””, “”Jazz”” and “”Hip Hop”” ‚ for customizing audio ranges when using headphones or external speakers.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip works with the new BlackBerry Media Sync application that makes it easy to sync iTunes digital music collections with the smartphone and it also features a microSD/SDHC memory card slot that supports up to 16GB for storage. High Speed USB 2.0 support allows files to be quickly transferred between a desktop computer and the smartphone. The BlackBerry Desktop Manager software includes Roxio Media Manager for BlackBerry to help users easily manage their music and video files. Roxio Photosuite 9 LE is also included for creating photo albums and editing pictures.

It includes BlackBerry Maps to deliver maps and step-by-step driving directions quickly and easily. An enhanced HTML browser displays web pages in either ‚Column View‚ or ‚Page View‚ and different emulation settings allow users to choose between desktop-style HTML content and the mobile version of web pages. The browser also supports RTSP for watching online streaming video from sites like m.youtube.com. In addition, the BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphone features built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g) with support for UMA (unlicensed mobile access), extending wireless email and data coverage and supporting carrier enabled voice calls over home Wi-Fi networks, enterprise wireless deployments and Wi-Fi hotspots.

The BlackBerry Pearl Flip comes with a variety of accessories including a stereo headset, travel charger and USB cable. Additional accessories for BlackBerry smartphones, including holsters and totes, charging pods, premium earphones, Bluetooth headsets and the BlackBerry Remote Stereo Gateway are available through retail outlets or online at www.shopblackberry.com.

Availability

Specific availability and pricing details for the BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone will be announced by carriers at a later date. For more information please visit www.BlackBerryPearl.com

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