I really like this phone. I bought it because I had work in South Africa for 3 months and needed something that I could put a local sim card in. I like this phone so much that I think I will keep it and use it when I get back to the States.
-Calls are both reliable and clear which I think is the most important thing(it is a phone first after all)
-The keyboard takes some getting used to but I think I now prefer it to either a qwerty(takes up too much space w/ too small of buttons for fingers like mine), a touch screen(same finger problem) or a regular keypad. I don't have excessively large hands but I def do have "man" hands so I find many things are not built with me in mind. If this is not your case then you can disregard this part but I find that many of the men I work with and my friends tend to have similar issues.
-I didn't really want a flip phone either but now that I have one I am becoming a fan(no pocket dialing or key locking etc.)
-Battery life is good. I turned on the music player and left it on speaker to see how long it would take to drain the thing and after 4 hrs and less than half the battery gone gave up.
-Camera isn't that great but is more than adequate for a phone like this.
-I like that I can turn off data services and keep wi-fi on so that I don't get clipped in the US for a blackberry plan and can still use data from wi-fi(obviously not as great if you don't have regular wi-fi spots but if data is that important to you then you can always purchase the plan)
-The screen isn't that big(it is more than adequate though) It is bright and crisp
-Interface is good and I like having a smaller phone with the blackberry ball
-Music production quality is really good and doesn't drain the battery(see above) plus the ability to expand the memory is nice.
-Basic memory included is really not adequate if you are going to actually use this as a blackberry or music phone but I picked up a microSD 4gb for less than $10 and am so far happy so plan on buying a card
-Phone seems pretty durable but I haven't had it that long so I will update this as I go
-I have read some reviews about the phone being to slow or not working etc. I think this is prob a hardware issue that would be covered as long as you buy one with a warranty. I think it is also the effect of the 1 in 1000 customers who get a bad phone to be unhappy enough to write a review while 999 ppl who are content won't.
-This is NOT a smartphone but it does do what you need it too. Personally I don't want a phone that is too big just so I can do inadequate work on it. I can do the basics of what I need to while on the go and if I need to do something serious I will sit down and pull out my laptop. That is my preference though.
All in all a great phone for a reasonable price. I would highly recommend it to anyone either traveling or just looking for an unlocked phone in the U.S. BlackBerry 8220 Flip Pearl Unlocked Phone with GPRS, EDGE and 2 MP Camera--U.S. Version with 60 Day Warranty (Black)
Background: If you do your research on this phone (and other BlackBerry's) you will note that many people talk about the bugs/problems, etc. Many of these complaints are hardware based (bad chips, etc) NOT software based (although it may seem so).
Make sure that if you buy it, you can return it (if bad) with no hassles/restocking fees (example: Amazon and sold by Amazon).
Condition: Mines was like new (with covered screens), original box, USB cable, power cable, original CD (there's an update online), headset and small instruction booklet (does not look original). Mines had no software/hardware issues (no rebooting, no Bluetooth issues, no slowdowns, etc).
The advantages in general of the blackberry's are the great screen (geared for text readers) and the keyboard.
The bad is the Blackberry "WiFi situation": they want you to buy the "blackberry internet plan" which is a hookup with your cell phone provider. Cell phone providers will have different names for this plan but note that it will cost you in the US around $15-$20. If you have a prepaid plan they will tell you the plan is not available (unless you have a monthly plan). I don't recommend this plan (if you can get it) because I consider it a ripoff. That will probably be the biggest issue with this phone (and all blackberry's).
The workaround: If you want to use Wi-Fi they will use a combination of WiFi and GPRS/EDGE. For example when you try to use the BlackBerry GMail app from Google you will be able to install it halfway but when it tries to connect it will tell you, you need a connection. If you disable your data connection (GPRS/EDGE) you will get the same result and so on and so forth with different applications.
To get around this BlackBerry Wi-Fi situation you have to get applications that are not exactly BlueBerry approved (and you will probably not see in their new store) that allow you to use Wi-Fi ONLY and not a combination Wi-Fi/GRPS/EDGE (again they use EDGE/GPRS to check if you have the BlackBerry Plan if you don't they don't give you access). For example for GMail I use LogicMail (uses Wi-Fi only), UberTwitter, Opera Mini, Yahoo Mail (you have to use their website) with the Opera Mini browser because you won't be able to use it with the BlackBerry browser (these are the only ones I found that I installed).
Final review: Great phone, almost perfect form factor and screen (recommended 7 point font), almost perfect for SMS/MMS/emailing. Wi-Fi, Keyboard is better than a standard number keyboard but NOT better than a full keyboard (of course). If you can deal with the Wi-Fi issue (and sub par and very limited apps compared to the IPhone or even Windows Mobile phone) then this is a GREAT phone! - Blackberry 8220 - Wireless Accessories - Unlocked Cell Phones - Flip Phone'
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