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The BlackBerry Pearl Flip, RIM's first folding unit, is a worthy edition to its smartphone line-up. It should appeal to anyone who's considered purchasing a BlackBerry, but have held off due to the lack of a clamshell model. We found the Pearl Flip to be smooth and sturdy when closed. When open, the smartphone offered up a display with terrific graphics and a keypad with all the same keys as a standard Pearl, but in bigger sizes. The larger size and the smoother face of the keys makes for comfortable typing. Its trackball is the same as on earlier Pearls. And the overall size of the Pearl Flip when folded is nearly as long as a regular Pearl, with the same width. That means when open, it stretches to nearly double the length of an 8110 or similar Pearl. But they weigh about the same. One design flaw is that the battery cover pops off so readily a three-year-old can open it, but on the upside, the SIM compartment design makes swapping out the chips a snap. When the Pearl Flip is closed, it can display arriving email messages or incoming call phone numbers, a clock or other applications, which gives you a quick visual of what's happening. A convenient "bedside mode" for the clock means you can check it at night without flipping it open. Other features of the folded phone include music controls. It's handy to listen to music on the phone, especially when it's folded. Volume control on the right-hand side gives you convenient access whether the phone is open or closed; press and hold the volume-down button to return to the start of a track. The mute button on the left side also works whether the Pearl is open or closed. If you mute during playback, the sound is conveniently paused, not just muted, so you can resume when you're ready by pressing mute again. The headset jack and USB port are below the mute button on the left side. Like other new BlackBerrys, such as the Bold from AT&T, the Pearl Flip defaults to having MyFaves as the home screen. It's an interface that let's you set-up profiles for quick dialing and messaging. You can set an image to go with a profile and the high-resolution graphics make it fun to scroll through your Faves. Plus, if you set an image to go with a frequent caller, that picture will appear on your display-whether the phone is open or closed-when the person is calling you. Some other defaults on the unit are less appealing. 
The left-side convenience key comes set to Voice Dialing, which may not be so convenient if you're not a frequent user of it, and because it wants input from you immediately upon launch, it takes a few seconds to shut down. The other convenience key opens the camera.
To reset either one, go to Settings'Optoins'Screen/Keyboard and scroll down to Right (or Left) Side Convenience Key Opens. Scroll to highlight the selection, such as Default (Voice Dialing) and then press the track ball and select something else from the list that comes up. Press the BlackBerry menu to save your settings before exiting.
Nobody will buy the Pearl Flip for the camera. As camera phones go, it performed less reliably than many we've seen—primarily in its inaccurate capturing of what's seen from the view finder. It offers black and white and sepia modes, though the sepia seemed not to really work with the flash. The microSD card slot, with the type of door that snaps open and dangles by a rubber cord, is on the right edge under the volume controls. The door's tether feels sturdier than some, but still has the feel of something that might detach too readily. But the Flip does offer easy access to settings that let you store photos and other media on the external card. From the Music Player or the Camera you can enter the Options menu and allocate where you want to store those types of files and-if you're really worried about clogging things up-set a cap. The Flip adeptly connects to a Wi-Fi network, and will store information you give it and connect whenever it's in range of that network. That's handy because it means, for instance, that if you've got a Wi-Fi network at home or at work you can do all your BlackBerry data activity over that rather than over your cellular plan-potentially saving yourself some money and certainly speeding up transfers (especially if you're out of 3G range). We tested the phone in the Greenfield, Massachusetts and Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio areas and found service on T-Mobile reliable and clear. Few calls were dropped and data service worked just about everywhere we went. In standby (phone closed), the battery lasted for days. Even with the clock on bedside mode we easily went 48 hours between charges. Talk time battery life wasn't tested. 
The Pearl Flip should appeal to two categories of potential users. For existing Pearl owners the flip-close feature that automatically prevents unintended calls, the larger, clearer display and the bigger buttons will all justify an upgrade. Standard flip-phone users contemplating their first smartphone will like the Pearl's size and shape and will be delighted by its power.
The one feature that sets it apart from full-size BlackBerrys and some other smart phones is the lack of a full QWERTY keyboard (most keys represent two letters and use RIM's SureType technology). While that may be a deal-breaker for heavy-use typists, it shouldn't deter people accustomed to texting from standard phones.
And it's hard to argue with so much in such a small, sophisticated package.
Amy Mayer is a freelance writer and independent radio producer based in Greenfield, Massachusetts. |
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