BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 will never have full keyboard

After finding out I was on crack this week, I was reminded of some information I had on BlackBerries. As you know, Research in Motion (“RIM”) is releasing their Pearl 8220, the first BlackBerry with a clamshell design. Gadgetell got a chance to speak to RIM and found out that the keyboard on a clamshell BlackBerry will probably never be a full keyboard.

According to RIM, the clamshell format precludes the usage of a full keyboard. The form factor would become very strange and users just wouldn’t go for it. That does not necessarily mean that there are not other form factors that RIM could choose like a slider or even a Sidekick-style format.

If you want a full keyboard and clamshell form factor, just get that out of your head. It’s just not happening.