A recently surfaced image has shown off a new third color for the soon to be released BlackBerry Pearl Flip. Currently, we had seen and been expecting the Pearl Flip to be available in either black or red, but these recent images show it off in silver with a black face. As of now we more »

Thankfully we can now put all these rumors and leaks behind us as RIM has let loose with official announcement for their first flip phone, of course we are referring to the BlackBerry Pearl 8220. Yup, those rumors were correct, the Kickstart will officially be called the BlackBerry Pearl 8220.

Spec wise the BlackBerry Pearl 8220 will feature a 320 x 240 internal display, 128 x 160 external display, 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, large SureType keypad, 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD/SDHC card slot. It will be running OS 4.6, have an HTML browser and an enhanced media player. Additionally the Pearl 8220 will be available in red or black.

Overall the rumors seem to have been pretty accurate with the specs, which means we do not really have much information that has not been mentioned so far. We were already expected it to be exclusive with T-Mobile so again no surprise with the carrier, however RIM or T-Mobile have not yet announced any pricing or a specific release date, simply stating that it will be available “this fall.” I guess we will have to wait a bit longer for that information.

I suppose keeping the Pearl name makes sense, but personally I thought Kickstart had a really nice sound to it. Overall it looks like a nice improvement to the current candybar style Pearl, of course the one bug question remains is that pricing.

Keep reading to check out the full release…

Without any official announcement from RIM, the upcoming BlackBerry 8210 and 8220 have both been unveiled by online retailer Expansys. Of course, the 8210 and the 8220 are better know as the KickStart, which marks RIM’s first venture into the clamshell market.

Thanks to their online retail appearance we can confirm they will be featuring an internal 2.6-inch display with a 320 x 240 resolution and external 160 x 128 resolution display. Other features include a 2-megapixel camera with flash and video recording capability, Bluetooth 2.0, microSD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack and quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900MHz) support.

So, we saw the hands-on review come in for RIM’s first venture into the clamshell market and things continue to seem to be pretty promising, that is assuming the price is close to the rumored $49. Now to add a little more tease, the team over at CrackBerry have released a nice (and thorough) 9-minute video of the Kickstart 8220 in action.

Of course caught in the action is the heart of the handset, the OS 4.6, but they also demonstrate some other goodies to include the web browsing, trackball, display, and the large SureType keyboard. Initially, I was not all that excited to see RIM venture into the clameshell style market, but after seeing this in action and shown next to the Pearl, all I can say is that the Pearl had better watch out, because the Kickstart looks very nice.

Continue on to check out the video…

We have seen plenty of leaked images for the upcoming clamshell-styled BlackBerry Kickstart, so I guess seeing an early hands-on report surface should not be all that surprising.

The crew over at CrackBerry were able to get their hands on RIM’s first venture into the world of the clamshell, and while the BlackBerry Bold and Thunder may be stealing some of the recent spotlight, it seems the Kickstart is going to be a solid offering.

A few items to point out is that the display is big, and although not quite the same quality as what is found on the Bold it was noted as “looks good.” The Kickstart 8220, as indicated by the number pattern will feature Wi-Fi, it also has the “next gen” SureType keyboard which was described as “massive” and easy to use, which sounds like it will be a nicer typing experience as compared to the Pearl.