Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220 GSM Cell Phone

Because everything turned out excellent. Good quality and long lasting battery. I would recommend it to anyone interested in a flip phone.

Won't even turn on after few days. Make sure you buy it from a good supplier or you can stuck with a brick on your hands

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 and 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!

I purchased my Blackberry Pearl ( BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 ) seventeen months ago from an Amazon vendor on May 3, 2010. One month ago, the Bluetooth stopped working. Another BIG problem: The unit has a bad habit of rebooting at the most inopportune times, such as while making a Bluetooth call when driving - My Pearl's reboot is slower than the rear-end of a south-bound snail. This problem, coupled with the loss of the Bluetooth, discourages me from ever buying another Blackberry. One might think a sub-two hundred dollar phone would last longer than seventeen months and RIM OS a bit faster with better reliability.

I liked the phone and it's features, but it wouldn't pair with my Bluetooth headset, wouldn't connect with my Gmail account-kept showing a message that the "certificate couldn't be trusted" (REALLY!?! GMAIL?!?), and kept showing message that the memory card had errors or was inserted wrong. The card was fine in my last phone and only goes in one way. Otherwise, call quality incoming and outgoing was fine, camera fine, and other features fine. Went to a T-Mobile store to try and get it working and they asked me "did you want this phone, order it recently-because it is old and outdated". They couldn't do anything with it. I ended up returning it.

I Like it.... Good phone...

came water damaged and never got to activate it and use.

I really like the flip phone however this was a used phone and it would not stay charged I think if I could have found a brand new one I would purchase it again

Made me nostalgic

Good