BlackBerry KickStart 8220 Review

[Blade_27]

My last phone was a Nokia 6133 {flip phone} which I was still vary attached to & happy with when it was stolen. After having said I'd never get a BB I caved, It's just got features then I'd ever need out of a phone. With no middle market, cells are now either high end or barging basement {I looked & looked my previous flip phone was discontinued} I went ahead and got the 8220. After almost 2 weeks I'm still learning about the features and capabilities but I am starting to enjoy the advantages of being a BB abuser... I mean user.

If I had to make some negative comments over the 8220 they would be about the battery life but with the amount of tasks this device is able to cover I guess it would be somewhat acceptable compared to my last cell. I'll also have to mention the outside cover the one when closed, the ALL GLASS outside cover which after 2 weeks is already starting to receive scratches.

Overall stepping up the BB World is not something that I'm regretting.

[Rrrize]

Same here, I was always anti-Blackberry. They were always hella confusing to me, too many icons, just too much going on with one screen. Then, a few months back I had gotten a new-line-of-service through Verizon. I decided to get the Curve which I turned out not liking, so I returned it 15 days later. At that time I still had my tmo service/phone so whenever the blackberry confused me, I would just throw it down and just use my tmobile phone. I really didn't give myself a chance to learn the phone before I returned it. I've had T-Mobile's Sidekick since 2002 (different models) so I was kind of spoiled with those. Very user friendly but far behind in the technology department and the typical customer was in "highschool" so I really wanted a more "grown-up" phone as I'm in my upper 20's. Anyway, my last sidekick was run over by a car this past summer but surprisingly still worked 6 months+ later, its still working , so I used that up until the end of November. I ported to Verizon because T-Mobile was pissing me off and I got their Curve AGAIN. This time I was forced to learn the BlackBerry because it was my only phone since I had ported my number. 2 weeks later, the 1350 minutes weren't working out as 75% of the people I talk to have tmo. I refused to pay a dime more for the service as I was already paying $50 extra with less minutes compared to tmobile. I also wasn't featuring the curve once again... So I ported back to tmobile but refused to activate my sidekick again. I was determined to get a phone that I could see myself with. For 6 years I missed having a flip phone vs a PDA type phone. My only dream all these years was that a company made a flip phone with all the functions/email capabilities and QWERTY keyboard of a PDA phone, lol. I admit, the Curve got me to actually like BlackBerry's, their menus etc weren't confusing at all, I was just conditioned to the cut and paste of a sidekick. So when I heard T-Mobile came out with the BB flip, I was all over it like a prostitute to a married billionaire.

Now, I love my BB flip, and I am officially, a BlackBerry abuser!

ps, excuse my long rant

[minnesota_yoda]

Being new to the BB world as well, and having roughly 2 weeks of use, I feel pretty comfortable with the flipper. My only problem/complaint that i seem to experience is that my wireless mode seems to drop out of Capital Letter UMA,EDGE, to lower case uma,edge after about 12-18 hours of constantly powered on. Which forces me to SoftReset to get back to full connection.

I have tested this in various signal strength areas, as i've read that this phone will sometimes revert to lower case mode when signal strengths get faint.

My area at home is high in EDGE signal, high wifi signal.

Work is a low EDGE signal, and med wifi signal.


At work occassionally, the phone has dropped down to lower case connection, which isn't surprising to me, considering the tough geographic location.

What is surprising, is that even at home, where both potential signals are quite strong (-59 average wifi, -75 EDGE) the phone will seemingly Time Out after about 16ish hours or so.. and drop down to lowercase.

I never turn on bedside mode so i don't think that has any contribution to this problem.

Anyone else experiencing something similar?

[KorbenDeck]

I have had the BB pearl flip for almost three months now and I am very disappointed, and i am considering just switching carriers because i am so ticked off with the phone and the carrier for misleading me about the phone.

1) the Mobile Browser on the 8220 is slow, zooming in and out is a pain because of how slow it is load. I had a Sony Ericsson k790a that could browse as fast the pearl and for a fraction of the price

2) There is no way to switch between suretype and multi tap without having to go threw the BB menu and sometimes depending on where you are entering text you are unable to open that menu

3) simple task like texting can cause lag from the phone, texting of all things. Again being unable to switch quickly between suretype and multi tap makes this phone very annoying to use

4) The 8220 cannot stream again my cheap Sony Ericsson could do that

Just my personal opinion but seems RIM wasn't using its brightest software programmers when making the flip.

[singularity2006]

1. Yeah, I agree.

2. Depends on which app you are using. Most apps, when you hit the BB button, will pop out a menu to switch between multi-tap and suretype. Exceptions include stuff like EQO.

3. Did you update your firmware? I was able to clear my lag with a firmware update.

4. It's really not meant to be a multimedia phone - it's business use. but I agree here too, the streaming functionality could have been way way better. But on another note, streaming also depends on your connection. EDGE is not sufficient for streaming anyway. 3G might have made this better. If you are on wifi, make sure your broadband connection is sufficient, 1.5Mb and up or that your signal is strong; the device has pretty poor wireless reception at times and cuts out when switching to make/receive calls

5. I like the keyboard, size, calendar. It lets me do business on the run much more efficiently than my other phones. Granted, it doesn't have iphone capabilities and structure, but I can do that on my PC.

Originally Posted by KorbenDeck

I have had the BB pearl flip for almost three months now and I am very disappointed, and i am considering just switching carriers because i am so ticked off with the phone and the carrier for misleading me about the phone.

1) the Mobile Browser on the 8220 is slow, zooming in and out is a pain because of how slow it is load. I had a Sony Ericsson k790a that could browse as fast the pearl and for a fraction of the price

2) There is no way to switch between suretype and multi tap without having to go threw the BB menu and sometimes depending on where you are entering text you are unable to open that menu

3) simple task like texting can cause lag from the phone, texting of all things. Again being unable to switch quickly between suretype and multi tap makes this phone very annoying to use

4) The 8220 cannot stream again my cheap Sony Ericsson could do that

Just my personal opinion but seems RIM wasn't using its brightest software programmers when making the flip.

[evilp8ntballer7]

1 thing I wish they would have done differently is put the mute button on the other side or farther down because its really hard to push when something is plugged in

[TheTurtle]

i wish this phone was made better.

[Divius1]

^seems o.k ta me... I treat all my phones like sh*t! dropped, thrown, scratched up the Zagg in 10 days, been torn apart 5+ times (trackball tweakin'); if it was more rigid/heavy it'd be dead.

[westsidekino]

its really thick

[westsidekino]

Originally Posted by KorbenDeck

I have had the BB pearl flip for almost three months now and I am very disappointed, and i am considering just switching carriers because i am so ticked off with the phone and the carrier for misleading me about the phone.

1) the Mobile Browser on the 8220 is slow, zooming in and out is a pain because of how slow it is load. I had a Sony Ericsson k790a that could browse as fast the pearl and for a fraction of the price

2) There is no way to switch between suretype and multi tap without having to go threw the BB menu and sometimes depending on where you are entering text you are unable to open that menu

3) simple task like texting can cause lag from the phone, texting of all things. Again being unable to switch quickly between suretype and multi tap makes this phone very annoying to use

4) The 8220 cannot stream again my cheap Sony Ericsson could do that

Just my personal opinion but seems RIM wasn't using its brightest software programmers when making the flip.

every one blames the carrier