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The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220, already available in the US and UK, is now live for Rogers Canada. To alleviate some of the pain for Canadian users forced to sit and watch as they became the third region to launch the first-ever flip BlackBerry, Rogers has dropped the price to a very manageable $49.99 on 3-year contracts. The official release date is set for tomorrow, November 4th, but with such a great price and the agonizing wait we thought we’d break the news a bit early.
In order to pick up the Pearl Flip 8220 for $49.99 tomorrow you will need to sign the 3-year contract and opt for a data plan of at least $35/month. The monthly fee might turn off a few of you, but if you are not ready to commit at the moment maybe a pink Pearl Flip will do the trick in late November. The Press Release also indicates that Rogers will release the pink version of the Pearl Flip on their network by the end of November.
Rogers’ BlackBerry Pearl Flip Specifications:
- 2.6-inch internal TFT QVGA display
- Quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE connectivity
- 128 x 160 pixel external screen (first BlackBerry with dual screens)
- WiFi support for Rogers TalkSpot
- SureType QWERTY keypad
- BlackBerry Maps
- HTML Browser and push email (BIS/BES)
- Document reader and editor
- Stereo Bluetooth
- 2.0 megapixel camera with flash
- external memory card support (up to 16GB)
- Talk Time: up to 4 hours / Standby time: up to 14 days
Full Press Release
Toronto and Waterloo, ON – Rogers Wireless (TSX: RCI;NYSE:RCI) and Research In Motion (RIM) (Nasdaq: RIMM, TSX: RIM) are launching the BlackBerry® Pearl™ Flip 8220 smartphone, the first BlackBerry® phone to come in the popular flip form factor. The BlackBerry Pearl Flip will be available in a stylish black finish from Rogers Wireless starting November 4, with the stunning pink BlackBerry Pearl Flip coming soon.
The new BlackBerry Pearl Flip provides flip phone fans with all the power of a BlackBerry smartphone in a fun and familiar design. You can send a message to your friends or family, make a call, browse the web, snap a picture, watch a video or listen to your favorite song. It’s all in your control with a simple flip. The quad-band EDGE based BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphone presents a sophisticated look with a sleek design and a chrome-finished frame surrounding its smooth, luminescent face. It features two high-resolution, light-sensing color displays, including an external LCD that makes it easy to preview incoming emails, text messages and phone calls without opening the handset.
“Rogers Wireless continues to bring best-in-class handsets, such as the exclusive BlackBerry Pearl Flip, to the Canadian market, representing a cross-section of the best in smartphone technology, messaging solution as well as design and style,” said John Boynton, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Wireless. “The BlackBerry Pearl Flip offers discerning customers the ultimate full-featured flip paired with the leading mobile messaging solution on the market.”
“The BlackBerry Pearl Flip packs an impressive range of features into an exciting new design and we are very pleased to be working with Rogers Wireless to bring this powerful new smartphone to customers in Canada,” said Mark Guibert, Vice President, Corporate Marketing at Research In Motion. “The BlackBerry Pearl Flip smartphone is a natural choice for customers who are looking to replace their existing flip phone with something more powerful.”
The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone from Rogers Wireless has numerous advanced features including:
* Spacious SureType® QWERTY keyboard that makes typing messages and dialing numbers fast and easy
* Large 240 x 320 internal LCD that displays messages, videos and web pages with impressive detail and contrast
* Built-in Wi-Fi ® (802.11 b/g) with support for Rogers TalkSpot service
* 2 megapixel camera with digital zoom, built-in flash and video recording*
* Advanced media player for viewing pictures, listening to music and watching videos
* Externally-accessible microSD/SDHC memory card slot that supports up to 16GB for plenty of storage
* Enhanced HTML browser with RTSP support for online streaming video from sites like m.youtube.com and www.zoovision.com
* BlackBerry® Maps, delivering maps, local searches and step-by-step directions quickly and easily
* DataViz® Documents To Go® preinstalled, enabling customers to edit Microsoft® Word, Excel and PowerPoint files on the smartphone
* BlackBerry® Desktop Manager software, which includes Roxio® Media Manager for BlackBerry®, a powerful media manager application that allows users to easily manage media files on their computer and transfer them to the smartphone; the BlackBerry Pearl Flip also comes with the new BlackBerry® Media Sync application for customers that want a simple way to sync their iTunes® digital music collections with the smartphone**
* Premium phone features including voice activated dialing, enhanced background noise cancellation, a low-distortion speakerphone, and Bluetooth® (2.0) support for hands-free use with headsets, car kits, stereo headsets and other Bluetooth peripherals
* BlackBerry® Internet Service support that allows access to up to 10 supported personal and corporate email accounts, including most popular ISP email accounts
* BlackBerry® Enterprise Server support for enterprise deployments with advanced security and IT controls
PRICING AND AVAILABILITY
The BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 smartphone will be available in black from Rogers starting November 4, from $49.99 with activation on any combination of 3 year voice and data plan with minimum combined monthly service fee of $35 per month from Rogers. Some conditions apply. The pink BlackBerry Pearl Flip will be available in the coming weeks.
Via RIM
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