Elsewhere on the 8220's sides are a mini USB charging port, 3.5mm socket for headphones, a Micro SD memory card slot - it will take up to 16GB though no card comes supplied as standard - volume keys and a call mute key.
Back to the front, and above the outer screen there’s a two-megapixel camera with LED flash and a red status light. There’s a slight curve to the body near the top, which may help when flipping it open with one hand. But there’s a small surprise when you do: the screen comes to rest behind the body of the phone. This feels a bit odd both in the hand and next to your face when you’re holding it to your ear. It's no big deal - it's just a bit odd.
Not for girls and hairdressers?
There’s nothing odd about the keyboard, though, which is all business sleekness and efficiency. The keys are large and well spaced, making the entry of text messages and email as a pleasurable as it can be without a full Qwerty keyboard.
Actually, the Blackberry SureType keyboard is arranged in Qwerty style, but with two letters per key. You can set it so you tap twice for the second letter, or use predictive text. Either way, you’ll need to spend a bit of time getting used to it if you’re not already a Blackberry user. It doesn’t take long, though.
Blackberry’s patented trackball sits above the keypad, but unlike the one on other Pearls, it’s recessed slightly to allow the flip to close. It’s easy enough to use, though habitual Blackberry users may have to make a slight adjustment to their trackball style, using the tip, rather than the flat of the thumb.
COMMENTS
Your words of power need recharging
Writing "stylish and sophisticated" under a picture of a bizarre, ugly lump does not make it stylish or sophisticated. Look at it, it's awful. That first photo is supposed to show it in its best light. Imagine how bad it looks in normal use away from the unnatural all-white Matrix Construct where Apple ads are shot. The case has the unalluring sheen of cheap brittle plastic, the screen is myopic, and the keypad looks like an insult. Overall, the design takes its cues from the early 90s, a time better known as "Hammer time", which does it no favours. It is a dull, bland and unadventurous phone, and simply calling it stylish won't ever make it so. Only the yuppies of yesteryear would find anything appealing about it, but perhaps in aiming for now-middle-aged ex yuppies, it will succeed wildly.
Blackberry bug?
Do Blackberries still have the bug where you cannot do IMAP or POP3 directly, but have to use a special Blackberry server to do all your e-mail over?
@Bad Beaver
Same reason people buy iPhones. Because chosing something you like often takes priority over "What is best".
Why?
Why would one still buy a Blackberry, especially such a bland, cheap looking one, when so many nice mobiles offer you to use BB push AND pop/imap according to your preference?
gps?
Regarding the GPS piece of the review... the 500m reference and Google Maps leads me to believe it was using the "my location" feature to identify your location based on the connected cell tower.
Could you confirm whether you were actually looking at the GPS location? I have noticed that when using Google Maps on a GPS enabled blackberry that you actually need to authorize use of the GPS to use it.
