Quick hands on: BlackBerry Pearl Flip

Yesterday, RIM announced the first ever BlackBerry flip phone at this year's CTIA Wireless convention in San Francisco, and I stopped by the BlackBerry booth to get some quick hands-on time with the new device.

The first thing I noticed was the device's size. It obviously isn't the most svelte flip phone on the market—as a matter of fact, it felt rather large (specifically, thick) in hand. Overall construction was in line with other BlackBerry releases, and the hinge felt sturdy—not bad for RIM's first flip phone.

One of the big selling points for the new BlackBerry 8220 is the new "next gen" SureType keyboard. The keys are almost completely flat (almost RAZR like) and are significantly larger than on its Pearl counterpart. Also, the entire keypad is rubberized, improving the overall tactile feedback of the device. I personally found it much easier to text on the device, but the new look and feel of the keyboard felt a little cheap. Also, the Pearl trackball on the 8220 is recessed into an area above the keyboard (to allow the phone to shut completely), which made it feel a little strange to use.

The new operating system was very appealing to the eye, especially the new icons and color scheme. However, navigating through the menus and sub-menusdefinitely lagged at some moments, unlike the speedy Bold. I would say it felt similar to the 8820's speed.

The 8220 isn't great, but it isn't bad either. RIM is clearly positioning this phone to more consumer-level users, and if the rumored low price is true ($49.99?), then expect RIM to move a good number of these.