[mo joe]

Just recently saw that Alltel now has the pearl flip available. I have been using the 8130 for a year and a half and absolutely love the keyboard and small form factor. But I have been getting the itch to upgrade my phone and get a new toy. Couple of questions:

1) Are memory leaks fixed? I probably do weekly battery pulls on my pearl now is that still the case with the flip.
2) May be related to #1, I find every few weeks I need to purge all my sms messages as it becomes verrry slow to open and reply to sms messages. Once they are purged it is lightning fast again. Is this still the case with the flip?
3) Battery life, love it on my pearl how does it compare to the flip in real world scenarios? Any previous 8100 users upgrade to 8200?

Thanks!
Joe

[BUC]

First of all... I do not owen a pearl 8130 but my sister does (at least a n 8100)... and I find the keyboard on the Flip (8220) waaaaay better than the one found on early pearls...
this keyboard is flat and smooth, still very spacious and comfortable, and it respond better than pearls...

1) I do not know what are memory leaks on the Pearl... but after making an upgrade the Flip is very quick and snappy... I do not do battery pulls anymore... its been a big while since last time....
2) I set the time I want to keep my sms and I think I have it for 15 days or something like that, and I never erase my sms manually.... I had a friend with a Bold that had that problem... but it never was a problem for me.... It only becomes noticeable slow when I hear music over Bluetooth and do other task at the same time (sms, internet browsing, play games... etc)
3) For the 8220 the battery life is supposed to be a tad better than 8230... and when I first test it, was great... If I use just for phone, sms and casual browsing it will last more than couple of days... But I have been using it as my main mp3 player, also over Bluetooth (headphones and car stereo) so this way I have to charge it every day....

I can only live with flip phones and this is the best Ive ever had... I prefer having Wi-fi over GPS cause the lack of 3G in both phones sucks... and here in my country the EDGE network is very slow... so in order to properly use some functions... like download email attachments, urgent browse.. I need a wi-fi connection...

as you may know the external screen offer many advantages and I totally love the features...
being able to discretely read new messages (any type, windows MSN, BB msn, sms, email preview) its awsome...
Also you can control music with the lid close... you can si album art, song name and artist name.... being able to pause, volume up/down, skip f/b.

the internal mono speaker gets very loud, so thats a nice extra... and the screen resolution its great too... Not like the 8900 or Bold but its higher pixel density than the iPhone's screen if you need comparisson.

Keep in mind that being flip-phone the screen scratch less frequently that candybar phones (though I still use a screen protector inside in case the keys-dust scratch a little) and also the trackball is more dust resistant... My parents bought an 8310 each the same day I bought the flip and they both had to take appart the trackball to clean it up... I hadnt just yet and it works great.

[ndub33]

I had an 8100 a couple of years ago, and I have to agree with BUC's evaluation of the 8200 series. The keypad is much improved, and more user friendly, as is the SureType technology that supports it.

Memory leak is generally attributable to third party apps.Make sure that you've closed out any apps that you are't currently using. You can improve your overall memory by deleting any outdated e-mail, SMS or BBM messages and clearing the cache in your browser as well.

And an occaisional battery pull never hurts...

[mo joe]

Thanks for the replies guys! I never run 3rd party apps while not in use and just try to avoid deleting SMS messages. Just a habit in case I ever need to refer to messages. Currently I have SMS messages all the way back to Feb 16th. Guess I will just have to get used to losing that data.

Great reviews and the more I look at it the more I want it. Just need to convince work to pay for my upgrade......

Thanks!
Joe

[ofelas]

Can one answer calls/make calls and/or have a voice conversation while the Flip Pearl is in the closed position?
Thx.

[david9962000]

I tried one, it's a great device. it has a lot more memory and the keys are much wider than the 8100 series.