Research In Motion (RIM) lived up to its plan of launching a flip phone within the year through its very first Blackberry clamshell, the Blackberry Kickstart.

What many thought to be just plain rumor and hoax has actually come to life. The Kickstart, launching on T-Mobile, came as a pleasant surprise to consumers who were expecting to see a more design-challenged flip phone. Although not svelte and sexy, it does have that standard look that one can expect from contemporary flip phones.

The Kickstart makes use of a SureType keypad, and has internal and external LCD’s sized 320 x 240 and 160 x 128, respectively. Menu navigation is through TrackBall, and it sports a 2 mega-pixel camera. It lacks 3G, but has Wi-Fi connectivity. The whole package runs on a 4.6 Operating System.

Release date for the Blackberry Kickstart will be anywhere from September to end of the year.

Labels: RIM

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