For quite some time now, RIM’s contribution to the mobile market, the Blackberry, has been a largely all business and no play, no frills handset for the corporate world. However, RIM has recognized that there is a largely untapped market of consumers looking for business functionality in a more day-to-day form factor, and is debuting its first flip handset, the Kickstart, sometime in the upcoming months.

Crackberry.com, home to all things Blackberry (and the Jack Bauer ringtone, for you “24″ addicts out there), has secured a Kickstart and given it an early review. First thing to note is that the Kickstart will come in two varieties: one with WiFi and one with GPS. Though it would be nice to have both features in the Kickstart, the handset is designed to be an entry level unit into the wide world of Blackberry; for that reason, it would make sense to keep the handsets lean on features and price tag.

The Kickstart is a quad-band GSM phone, and doesn’t boast 3G. No big surprise there, as most manufacturers are straying away from 3G right at this point while carriers roll out their networks. A 2-megapixel camera, 3.5 mm headphone jack, and external SD slot round out the works (plus either WiFi or GPS).

The first thing that impressed me about the handset is that it boasts a GUI nearly identical to that of the Bold, with the updated icons and graphics. A good graphical user interface will sell handsets, no matter what the form factor is, in my opinion.

The good news for potential Kickstart buyers is that the form factor is actually a plus, in addition to the GUI. The folks at Crackberry called the form factor big, yet small. It has a sturdy build, and will certainly slide in and out of pockets with more ease than many current Blackberrys. When closed, the unit is small, yet when open, the 240 x 320 LCD seems large and expansive.

The Kickstart has a Suretype keyboard with oversized keys to accompany every variety of finger. Crackberry remarked that many male customers are hesitant to jump on the Pearl train, due to its arguably female form factor and styling; those guys might feel a little more comfortable with a more hefty yet small Kickstart.

Perhaps the best thing about the Kickstart is that many estimate T-Mobile will be retailing the handset for $50 with new contract. While other Blackberrys like the Pearl are coming in at twice that price, the Kickstart should appeal to the every day consumer looking for business functionality at a low price. I’m sure Blackberry intends to have customers get accustomed to Blackberrys at the low cost of the Kickstart and eventually transition to the more feature-rich upper-end versions that power users need.

Though no release date has been set yet, expect a low price point with attractive packaging options for Blackberry Enterprise email to draw in would-be Crackberry addicts.

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Entry was posted on Friday, July 25th, 2008 at 6:08 pm under Uncategorized.

Read more entries by Triston McIntyre.
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