BlackBerry Pearl Flip

I'm torn on this phone. The most consumer-oriented phone of RIM's lineup, straightforwardly speaking it's also the weakest. So, while we don't know the pricing of the upcoming Curve replacement (likely $199 or $249), users looking to step up to their first real smartphone might want to wait to check it out before stampeding to the store for the Pearl Flip, since it's not cheap at $150 with a two-year contract. Also, QWERTY > SureType, even as good as RIM's predictive text is.

But it's not a bad phone, at all—compared to the wealth of dumb feature phones out there, it's exceptional. It's a full-fledged BlackBerry that delivers great email, solid multimedia, usable web browsing and all of the other trappings of a smartphone, like apps. And it definitely has a quirky kind of personality to it. So, if you're looking for a smartphone in a tight form factor—or maybe for your teen—this might be what you're looking for, since the BlackBerry experience remains one of the best.