i escape

We have seen plenty of leaked images for the upcoming clamshell-styled BlackBerry Kickstart, so I guess seeing an early hands-on report surface should not be all that surprising.

The crew over at CrackBerry were able to get their hands on RIM’s first venture into the world of the clamshell, and while the BlackBerry Bold and Thunder may be stealing some of the recent spotlight, it seems the Kickstart is going to be a solid offering.

A few items to point out is that the display is big, and although not quite the same quality as what is found on the Bold it was noted as “looks good.” The Kickstart 8220, as indicated by the number pattern will feature Wi-Fi, it also has the “next gen” SureType keyboard which was described as “massive” and easy to use, which sounds like it will be a nicer typing experience as compared to the Pearl.

The Kickstart 8220 also features the Pearl-style trackball, which in this case is set down a little further, most likely in an effort to keep it from rubbing the internal display, but it was noted as being a little trickier to use.

Otherwise the Kickstart will feature a 240 x 320 internal LCD, 160 x 128 external display and 2-megapixel camera. It will also include an external microSD card slot as well as a standard 3.5mm headphone jack.

So far it sounds very promising, lets just hope that it hits T-Mobile at that rumored price for $49.95