While the phone itself may not boast the most impressive list of features, this is still pretty exciting news because the BlackBerry Pearl 8220 represents the first flip phone-style ‘Berry from the folks at Research in Motion. We’ve been following the handset once known as the KickStart for some time and now it’s ready for public consumption.

We already knew it was coming, but now T-Mobile has finally gone on the record with an official announcement. The BlackBerry 8220 “promises to break some ground in new markets”, because the flip phone form factor is still the most popular among most consumers. You get all your standard BlackBerry functionality, like push email and web browsing, as well as some multimedia support, Wi-Fi, and an external LCD.

T-Mobile has priced the flipping ‘Berry at $149.99 with a two-year contract. It fully supports both myFaves and HotSpot @ Home for T-Mo.