CrackBerry landed themselves a document called “The BlackBerry Flip Experience” which sheds some new details on the upcoming BlackBerry KickStart, RIM’s first clamshell device (It’s too bad that they had to pull down the images). It’s clear that RIM has paid particular attention to ensuring that the BlackBerry experience is maintained in this completely new form factor.
The KickStart will work like most other clamshells when it comes to making calls. Opening it will answer a call and closing it will end a call. The external LCD will tell you who is calling and display the Caller ID picture and name if the caller is in the address book.
Messaging will work in a similar fashion. Opening the clamshell when a message comes in will automatically take you to the message. The external display will once again show who sent the message as well as brief preview. Closing the phone will mark the message as red.
The external display will also let you browse missed alerts. Selecting one and opening the phone will again automatically open the appropriate message.
The same display will show you music information such as album art, song title and artist. You will not need to open the phone to control music playback. For example, the Mute key will act as Play/Pause and the volume keys will control volume.
CrackBerry also reports that the KickStart could come with BlackBerry Device Software version 5.0 rather than 4.6.