Research in Motion’s one and only flip smartphone BlackBerry Pearl 8220 is now available for T-Mobile customers across the United States, the company revealed. The announcement came one month after BlackBerry Flip was first unveiled by RIM, and amid announcements of a touch-screen BlackBerry to capture the attention of both businesses and regular consumers.

These days, RIM seems to be making some unexpected changes to its BlackBerrys, including putting the physical keyboard aside in Storm, or creating the first flip smartphone to add a bit more popularity to BlackBerrys, especially among consumers looking for a sleek and modern design.

BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 addresses the needs of consumers across the United States, Leslie Grandy, vice president of product development T-Mobile, explained. Users love flip phones, and the carrier believes the exclusive partnership with BlackBerry will constitute a huge benefit for T-Mobile customers.

The unusual phone (for a BlackBerry) combines the classic smartphone capabilities, such as support for text messaging, picture messaging, Web browsing, built-in WiFi, with a sleek design and accessibility to social networking or sport sites for balancing customers’ “busy lifestyle.”

The 3.9”x1.96”x0.68” smartphone weighs 3.06 oz, it offers 128MB of flash memory, as well as a 256MB microSD car included, and support for a 16GB microSD/SDHC card, it comes with a QVGA 2.4-inch, 320 x 240-pixel screen which supports 65k colors, and a 2.0-megapixel camera with digital zoom, built-in flash and video-recording.

Thanks to its Wi-Fi capabilities, BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220 owners will benefit from voice and data connectivity, as well as access to T-Mobile’s Unlimited HotSpot Calling service, RIM revealed. The phone is available in T-Mobile stores and online at http://www.t-mobile.com.