When it comes to smartphone most of them have the same bar or PDA style form factor. Those preferring to use a clamshell style phone don’t have many options with the current crop of smartphones. Clamshells are preferred by some people because they are more compact.

Alltel has announced that the Blackberry Pearl Flip 8230 handset will be available on its network starting in early May. The handset is a full Blackberry smartphone with the clamshell style and a SureType QWERTY keyboard underneath.

The phone features a 2MP camera that can record video and a full HTML web browser. Memory is expandable with microSD cards up to 16GB. The Flip 8230 will sell for $79.99 after a $70 mail-in rebate and a new 2-year agreement. A data plan is required.

Alltel