BlackBerry 8700g Review
20 February 2006
The BlackBerry 8700g was released recently in Europe on T-Mobile’s network.
ITWeek reviews the BlackBerry 8700g and writes – ‘Available now from T-Mobile, the 8700g is the first BlackBerry with an Intel XScale chip. However, its most important features are the familiar BlackBerry functions of push email, phone capability and web browsing.’
Mobile Tech News reviews the BlackBerry 8700g and writes – ‘The BlackBerry 8700g features a bright, high resolution screen that supports more than 65,000 colors and delivers vivid graphics. It also incorporates an intelligent light-sensing technology that automatically adjusts the screen and keyboard lighting to provide optimized use in outdoor, indoor and dark environments.
For corporate customers, BlackBerry Enterprise Server(TM) software tightly integrates with Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino(TM) and Novell GroupWise and works with existing enterprise systems to enable secure, push-based wireless access to email and other corporate data.’
BIOS Magazine reviews the BlackBerry 8700g and writes – ‘In addition to standard BlackBerry functionality including support for ‘push’ e-mail, phone, text messaging, browser, organiser and corporate data applications, the business-friendly BlackBerry 8700g was completely re-engineered to boost performance and features an Intel processor as well as 64MB flash memory and 16MB SRAM. The device also promises faster Web browsing, attachment viewing and application performance.’
Mobile Whack also reviews the BlackBerry 8700g and writes – ‘An Intel processor can be found under the hood, matched by 64MB flash memory and 16MB SRAM. With built-in viewers for PowerPoint, Excel and Word, you can work while on the move. A bright 320×240 65k color screen does the job of displaying, and the LCD and keyboard lighting are automatically adjusted according to ambient light.’
CNet reviews the Blackberry 8700g and seems to be impressed – ‘Like its cousin, the BlackBerry 8700c for Cingular, the BlackBerry 8700g offers users a next-gen device with a full QWERTY keyboard, and it comes with an Intel processor and EDGE speeds for faster performance. In addition to support for Bluetooth 2.0 and up to 10 corporate or personal e-mail accounts, the 8700g offers some extras that make it more consumer-friendly and easier to use right out of the box than the 8700c. Overall, the device delivers on all fronts: as a phone, an e-mail machine, and a handheld. The RIM BlackBerry 8700g will cost $299.99 with a two-year contract (or $349.99 with a one-year contract) and will be available on April 17.’
Gizmodo reviews the BlackBerry 8700g and is overall pretty happy with the device – ‘I’m still not a big fan of the BlackBerry interface—it’s good, but it feels about two button presses per function away from being properly polished—but it’s certainly not bad, especially once you remember what confirmation dialogues you can blow past without reading. That’s not really a problem related directly to the 8700g, though, and if you’ve used previous BlackBerries you know what you’re getting into.’
All in all, it sounds like another solid addition to the Blackberry family. I know we’ve all been hearing about RIM’s demise, but let’s face it – the Crackberry is here to stay.