BlackBerry 8700 is sure to please devotees
Published 9:00 pm Saturday, November 5, 2005
NEW YORK – There are, by now, a slew of BlackBerry-like cell phones with typewriter keyboards for mobile e-mail. But none, including Palm Inc.’s popular Treo, has yet mustered a following that resembles the malady affectionately known as “CrackBerry” addiction.
So it’s no ho-hum when BlackBerry’s maker, Research In Motion Ltd., overhauls its flagship device for the first time in nearly three years.
After a test drive of just two weeks, it’s hard to issue a definitive verdict on the new BlackBerry 8700, which debuted Tuesday through Cingular Wireless at $300 with rebates and a two-year contract. But there’s little doubt the device, which does e-mail and telephony, will please BlackBerry devotees on many fronts.
First and foremost, it’s skinnier in width and thickness. That makes the 8700 easier to grip as a phone, addressing one of the few common complaints about its predecessors.
This means, of course, that RIM has gambled on rejiggering the layout of the most comfy QWERTY keyboard in the thumb-typing realm. The result feels a bit more cramped, and yet typing still seems simpler and smoother than on comparable devices. But again, with only two weeks of repetitive thumb motion under the belt, it’s probably best to withhold final judgment on the keyboard.
Other standout changes – some that RIM first tried out a year ago with the consumer-oriented 7100 BlackBerry – include the addition of dedicated “send” and “end” buttons for phone calls, a speakerphone button, two customizable program keys, a doubling of internal memory to 64 megabytes and a brilliant color screen.
This last addition marks a long-awaited admission that RIM’s business-minded customers might enjoy a little eye candy even if a BlackBerry’s main function remains e-mail.
That doesn’t mean, however, that RIM is abandoning its staid demeanor. Those hoping for new leisure-time bells and whistles like an MP3 music player or a digital camera will be disappointed.
RIM is holding orthodox to its presumption that most of the 3.65 million BlackBerrys out there were issued by employers who don’t want their staff playing with their gadgets or photographing internal operations.
So, true to its roots, the 8700 is still primarily an e-mail device, though with a growing emphasis on being a basic cell phone as well.
Size-wise, compared with the popular 7200-series BlackBerry, the 8700 really isn’t that much smaller. It measures 4.3 inches tall by 2.7 inches wide by 0.77 inch thick.
Yet this slight diminution in dimensions makes a big difference in one-handed operation, sitting comfortably in the palm where the prior generation always felt just a tad to big to get your fingers around.
The 8700 is also a smidgeon lighter, weighing 4.7 ounces vs. 4.9 ounces with the 7200 series.
To accommodate this scrunching, the keys are closer together. Though roughly the same size as before, the keys have been rotated to a more vertical position from their diagonal tilt on the 7200. This eliminates a good deal of the spacing between each key, which could be problematic for users with meatier fingertips.
