Blackberry 8700g

May 8th, 2006 | by Vince Veneziani

Features and Design

Cell phone and Blackberry users who are picky about what devices they're seen with will jump for joy when opening up the box to their new toy. The 8700g is the most stylish Blackberry ever designed. Unlike the 8700c for Cingular, this device does not have the flat gray paint job that looks like it missed the design department. Instead you get a stunning midnight blue/black case with a metal trim and black keypad. Many will agree it looks better than any Treo or Blackberry device on the market today. You can scoop it up for $299.99 after rebates, so it's also a “low-priced” device as far as handhelds go.

The most significant changes to the Blackberry 8700g, aside from the paint job, are the dedicated “Place Call” and “End Call” buttons on the front. Users will need a little time to get used to this new feature, but will find it works better and more efficiently than using the scroll wheel to control phone calls. There is also a speakerphone on the 8700g. It has a 1950s type of style and is located on the back of the handset. The power button is located on the top of the 8700g so you can easily power off if needed. Each side also has a dedicated button for your multi-tasking needs. A USB port for syncing and charging is located on the left side of the device.

Rather than sticking with the 7150-style of the Blackberry, the makers of the 8700g made it an updated version of the Blackberry 7290. The full QWERTY keypad is a welcome feature that is stylish and easily usable. One problem, however, is that the keypad moves around a bit during use; it's hardly noticeable after a few weeks though, and most users won't have a problem with it since it feels better than the rigid keypad of the 7290. On the top of the Blackberry, you'll also find a notification LED to alert you of missed messages, calls, etc. and a mute button so you can turn off your microphone during a call. Very handy at times where you don't want background noise to interfere with your call.

A lot has also changed on the inside of the Blackberry 8700g. Users will enjoy the speed of T-Mobile's EDGE network, which greatly improves web browsing speed, IM connectivity, and data transfers. The use of an Intel Xscale processor also keeps applications from lagging, a problem that was very apparent on the 7290 model of the Blackberry. Your battery gets up to 16 days of standby time, but only 4 hours of talk time, so make sure you have a USB port handy (at the very least) if you're chatting up a storm all day. Gone is the brightness button on this Blackberry, because a beautiful, backlit, 65k-color LCD is what you'll be doing your work on. This screen is gorgeous and is the best display on a Blackberry to date. The phone also has 64 MB of flash memory and 16 MB of SDRAM.

Image Courtesy of RIM