blackberry.jpg After the successful launch of the Pearl, the first consumer friendly from RIM, the company is back with another BlackBerry device for the business class. And we are glad to say that RIM has learned some valuable lessons from the delightfully vibrant Pearl. The RIM BlackBerry 8800 is a gorgeous device compared to its predecessors, primarily the 8700 series. In fact, we may even go as far as to say that the RIM BlackBerry 8800 may be sexier than Palm’s Treo, Motorola’s Q and Samsung’s BlackJack smartphones.

BlackBerry devices were seen primarily as business tools, but the consumer-friendly BlackBerry Pearl shed that image. Now the BlackBerry 8800 combines a sleek look and a bevy of multimedia features reminiscent of the Pearl’s with a full QWERTY keyboard. The 8800 retains RIM’s business focus, however, by leaving off extras such as the camera found on the Pearl.

The BlackBerry 8800 has a great feature set, including the well-designed trackball, GPS-navigation, an excellent microphone and speaker for calling, as well as a bright, clear screen. Still, the interface holds the phone back in almost every way. Even worse than the lack of 3G networking, a feature most true business users won’t miss, is the poor interface design, which hasn’t changed noticeably from monochromatic days of BlackBerrys past.

BlackBerry 8800 Reviews From brighthand

Pros:
* Integrated GPS
* Full keyboard
* Good battery life

Cons:
* Marginal keys
* Awkward trackball
* No 3G

BlackBerry 8800 Reviews From cnet

The good: Boasting a sleek and sexy design, the RIM BlackBerry 8800 offers integrated GPS, push-to-talk capabilities, and multimedia features. The quadband smart phone also has Bluetooth, push e-mail, a full QWERTY keyboard, and long talk-time battery life.

The bad: Unfortunately, the BlackBerry 8800 doesn’t work on Cingular’s 3G network nor does it have integrated Wi-Fi. Call quality was a little muffled, and the phone is quite wide and awkward to hold. The media player could also use some refinements, and instant messaging is limited to the BlackBerry Messenger client.

The bottom line: Despite some minor issues, the RIM BlackBerry 8800 offers mobile professionals a well-rounded smart phone with added multimedia functions, GPS, and push-to-talk capabilities. That said, messaging remains its forte.

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