Blackberry 8800, a QWERTY Pearl.
The Blackberry Pearl is now one of the most popular smartphones in the industry being one of the first Blackberry devices geared towards consumers. Now the QWERTY keyboard version of the Pearl has arrived. It's the Blackberry 8800.
First off, the Blackberry 8800 includes a built-in GPS powered by Telenav and Blackberry Maps for finding those places you've never been before. The standard Blackberry features are not forgotten: email, phone, web browsing, and an address book, calendar, and memo pad for organizing. Included with the device is the standard travel charger, case, and USB cable for syncing with your computer.
On the front of the device is a gorgeous 2.5-inch display at 65,000 colors with a resolution of 320x240. A mix of text and images were crisp and clear on the device, though fingerprints can impair reading the display in light. Now, since the 8800 is one of the newest Cingular-based phones on the market, you might be expecting a 3G-supported device. Wrong. The 8800 does however, include the somewhat-speedy EDGE network, but isn't as fast as the EVDO or HSDPA networks.
One of the most important features of any smartphone, is well… the phone, and the 8800 does fall a bit short of having good quality, sounding a bit suppressed. The 8800 is not as comfortable to hold up to your ear, as it is a bit wide compared to the slim and slender Pearl. Getting most of its design from the Pearl, the 8800 includes the all-mighty trackball similar to the Mighty Mouse (okay, bad joke).
The keyboard was somewhat cramped and the keys may be hard to use if you have big fingers. On the sides of the device are volume up/down keys, a headset jack (2.5mm), a mini-USB port for charging, and a key that defaults to the PTT function (something I was not able to try out).
Unfortunately, I did not have a chance to try out the media-player, which plays all audio formats from MP3 to AAC (though not DRM-protected files), and WMV plus H.263 video files. A microSD slot is hidden behind the battery cover and you'll need a card if you're interested in storing content on the device (pictures, etc.) as the device only has 64MB of built-in memory.
Not on the device is a instant-messaging client, though the Google Talk client is available for download, as well as the standard Yahoo!, and MSN.
The integrated GPS feature was great and easy to understand, although the voices could be a bit clearer. The GPS was also able to pick up a steady signal when moving freely across town. On the flip side, the maps were not up to date since some areas that were recently built (within the last 2 years) did not show up on the device, obviously Telenav's fault.
Web surfing on the device was decent on mobile-formatted devices, but when trying to load sites such as Digg.com or Flickr, the EDGE network felt sluggish.
Battery life on the 8800 was over what was expected. Instead of the advertised 5 hours, we got over 7 hours on a full charge. Of course, your mileage may vary.
Overall, the Blackberry 8800 is a great device with a few flaws and we hope to see a 3G/Wi-Fi enabled version soon.
Pros
- Built-in GPS.
- Push-to-talk function available.
- Media player passed on from the Pearl.
- QWERTY keyboard better than SureType.
- Great battery life.
Cons
- No 3G or Wi-Fi capability.
- Call quality sounded somewhat suppressed.
- No instant-messaging client.
- Wide design.
Final Verdict
4 out of 5 stars.
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