Customer Reviews

BlackBerry 8700c Cingular GSM Wireless Handheld

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(12)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

8700c has been my first BlackBerry. I got it a month ago right in the thick of the lawsuit. Cingular 8125 came out soon after that which really made me to consider if I should go for the WIFI-enabled, full size keyboard and MS Office compatible Windows Mobile phone. In fact, I did exchanged for the Cingular 8125...for ONE DAY...before I ran back to the Cingular store and exchanged again for a BlackBerry 8700c. (I almost cried happy tears to have my beloved BlackBerry back from the angry sale rep who had to deal with me.)

Why the BlackBerry is the BEST communication solution I have ever used:
1. BlackBerry email is incredible. What can I say? I guess it's hard to appreciate its greatness without testing Seven Sea's Xpress mail, GoodLink or Windows Mobiles Patch. After I tried other options, oh man, no solution works better than the BlackBerry. It's indeed second to none! When you read about the "alternative services," believe me, they are not comparable to the reliability and the ease of use from the BES.
2. Reliability of the operating system. I think this is by far the most important factor. Windows Mobile freezes or becomes extremely sluggish about 2/3 of the time I use it. It pratcially is useless. BlackBerry however is always responsive, stable, and most importantly you can MAKE phone call and RECEIVE phone call ANYTIME no matter you are running a Google Map or what not. (This is not possible on Windows Mobile. Whenever I am doing some CPU-intensive task the phone will just freezes for about 30 seconds.)
3. EDGE is real fast. No more do I need to say about this.
4. The keyboard works like a charm. The keyboard is MUCH BETTER THAN THE CINGULAR 8125 full size keyboard. I kid you not. Why? Because you can a. ONE HAND OPERATE and b. use it on the go.
The full size keyboard on 8125 is big indeed, but after using it for one day I realized its uselessness. Since you have to expand the keyboard on the 8125 and use both hands to type, you MUST place that device on a table in order to hold it stll (since both of your hands aren't free) and type. That maens you basically have NO WAY to input anything-name, calendar, task, website address, etc-on the go. And boys, if I don't use cell phone on the go, I don't know why do I use it for. If every time I do the above task I have to sit down in front of a flat surface, why don't I just get a dang laptop??
So don't get fooled into the "sliding full size keyboard myth" because it's plainly meaningless.
5. It's sturdy and it looks really good. 8125 feels awkward on your hand and big/heavy in the pocket. 8700c however is actually quite elegant.
6. The phone quality is by far the best. I talk when I am driving above 75 mph very often. It has been hard for any phone (Samsung or Moto) to be loud enough for me to hear. I remember using speaker phone on my Samsung phones and put it on my ear in order to hear. But with 8700c, not only its reception is super (much better than 8125), its clarity is great, it's over-the-top loud!
7. Intuitive operation. Oh my God, I finally understood the success of BlackBerry in using it operating system-its ease of use with the thumb. You see, Windows Mobile is made by Microsoft which makes GUI OS like Windows. GUI means the need for a mouse. On PDA it means a stylus and many layers of "folders." Guys, it's practically useless on a phone if whatever you need to do with it, you need to hold it with one hand and take out a stylus to scroll/type. Why? How in the world am I going to do that when I am eating, driving, walking, etc, at the same time as operating my phone? Omg, Microsoft is NOT thinking about this. Who uses his/her phone sitting down in front of a desk? Maybe you, but I ALWAYS use it when I am multitasking--walking, listening to speech, driving, drinking, eating dinner, waiting for a table, watching movie, sitting on the toilet, etc, etc. BlackBerry's navigation works way better than any other device method I have ever heard of. It's simply intuitive.
8. The following functions are not only excellent, they set industry standard by going way above and beyond over its competitors:
a. phone logs. It stores unlimited number of events (missed call, dialed call, received call) per the last 20 contacts. Each event includes time and duration. EACH! You simply have over 3~400 events easily.
b. font. It has wide selection of pleasant fonts of different styles and size. They look grrrreeat.
c. screen. 320x240 is really high resolution for a screen this size. You can arrange the folders and icons on the screen by applying theme and manually hide/unhide icon so that you largely have an empty desktop to show your favorite picture!
b. phone. the dailing, the calling features, are all excellent! It's really easy to send SMS, Email or PIN to anyone on your contact. You can right click on the contact and select one of the following functions-view history, SMS this person, email this person, call this person, PIN this person, etc. Once you click on "Call this person" for example, a menu will come up and ask you which number. It's just so simple yet powerful.
c. the categorization of all your messages (sent and received) in one single box differentiated by icon. It's really a smart idea. Windows Mobile gives you an Outlook style menu tree that has over 30 different folders on its tiny screen requires a style to select each time. Think about it, when you are using a phone to read messages, is it more important to organize it clearly in outlook style (which is designed for the use of a mouse) or in a centralized place where you can simply navigate it by one thumb? Oh my, Windows Mobile is not impressive AT ALL. What is Microsoft thinking? Look at how BlackBerry can do the simple task well.
d. the auto dimming works great! Under bright sunlight the screen lights up ultra bright to acomodate the environment. When it's not too bright, the screen brightness decreases and the keyboard turns off (since the ambient light is enough to see the keyboard), when it's completely dark, the keyboard will light up again while the screen stays dim. (Thus at least three different modes.)
e. theme is very, very pretty. Aesthetically pleasing. Much prettier and artistic than Windows Mobile.
f. I like the airplane mode, the alarm clock (finally loud enough for me) and the expansive options for manual modification.
g. You not only are able to customize the profile (ring tone style and volumn) down to every single type per profile (message, level one message, phone, calendar, browser, task, etc), you can also SET MULTIPLE EXCEPTIONS and ACTIVATE EACH EXCEPTION INDEPENDENTLY!! Exception means you can turn off the vibration/sound completely off in a theatre, but unless this number calls in which the phone will use an overriding profile. So if you are waiting for imporatnt phone call, you can definitely let it get thru. It's sort of a "Do-Not-Disturb" guard and "VIP-only" kind of thing.

In conclusion, this phone is powerful and completely designed for business purpose and business people oriented.

Update 10/13/07: Well, it's no longer the best available. My company now has about 25 of these phones deployed and the results have been very good. However, the 8800 and Curve are the next generation and are easily superior in every way to the 8700. For free, the 8700 is still a great phone, but if you can get a decent deal on the 8800 or Curve it's a worthwhile upgrade that you will not regret. The only thing is that these new designs do take some getting used to if you are very accustomed to the thumbwheel method. It took me about two weeks to adapt to the trackball. But once I did, I was convinced. The other thing that is worth noting is that in heavy use, the thumbwheel on my 8700 started to become sloppy and less reliable after about a year, and several of my employees noted the same.

Original Review:
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I want to impart upon readers of this review that this smartphone is the one you have been looking for, whether you are a current BlackBerry user or not. My last phone was the previous BlackBerry version, the 7100, however I have tested a wide range of smartphones over the past 6 years. In my review of the 7100, I told everyone that we were probably a year or so away from a five-star smartphone. That was a year ago. Modesty is not my strong suit.

This is the first smartphone I can wholeheartedly recommend. Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile devices are being fully considered when I make this statement. It is hard to express my satisfaction given the amount of time I've waited and researched, going all the way back to the Kyocera 6035 in 2000. The potential of the integrated PDA and cellphone has always made sense to me, but the reality has never matched my expectations - until now.

The BlackBerry 8700c meets and even exceeds my expectations as a true, integrated smartphone. The intuitiveness of the BlackBerry operating system remains excellent, but the phone itself is finally worthy. The volume is loud enough, the signal is strong enough, the unit is light enough, the battery life is long enough, and the integration is nearly perfect. This device is lightweight, intuitive, and reliable.

What most business and power users need is to eliminate having to carry a PDA separate from the phone, and to be able to process our emails. We want to look up a contact and call them. We want to receive our email, then either email or call the sender back without having a complex set of menus to navigate. We want to set reminders and consult our calendars. We want to manage our to-do list. We want to do all this reliably and quickly. For those of you who want a smartphone but think that the answer is a handheld computer running Windows Mobile, my comment to you would be that Windows Mobile smartphones are built to do too many things. This attempt to turn them into spreadsheet editors, cameras, MP3 players, laptop modems, etceteras, causes needless complexity, slows down the machine, and causes frequent freezing and crashing issues. These units are always larger and heavier than I find comfortable to hold, and usually require a stylus to input information. Some, like the one my friend just got six months ago, the top of the line at Cingular, has a pull-out keyboard. We played with his smartphone for hours. He showed off all the great functions, including the ability to use WiFi, the size of his color screen, etceteras. But he is a computer consultant. He tweaks it constantly. I walked away thinking that no one needs that many functions on their phone; that's what a laptop is for. The sound quality when I talk to him is poor. His new BlueTooth headset sounds like crap, and he still cannot get the phone to do some of the things the manual says it can do. The battery life is weak, and he drops calls constantly.

Palm devices were great, back when they invented the PDA category. I bought my first Palm in 1996 and loved the simplicity and power packed into such a small device. However, I have since tested many Palm-based smartphones, from the old Kyoceras, through the Samsungs, all the way to the latest Treos, and they have all fallen far short of my expectations. They have never been fully integrated. In other words, you always have to operate either in phone mode or in PDA mode, and there are differences in how the menus function depending on which mode you are in. Sometimes the screen is a touchscreen, sometimes not. You can't make the phone carrier's network time, which is always accurate, become the phone's system time, you must reset that manually. The touchscreen must be calibrated regularly, or it may get so out of sync that you cannot sync it without a hard reset. The stylus is a pain to use on a phone, yet some functions on a Palm-based smartphone cannot be accessed without removing and using the stylus. They are subject to lockups, followed by soft resets, and occasionally by hard resets, with great frequency. Email does not get pushed to these devices, you must manually go check your email to see if you have any. In Outlook, if you have multiple categories for a contact, only the first one imports to the Palm. In Palm, you cannot have a work and home address for the same contact, you must create a second contact if you happen to need both their addresses. You are limited to only thirty categories. If you try to add another in Outlook, it just overwrites one of the other categories the next time you sync. Palm OS simply hasn't evolved enough to handle the needs of a modern smartphone user, nor have developers found a way to make the integration seamless enough.

I have a friend who just got the new Nokia 9300. This is the one that flips open sideways, with a full keyboard underneath and a big sideways screen. Nokia uses the Symbian OS. He and I demoed it for quite a while. He was trying to show me how easy it was to add my new email address to his database and send me an email. After ten minutes of trying, he gave up and went to the user manual. I pulled out my 8700, updated his email address in my address book, and sent him an email, all within about 30 seconds. I rested my case. Symbian is a loser; the sooner Nokia realizes this the sooner they can start making smartphones that work and stop losing market share.

The BlackBerry OS integrated smartphone is the best balance between usefulness, intuitiveness, and integration. In terms of integration, it is seamless and has been for some time now. The menus are intuitive. Whenever you depress the click wheel, only those menu items which apply to the screen you are on appear. For example, if you are reading an email and you click there, if the person who sent you the email is in your contacts database, you will see an option to call or text message this person, in addition to responding via email. If there is a phone number in the email, you can select that phone number and dial it instantly. If you are looking at the phone screen, a click wheel depression will offer to let you dial from the address book. When looking for a contact, you simply begin typing the first or last name of the contact, or the company name that contact works for, and the list of choices is pared down until you see your contact from among the remaining choices. When you click the wheel on that contact, the menu will show all phone numbers you have for that contact. In other words, if you don't have a cell number for that contact, the choice of calling their cell number is not on the menu.

The new processor is extremely fast. I manage over 5,000 contacts in the company database with ease on this new processor. The older BlackBerries had significant delays searching for contacts, as did all the other devices I have tested, so this is a huge improvement. Syncing to my Outlook database is much faster too. My sync operation went from approximately 5 minutes down to less than a minute when I upgraded to the 8700.

The screen is the best ever for a BlackBerry, and it rivals any other smartphone I have seen. I love how everyone harps on the size of the BlackBerries. The fact is that you can't have a large screen and a keyboard on a phone the size of a matchbook. The size of the unit is about as compact as could possibly be expected for what it does.

The 8700 is much easier to hold and use as a phone than the original BlackBerry. There is no possibility of accidentally hanging up on your call because the side-mounted escape key does not perform that function anymore. This was one of my most severe criticisms of older BlackBerries. Now you have a real dial and hang-up key. Much better. Also the earpiece is natural and the sound is much clearer. Older units were almost impossible to keep centered on your ear and the sound volume rarely was high enough. The sound is also much clearer than the 7100 I owned prior to this, as is the signal strength. I put the two units side by side in an area of low signal strength, and the 7100 had only one bar and difficulty making calls, while the 8700 had nearly full strength and no issues making calls from the same spot.

Now for the negatives. The Bluetooth functionality is still nearly zero. I can't tell you how annoying that is. I keep hearing that they are planning on un-crippling it soon but for now the only thing you can use with it is a wireless headset. The history of this is that so many BlackBerries are used by the government, and security was the primary goal. However I fail to see why the consumer edition cannot offer that functionality. I can use my BlueTooth headset, that's great, but a BlueTooth sync to my laptop would really make my day.

As I've mentioned in previous BlackBerry reviews there are some other things you should know if this will be your first foray into the BlackBerry world. This applies to all BlackBerries not availing themselves of the expensive but excellent BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) software solution: there is no "wireless sync" of your email, even though the option appears on your phone. I cannot understand why they don't grey out the option so that users can avoid spending their precious time trying to chase this handy but unavailable feature. With BES, however, your corporate Exchange Server will be continuously and wirelessly synced with your Outlook. This is the ultimate solution.

Failing BES, which ordinary users without a corporate server will never have, (plus it costs $2500, making it hard for small businesses to afford either - are you listening, RIM?) you can choose to use the Web Server or the Desktop Redirector. I recommend highly that you stick with the Web Server. The Redirector forces you to keep your desktop computer on all the time, and it is annoying even when it is working properly. Web Server is the way to go here.

With the Web Server, your emails come to you realtime, automatically. It's great, and is the key attraction to BlackBerry in the first place. As to the functionality of composing emails, I can only say that the full QWERTY keyboard is superior to the predictive text concept of the 7100. Generally the predictive text works OK, but it is tedious to spell proper names, technical words, etceteras, and there are several very common three and four letter words that it always seemed to guess the opposite of what I wanted, like "see" and "are". You need a little more patience. I definitely recommend the full QWERTY keyboard, regardless of which smartphone you prefer. Anyone who claims that Palm's Graffiti solution can compare to the speed and ease of a keyboard hasn't used both or cannot type.

I found the sync between Outlook and the 8700 to be flawless. MUCH BETTER than Palm OS, and as a longtime Palm user I know what I'm talking about. You can even sync it to multiple address databases (I sync to my personal addresses and my corporate addresses simultaneously) and it does fine with over 5,000 addresses in memory. It has NEVER locked up on me or performed even a soft reboot.

Web surfing on Cingular's EDGE network is MUCH faster than on the older GPRS network. The 8700 takes full advantage of that. It's the first smartphone I can actually use for web surfing without getting impatient. You would still much rather be at your desktop for web surfing, but in a pinch, you can look up stock prices, check the weather, find a restaurant, etceteras, without having to wait too long between screens. I would say that the 8700 refreshes a web page in about 25% of the time needed for its older models.

There are a bunch of ringtones, which I could care less about, but they are polyphonic and very clear. The speakerphone actually works well. The holster on the 8700 is excellent and a huge upgrade versus the soft case of the 7100 and even better than the original BlackBerries. Very useful and well made. I have not seen a better one on any phone, period.

I love this phone. It's the best available, and I say that confidently. I fault the device only for not offering full BlueTooth capability, but I guess perfection might be an unrealistic expectation.

Great product, but when I tried to port over a number from a Verizon account, I was informed I would be charged $250. here's the fine print:

"By accepting this Equipment Discount, you agree that for a period of 181 days after your new line of service is activated, you

1. Will pay your balance due to Cingular each month
2. Will not disconnect this Cingular line of service
3. Will not transfer this equipment to another Cingular line of service
4. Will not port an existing phone number to this new line of service
5. Will not change your Cingular service rate plan to a lower monthly service rate
6. Will not use this new line of service to replace an existing account with Cingular

If these conditions are not met, you herein agree to a $250 reimbursement to be paid to this Cingular-authorized agent. This reimbursement of the $250 Equipment Discount will only be charged if the above conditions are not met."

I just picked up my new 8700c at my Cingular store a couple of days ago, and could hardly be much happier thus far. I had a BB 7290c for almost 2 years, and don't see how I could go with another device. Just one note before I get into the device specifically, the Cingular network perfroms capably where I am, and where I commonly use the phone, so that probably has some bearing on my level of satisfaction. Things I like about my 8700c:

(1) Works with BMW bluetooth! This device actually transfers the address book to the car, which is an upgrade over the 7290, which required manual entry of phone numbers in order to dial using the car's audio controls, or to use the phone to dial the contact. Set up was easy, and it works flawlessly.

(2) Smaller footprint than my old 7290, more aesthetic, with bigger/much better screen.

(3) Better phone functionality. It's nice to have the green/red send/end buttons so if someone has to answer your phone for you if your hands are full with something else, they can figure it out. Also, less chance to accidentally end calls by inadvertedly hitting the ESC button.

(4) EDGE - far better browsing speeds.

(5) Still the great BB email client.

(6) Increadibly easy to sync with MS Outlook for contacts and for calendar.

(7) ability to read attachments without 3rd party application.

(8) no camera

Probably my only complaint is that its only enabled BT profile is the handsfree phone one (as far as I can tell). It would b nice to connect with my laptop via Bluetooth.

My advice for anyone who buys one: take some time to learn the device, like how to hide or move icons, edit text efficiently, move around different applications (like messages, address book, calendar) while using the phone, etc. It is a very powerful device, and if you spend some time learning how to use many of its time saving functions, you will be well served.

A short review but I must give credit where it is due. The 8700c is my first Blackberry and I truly love it. I develop PDA applications and I also have an iPAQ 2215 and Verizon-Audiovox 6600 pocket pc phone. With the Blackberry I finally have a PDA that does everything I need to do so simply. I can actually enter a memo, event, set and alarm etc. using the PDA much faster than if I used a notepad. Think about this. How often do you write something down on paper only to transfer it to your PDA when you have time?

The Blackberry rules the world of "tools for a task". In other it is designed for communication and it excels way beyond the pocket pc at this. There is no camera or media player etc. and I don't miss them. It's just nice to have an item that actually makes my life easier. The phone is great. I could barely use my 6600 while driving a stick. Even with the wireless headset, try turning on your device, connecting to the phone and bluetooth with your stylus while driving. Almost impossible with the pocket pc. The blackberry scroll wheel is sooooooo much quicker.

The most important thing is that the OS is so stable. I have been using PDA'S and writing apps for them for several years and I thought they all crashed often. Performing a soft reset was just part of it and I grew accustom to it. The Blackberry is so fast and so stable. I can multitask without "interference" from other programs. Performance is never slowed by other apps and I have only reset it twice in almost a month. My PDA needed a daily reset if using the phone with other large apps. Excellent job RIM. Keep it up.

The Blackberry 8700 is wonderful! It does a great job of retrieving email from all five of my accounts, and functions well as a phone and PDA. I am thrilled.

Until two weeks ago, I was carrying around a top of the line Dell Axim X30 with 624 MHZ and wireless capability, and a cell phone. I teach at several universities and do consulting work so I have five different email accounts and I'm constantly checking my email at least twice an hour. Prior to getting this Blackberry, I had to find a wireless spot to use my Axim, stay tied to my laptop, or pay out the nose for web access on my cell phone. It was terrible.

Now with the Blackberry, all of my email accounts are programmed in so I'm instantly notified when I get a message. Because I can respond within seconds, I never miss a beat. My students and clients often comment that I respond quickly to their needs, which they love. The 8700 from Cingular has GSM and dual band service so I can be almost anywhere in the world and still receive my email messages instantly. I was in Hong Kong last week and the Blackberry functioned flawlessly. I could use it as a phone in HK and also receive and reply to email.

Additionally, I love the fact that I can synch my MS Outlook calendar, contacts, address book, tasks, etc. to the Blackberry. (It also has the ability to synch with other PIM programs.) I have mine set to sound an alarm 15 mins before I'm due in a meeting or appt and it has been a life saver. When you are always on the go, it's easy to forget stuff. This Blackberry makes it easy to keep everything in one place. Oh, and surfing the web is a breeze. The display is a nice size and it's crisp and clear and shows almost all websites easily.

Lastly, I love the size of the 8700. I thought it would be a bit bulky but it's not. This version is about the same size as the 7290 Blackberry and fits nicely in your hand.

My only two complaints are that some of the buttons and functions are not immediately intuitive, and RIM has yet to come out with an assortment of cases for this version. But, after about 15 mins of playing around, I was able to figure out just about everything (the manual that RIM provides covers only the basics), and I found a great case on eBay.

I only wish I had discovered Blackberry sooner!

I often hear debates over who has the better smartphone --- Palm or BlackBerry??

I have two lines with Sprint PCS, with my personal line having a Treo 700p and my business line connected to a BlackBerry 8703

First off - I love both phones! However, they are very different, particularly in their strengths and weaknesses --- my review is based upon how well each smartphone handles the following things -

- PHONE FUNCTIONS

- EMAIL

- INTERNET

- PHOTOGRAPHS

- MULTIMEDIA (Music & Movies)

- SPEAKERPHONE

- BLUETOOTH

- COMPUTER SYNCHRONIZATION

- MISC - (Text Messaging, System Stability, PDA Functions)

Okay..... here we go -

1. PHONE FUNCTIONS

For me, the Treo 700p has much better phone functions --- this is mostly because of their touch screen capabilities

When I wanna dial a number off of the Treo, I immediately start spelling the person's name on the keyboard, and I immediately go to my phone book, where I can touch the number I want to dial

The BlackBerry is a bit more complicated, as I cannot touch the screen --- therefore, I'm limited to dialing based upon scrolling to the right name and then pressing the number

Overall, the BlackBerry isn't bad ---- however, I know a lot of people like to use their phone while driving their car (with a bluetooth headset on) or like to use the phone in situations that require a quick reaction.... if you wanna use your phone in the car, then the Treo is the best choice, mainly because the touch screen allows one to go to any name and dial immediately --- as funny as this sounds, you can really only use a BlackBerry, for phone calls, in situations when you can give it total devotion

With that said.... if you are not dialing numbers while driving in the car, then the BlackBerry's phone functions are fine.... they take a bit longer to get going, due to scrolling.... but they get the job done just fine (and yes, you can use the keyboard to look up names in the address book, as well)

2. EMAIL

Okay - this is really the only category where the BlackBerry really beats up the Treo 700 and beats it up GOOD!!!

First off, email on the Treo 700p is no totally useless.... the Treo comes with VersaMail, a program that handles all POP, IMAP, and other email accounts with ease..... there's also a program available called CHATTER EMAIL for the Treo, which makes the Treo's email functions even faster and more versatile

However, the big problem with Treo email is that one has to download the email --- in other words, you have to log onto ChatterMail or VersaMail and wait for a few mins as the program downloads all of the email you've received --- now you can configure a program like ChatterMail to be constantly downloading your email, so one receives it immediately, however this is a BAD choice because such a function basically keeps the Treo on a 'constant' phone call, as it downloads email --- in turn, your cell phone mins get eaten up, battery life goes down quickly, and phone calls are missed do to your phone being occupied on the 'other line'

THe BlackBerry, on the other hand, downloads all of your emails immediately, without draining the battery, without interrupting phone calls, and without eating up your cell phone mins --- my BlackBerry can download my emails more immediately than my own laptop

In addition, the BlackBerry 8703 keyboard is absolutely awesome --- so I much more prefer to write emails over my BlackBerry than I do over my Treo 700p

In summary on this one, the BlackBerry is clearly much better with email.... and if email is the most important thing to you, then go BlackBerry for sure! --- however, the Treo 700p holds its own with email, provided that you are willing to wait and download your emails over something like Chatter or Versamail

3. INTERNET

Both phones handle internet similarly, however, I would give the edge to the Treo 700p mostly because of the TOUCHSCREEN, as it allows one to navigate webpages with more freedom

That said, the BlackBerry is fien too, just a bit more limited

Both phones can connect your laptop to the internet, depending on your cell service --- I've been very pleased with the Treo's ability to connect my laptop to the internet, provided that I use its USB cable with the program USB MODEM ----- I don't have as much experience doing this with my BlackBerry, but I have heard that the results are favorable when doing so

EVDO speeds on both phones are very good

4. PHOTOGRAPHS

If pictures are important, then the Treo 700p is the CLEAR winner

The Treo 700p comes with a great multimedia program, fueld by an embedded Kinoma player, which can allow you to show off pictures with pretty good ease

I'm a Mac user, so I use MarkSpace to get my pics onto my Treo and I'm very pleased with the Treo's ability to show off pictures --- the resolution and quality are shown off very well

I have yet to get pictures onto my BlackBerry though --- I have seen other friends of mine show off pictures on their BlackBerry, but the program does not seem as sophisticated or as user friendly as Palm's

Clearly, the Treo 700p is made to handle pics, whereas the BlackBerry is lagging in this area

5. MULTIMEDIA (Movies/Music)

I am actually DEEPLY impressed with how well the Treo 700p can handle multimedia, both music and movies

I am a filmmaker myself --- with the use of the program, KINOMA PRODUCER, I have compressed many of my short films to small files, for the purposes of showing them off of my Treo to some friends --- the Treo 700p plays the files excellently, with sound coming out of the speakerphone and the resolutions of the films looking excellent!

Even better is that the Treo 700p can handle MP4's and MPEG4's, allowing me to encode the best resolution and best sounding files onto my Treo ---- sadly, the Treo 700p cannot play songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store, as those are copyright protected, but it will play anything that one encodes with my own devices

The music/mp3 player on the Treo is also excellent, playing tunes through the speakerphone, or through the headphones that the Treo comes with

As far as I can tell, the BlackBerry 8703 does not have any multimedia functions, so good luck getting an MP4 or MPEG4 onto this thing ---- however, Blackberry is working on this, so future BlackBerry's will have this capability --- but if playing movies and music is important to you, then the Treo 700p is the only choice in this department

Lastly - important to include that the Treo 700p also has a built in camera and a built in camcorder --- and the camcorder movies taken on the Treo are actually pretty good quality! --- the BlackBerry 8703 has no camera and no camcorder

6. SPEAKERPHONE

The Speakerphone on both phones is excellent and easy to use, with both being loud and clear

If speakerphone is your main buying point, then you couldn't go wrong with either phone

7. BLUETOOTH

Bluetooth is very solid on both phones

I've been especially pleased with the Treo 700p, whose BlueTooth capabilities are much more solid and stable than the old Treo 650p

The BlackBerry seems to have few problems connecting with my bluetooth headset and other devices ---- I would say that both phones boast great bluetooth capabilities

8. COMPUTER SYNCHRO

It's important to note that I have a MAC and I sync all my phones off of my Mac

For the Treo 700p, I use MarkSpace's Missing Sync, as Palm's software is terrible

For the BlackBerry, BB has launched free Mac-Syncing software, that can be found on their website

Syncing any smartphone off of a Mac is never an easy thing and I've not been too happy with the process

With that said, I'm pleased with MarkSpace's Missing Sync as, for the most part, the program does a good job of syncing my Treo's contacts and calendars, as well as doing photos and music --- unfortunately, the syncing process seems to take forever (usually at least 35 mins) but syncing once a week isn't a big deal

I was pleased with how well the BlackBerry synced to my Mac, however, none of the email addresses for my contacts have transferred --- so there are some kinks to work out, and it could be that I'm just not syncing it right

Main point - both phones sync fine with the Mac, but expect some minor probs --- however, for what its worth, I'm pretty satisified overall

9. MISC - (Text Messaging, System Stability, PDA Functions)

It is important to note that the BlackBerry is MUCH MORE stable than the Treo 700p --- I have had my BlackBerry shut down on me once in the last few months, whereas the Treo 700p probably shuts down once a week

So if stability is important, than the BlackBerry is the way to go

The calendar and address book functions of both phones are excellent, but I would say that the Treo 700p's PDA functions are a 'bit' better

Both phones are fine with text messaging, as well

--- CONCLUSION ---

If I could only use ONE of these phones, then I would definitely pick the Treo 700p --- the reasons why are because the multimedia functions very much impress me, as I like to store some pics and movies on there

In addition, the phone functions are easier to navigate and the touchscreen is something that I couldn't live without on a daily basis --- text messaging, bluetooth, and PDA functions are all excellent, as well, with email being the only thing that lags (but even that's not so bad)

However, I love the BlackBerry's solid system and its excellent email performance

Having one as my personal cellphone and the other as my business setup is the perfect balance --- however, I would give the slight edge to the Treo 700p

With that said --- if you want multimedia and other phone functions, in addition to better phone functions, then the Treo 700p is your phone

If you are all business and clearly value EMAIL over multimedia, then the BlackBerry may be your best bet

Hope that helps

PEACE AND LOVE & HAPPY BUYING!!!!

Muhammad Ali Hasan

Most descriptions for the 8700c (not 8700g or 8700r) says that the phone supports MMS. It does but Cingular doesn't allow you to receive MMS messages on this device. So the phone doesn't really support MMS.

Cingular's service doesn't support:
- MMS
- Yahoo Messenger
- Blackberry Messenger (but there are workarounds)
- Blackberry Internet Service 2.0

If you have several POP3 or IMAP accounts added on your Blackberry, Cingular's service only allows one from address. So if your from address is addr1 and you receive an email on addr2, when you reply, it will be sent with the from address of addr1.

Beyond that, the device is great. I had a Treo 650 that I synced with Outlook. The Treo would mess up my calendar and address book. It was so bad that I stopped using the Treo and went to a Razr. The blackberry does a great job at syncing. Web browsing doesn't take long. The user interface is very user friendly.

I've had Treos ever since they first came out, and was a fervent supporter--except for one thing. The products themselves are basically junk. Great interface, great looking, great mix of PDA and phone, but constant headaches. Their upgrade from 600 to 650 was in many ways a mess: lower volume, worse reception, much worse battery power. Out of frustration, tried the Blackberry 8700...and I am a convert. The interface is trickier, at least until you discover all the hidden little shortcuts--dialing from the contact list is a pain in the butt. But other than that, I'm completely sold.

Phone reception is terrific, and the volume is the right level, so you can actually hear! The web browser is astonishingly fast, and it looks great on the bigger Blackberry screen. The battery outlasts the Treo by at least three times. Beats the Treo by a mile. Email is now a pleasure...no more waiting for the satellite connection both on receiving and sending, and you can much more easily browse through your mail. It doesn't lock up, no more of those weekly (or more often) soft resets.

It would be nice if it were cooler looking. And a keyboard lock would be nice; I keep speed-dialing by mistake when I pull it out of my pocket. But finally there is a PDA/phone combo that really puts the Treo to shame.

I bought the Blackberry 8700c because I wanted a phone, e-mail client, and organizer in one device. I researched the device and read countless reviews. Everyone was right that the e-mail, organizer, and additional features are spectacular on this device. In fact, my company has a Blackberry Enterprise sever so I actually received e-mail on my Blackberry before I got it on my desktop.

However, I wanted a phone also. The call quality on the 8700c is terrible. There is no filter on the mouthpiece so it picks up a tremendous amount of background noise without picking up the actual speaker's voice. I live in NYC, so I want to make phone calls while walking down the street. Realizing the limitations of the device as a phone early on, I purchased a Bluetooth headset thinking that this would alleviate the problem. However, this still did not improve the call quality. There is still too much background noise the 8700c doesn't filter out. On top of people not being able to hear me, I could not hear them on this device. It's sad to read that this Blackberry is a better phone than the others, because it's pretty terrible. If you plan to use the 8700c as a phone in an environment where there is a lot of background noise, steer clear of purchasing because you will regret it and be left with an expensive non-functional phone.

Three other colleges in my office also got the 8700c with a voice and data plan around the same time as me. They all share the same accolades but also complain that the phone part of the Blackberry is terrible (some have different carriers besides Cingular, so it's not the network). I was fortunate enough to return mine and cancel the plan. I plan to get an 8700c again, but only for data and without all the strings attached that Amazon's contract implies.

I did like the compact size of the 8700c. It fit nicely in my pocket and was not bulky like the older models. Also, the screen is great, especially the auto-adjusting aspect. The browser was not as fast as I would like, but this could be due in part to limitations of the Cingular EDGE network. I would only recommend the 8700c for data.