BlackBerry 8700g Phone (T-Mobile)

by BlackBerry

Product Details

• Item Weight: 4.6 ounces
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• ASIN: B000FEHG76
• Item model number: 8700g
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The latest BlackBerry handheld is better than ever with a thinner profile, a huge screen, a more powerful processor, EDGE data support, and more. The BlackBerry 8700g, an integrated phone, email client (with support for corporate email servers), organizer, and web browser is the ultimate weapon for mobile professionals.

Take a closer look at the BlackBerry 8700g handheld's functions. You can also see it in action.

Design
Design-wise, the BlackBerry 8700g is a nice upgrade from BlackBerry devices of the past. Yes, the same handy trackwheel is present on the right side, and yes, you'll still find a full QWERTY keypad. This handheld is thinner and lighter, however, and the screen is bigger and brighter than ever; the high resolution 320 x 240 LCD display supports over 65,000 colors. Plus, intelligent light sensing technology automatically optimizes screen lighting levels for indoor and outdoor viewing. The BlackBerry 8700g also features large, dedicated Send and End keys for easier call management.

The popular BlackBerry user interface is here, too, but it's been updated with a new look. Plus, a powerful Intel XScale processor, 64 MB flash memory, and 16 MB SDRAM combine to deliver a dynamic, highly responsive experience when viewing attachments and graphics, browsing the web, and running applications. There's also a standard 2.5mm headset jack that can be used with the included headset, and a removable lithium-ion battery is housed in the rear of the unit.

Calling Features
Many of the calling capabilities folks have come to expect in a wireless phone are present, but the BlackBerry 8700g ups the ante with MP3 ring tones. Plus, the built-in speakerphone offers hands-free calling and convenient conference calls. The unit's Bluetooth capability (version 2.0) means you can use a wireless headset with the phone for handsfree calling. A vibrating alert, speed dial, and a contacts list/address book that is limited only by the unit's 64 MB of internal memory, are also included. The BlackBerry 8700g is a quad band phone designed for global roaming in 170 countries for voice and 90 countries for data.

When it comes to your hand, the BlackBerry 8700g fits right in.

Messaging, Internet, and Tools
The BlackBerry 8700g delivers the legendary BlackBerry email experience. With BlackBerry Internet Service, you can receive emails instantaneously from up to 10 of your existing email accounts. Or, if your company already has a BlackBerry Enterprise Server, you can choose a BlackBerry Enterprise Server Plan to access your corporate email. With BlackBerry push technology, you don't need to retrieve your email, as BlackBerry devices are designed to remain on and continuously connected to the wireless network, allowing you to be discreetly notified as new email arrives. Support is also built-in for viewing email attachments (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, WordPerfect, and PDF formats).

Because the BlackBerry 8700g is fast, and because it supports EDGE high speed data networks, users can take advantage enterprise applications that are wirelessly enabled by the BlackBerry platform, such as sales force automation, field service automation, network and systems management, and more.

If your company has a BlackBerry Enterprise Server installed, you can also take advantage of the power of wireless calendar synchronization. Your calendar events are exchanged wirelessly and automatically so that your desktop calendar and BlackBerry handheld calendar are synchronized. All your Outlook meeting requests, changes, and updates are instantaneously synchronized instantaneously with your desktop. Make meeting requests, invite new attendees and more, all on your BlackBerry 8700g. Users without BlackBerry Enterprise Server support can manually sync with their desktop calendars and contacts via Bluetooth or USB using the included BlackBerry Desktop Software.

Use the BlackBerry 8700g handheld's Web browser to access the Internet from the palm of your hand. Browse Web sites, get up-to-date stock quotes, read the latest news, check weather reports and more. Wireless text messaging and multimedia messaging (MMS) is also supported by the BlackBerry 8700g.

The BlackBerry 8700g ships with a number of tools, including a calculator with a unit converter and a to-do list. The handheld's software is based on the Java platform, meaning Java-compatible games and applications can be added to the device.

Vital Statistics
The BlackBerry 8700g weighs 4.7 ounces and measures 4.3 x 2.7 x 0.8 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of digital talk time, and up to 16 days of digital standby time. It runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 GSM/EDGE frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

Product Description

More power for power users. Browse the Web, check your e-mail, and download large files in the blink of an eye, thanks to faster EDGE technology and an Intel Xscale processor.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

103 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THe Ultimate BLACKBERRY vs TREO Review - BB 8703 vs Treo 700p, December 26, 2006

By 

Muhammad Miguel Ali Hasan "Film Director & Po... (Sunset Beach, California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: BlackBerry 8700g Phone (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone)

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 ---... Read more ›

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars All around excellent product, except Instant Messaging, May 17, 2006

By 

David Wallerich (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: BlackBerry 8700g Phone (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone)

I've been using this product for two weeks now and am happy to report it lives up to my very high expectations.

This is my first "smartphone" or PDA/Phone combo ever. I bought it for phone capabilities, wireless push email, web browsing and instant messaging. The telephone function is well-implemented and certainly was not an afterthought, as I've heard on other devices. Placing a call is quick and easy, and the address book search is lightning quick (my old Motorola V600 was pokey!). The microphone is the best I've used at canceling background noise such as wind and traffic, and as others have said, the speakerphone quality and volume is excellent.

Both email and web browsing are spectacular, and the Mail interface is excellent. It provides a consolidated list of SMS, MMS, Email and Instant Messaging conversations. The SMS message display is threaded, so you can easily scroll down to view the entire conversation. I had to call tech support to get MMS picture support completely setup (the T-Mobile picture web site is less than stellar), but it works.

The web browser is fast and accurate, and given the screen size limitations, it does an excellent job of rendering web pages in a usable and readable format.

In all applications, this BlackBerry is loaded with shortcut keys. Once you pick up these shortcuts, navigation is amazingly quick and simple. It's worth the time to learn the shortcuts so you don't use the trackwheel for everything.

*** Notes on Instant Messaging (skip if you don't care):
My biggest disappointment - and one for which I contemplated making this a 4-star review - is Instant Messaging. The built-in messaging application is OZ Instant Messaging, and allows you to chat on 4 networks.

What I didn't know is that it is not a true online instant messenger application. Behind the scenes, it sends instant messages using SMS, and on the other person's end, repackages those SMS messages into the IM application. It seems like a novel idea, but the side effects are awful: OZ Messenger's ability to stay "connected" for chat, report the online/offline status of others, and report YOUR status as online/offline is hit or miss. Sending and receiving messages is also very unreliable. During the three days I struggled through this, roughly half of my messages weren't sent due to a "network error", despite having 4 or 5 bars and a full EDGE connection. (Side note - I'm also worried T-Mobile will bill me for SMS usage when I used this instant messenger)

The good news: you can download Google Talk for free, and it is a true online instant messenger. I have had excellent experiences with it. You can talk with other GoogleTalk members, Gmail users or any other IM application that is Jabber-compliant. There is a complicated process (I haven't tried) to get GoogleTalk to communicate with the other networks. There are also third party IM apps you can purchase for $20-40 that do the same thing on other networks.
***

Bottom line: you can't go wrong with this marvel of engineering for phone, email and web browsing, but keep low expectations for the built-in instant messaging application.

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific phone/email combo device, July 2, 2006

By 

DB - See all my reviews

This review is from: BlackBerry 8700g Phone (T-Mobile) (Wireless Phone)

Amazing that people give the blackberry 1 star because they don't like t-mobile's customer service. but i guess some people switching from a different cell provider want to know what to expect with the total package of service/phone functionality. So I will briefly share my experience.

I went with T-Mobile's 8700g because I was tired of carrying around my work blackberry 7290 and my personal cell phone...I wanted ONE device that was small enough to comfortably carry in my pocket, that would let me stay connected to email and that I could use as my cell phone. Our office uses T-Mobile for the blackberries and I used sprint for my personal cell coverage, but since I had no obligation to use one carrier over another, I was willing to go with the service that offered the best combo of price, phone choices and coverage.

I was at first tempted to switch to the Treo, but I'd heard too many people talk about frequent crashes and dropped calls. My brief experience playing around with it in the store confirmed my decision to stick with the Blackberry. While the Blackberry doesn't have as many bells and whistles, it handles what it is does do VERY well. There is no camera or MP3 functionality, so if you're looking for that, keep fishing. But if you want reliable email that is pushed to the device in real time, a great phone and good organizer, all in a system that NEVER crashes, then the blackberry is definitely hard to beat. The 8700g is a major step up from the 7290. The screen is amazing, the system is super quick, the speaker phone is conference room quality, and the whole device is much smaller and more refined than my older blackberry. The battery life, while not quite as long the older model (I would imagine due entirely to the much brighter screen), is still incredible for a mobile device. I can easily go days without charging and not worry about it running out of power.

Switching my service from Sprint to T-Mobile was a breeze...they canceled my old service and moved the number over seamlessly. My only other customer service related experience with T-Mobile was switching phones within the first 2 weeks of service. I originally went with the Blackberry 7105t, which is a more phone-like device in appearance, but quickly realized how much I missed the full keyboard of a more traditional blackberry (if you aren't used to one keyboard vs another the 7105t s/b a definite consideration). I was able to switch to the 8700g with no questions asked in less than 10 minutes. And the T-Mobile network has been great - I've had no service disruptions or dropped calls in the last 2 months! Not sure if that's because the phone is better than my old one or because T-Mobile's coverage in Southern California is better than Sprint's, but whatever the case, I'm very happy. And the best part is price - $70/month for 1000 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekends, unlimited emails and unlimited internet. I couldn't find another carrier that came anywhere close in price.