Customer Reviews

BlackBerry 8700g Phone (T-Mobile)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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

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.

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.

It would be nice to have people write a review of a product that they actually used instead of person ranting about an item that they never even purchased. Plus if customer service is so bad on the phone, why didn't they just pass by a T-mobile store. T-mobile reps in store, I have found to be extremely helpful and pleasant to deal with.

Anyways, the newest addition to the Blackberry family is a great asset to their line-up. The Edge data transfers are fast when surfing the web and downloading email attachments. Viewing some excel, word and pdf files are now possible without purchasing additional software. I said "some" because I have noticed that excel files with large worksheets will not open. Also note that pdf font formats are adjusted to view in Blackberry assigned font formats (meaning you can read the pdf file but not in its original form. Form factor is much better than the 7290. It is a little smaller and lighter. The viewing screen is crisper and brighter than previous models. The latest Blackberry desktop is available from T-mobile's website. It will now allow you to import PIM data from Palm/Treo and Windows Mobile based device to your Blackberry. Bluetooth is a continued feature in this latest edition. As noted by many in the media, the product features from Blackberry can be addicting, creating the name Crackberry. I hope people, who are unsure about purchasing, will pass by a T-Mobile store to take a look at it in person before buying it on Amazon (Best price for the 8700g). It has a very sleek look compared to its predecessors and can easily sway you to purchase after actually playing around with the device.

It's been a couple of months since I replaced my BlackBerry 7290 with an 8700G. One word: wow. The difference between the new screen and the old is the difference between HDTV and conventional television: brightness, clarity, and contrast are all so much better that it's just hard to put the differences into words. Suffice it to say that when I showed several folks Google's local mapping application (google.com/glm) running in satellite view, they were stunned at the detail.

Along with the screen, the web browser is equally improved. Pages that refused to render in the 7290 now work fine (e.g., baseball-reference.com) and, of course, the close-to-broadband-speed EDGE network significantly improves the browsing experience. No more surfing to a page and then holstering the device while you wait for it to load. A page that would load in 20-30 seconds before might load now in 2-3.

The green and red phone buttons provide quick access to phone features, just the way a conventional mobile phone user would expect. For an experienced 7290 user, this is a bit disconcerting, but most will get used to it quickly.

A couple of nits: the dial-by-name feature doesn't work the way it did in the 7290. If you've gone to phone mode and start typing, nothing happens unless you hit numeric keys. And I've not figured out if this is a settable option - needless to say, it's highly annoying. You have to select a menu in order to dial by name.

Battery strength seems a tad weaker than that of the 7290, probably due to the automatically adjusted screen brightness, which always seems to be dialed up to the "for-the-love-of...-that's-bright" setting.

In summary, it doesn't get much better than this for fans of convergence-devices. Having had a 7100, 7290 and now this device, I can say that -- thus far -- the 8700G is the ultimate BlackBerry.

I've had my 8700g for a few days and it's awesome. I can't compare it to previous BB models, because this is my first one. I have a fairly new iPAQ hx2495 pocket pc, and I would say with no hesitation, I like the BB much better. I really like the push email feature and the EDGE high speed internet service. I've even used my 8700g as a modem on my laptop using EDGE.

I've spent a few hours on one of the popular Blackberry forums reading posts, FAQs, etc. I'd recommend anyone who is interested in buying the 8700g do the same. It gives good insight on other's user experiences and issues.

Ok. This review will be easy. I'm a crackberry enthusiast. I owned the previous 7105t and loved it the minute I started using it. What I love the most about these phones is the user interface (UI). Most other models use menus that are tedious and downright annoying. Blackberry software gets it right 100% of the time. With the use of a scroll wheel, menu selection and choice is fast. Couple this with the full sized keypad of the 8700g and you've got one powerful, portable device.

So when I stepped up to this new 8700g, I was simply amazed on many facets:

1) The screen is large, bright and very colorful.

2) The full qwerty keyboard is somewhat difficult in size, but you do adapt quickly and typing speed will increase. I can type almost as fast as a laptop now. Thats a significant improvement over the traditional multi-tap process.

3) The fit and finish is top notch. Really. This phone is *very* pleasing to the touch. I was intimidated by the width at first. It's pretty wide, but again, you adapt and move on. The chrome mixed with the bluish-black exterior is very elegant yet informal. The device lures you in!

4) Have I said it enough? The UI is very intelligent. Searching the address book uses multi-tap search. Enter the first three letters and it narrows down the choices in real-time. From the holster, I can initiate a call in about four seconds. I have yet to fumble through the address book and make a bad call...

5) The technology! Paired with T-Mobile, this phone is part of the EDGE network. Basically, it's an enhanced GPRS network providing 4x the speed over a traditional GPRS. It is definitely noticable too. When browsing the web on this blackberry, it's quick and responsive to my queries. It's not as fast as DSL or Broadband, but it is much improved over the traditional network.

6) Enhanced Audio. Finally! MP3 ringtones and custom methods to import your own ringtones. I've been watching my friends for TWO years now, enjoying such features. Now I can sneer back with joy, listening to Chewbacca roar when I get a call...

There are a few drawbacks, such as a screen that absorbs your face-juice. I'll be honest here: It's summer and when it's hot outside, you perspire. That gets on the screen and doesn't look so nice. I learned to keep an LCD wipe handy to keep it clean.

Another downer for some is the lack of a camera. Personally, I don't look at that as a "feature"...I probably sound old fashioned here, but I'm a little annoyed and disturbed that hundreds of thousands of people have portable recording devices in their pockets. Sure, they're really handy when your local town-tweaker decides to wig out on the sidewalk. Those make great shots, but it's just so unnatural. I'm happy to see that there is no camera. If it came with one, I'd probably cover it with black tape.

Overall, this device scores a 5. In my opinion, it's the best handheld out there.

Van Man

After months of research I have to say that the 8700g is probably the best smartphone available for T-Mobile. That's even including the new "Pearl" that includes a camera function.

If you really need a multi-fuction business oriented smartphone you're very likely going to need email access, a somewhat larger screen (larger than what you get on a regular cell), a qwerty keyboard, and reception that compares to a good cell phone.

The Blackberry Pearl has a smaller screen and keyboard. The SDA has those problems plus a poor reaction time when leaving and entering coverage areas. The MDA is just a bad cell phone. (And let's not even talk about the Sidekick.) The Blackberry 7100t has the smaller keyboard and is simply a less powerful and slower smartphone.

As of late 2006, if you're on T-Mobile and you need a smartphone to access the Internet and email, this is the one to have. I say this even with the "soon to be released" 7130 which I believe is faster, but still more like the 7100t in terms of limited functionality.

With that said, the 8700g does have its flaws. Some minor and one very big one.

While the reception of the 8700g is very good - better than some of the normal phones I've used, it still could be better. I found it be a tad less receptive than my older Nokia 6101. This has caused problems as I only get one to two bars in my home. Most of the time it's OK, other times I get poor reception. That never happened with the Nokia.

My biggest gripe is that there's no Wi-Fi. If you live in an area with complete cell coverage then perhaps this won't matter to you. I live in a semi-rural area where some locations have zero cell coverage. However, within those areas are countless Wi-Fi hotspots where I could access the Internet. This is absolutely necessary for my work. To address this problem I picked up a Palm PDA. To be blunt, however, I just wish Blackberry would offer this function. It's something that professional reviewers on sites such as cnet note as a problem in all their reviews.

On a far lesser note, I wish the interface was more clean or, at the very least, allowed the user to change it more. For example, on other phones things like alarm clock, calculator, etc. will get group together within a single folder. Here they all get their own menu choice. This creates unneeded clutter. I'd like to be able to group them together. And speaking of alarm clock - for a business oriented phone, this function is poor at best. It completely lacks a timer function. For example, if you want to take a quick 15 minute cat nap you have to go in and program the alarm clock to go off at a specific time instead of just setting it for 15 minutes.

The other interface problem is that the scroll wheel button does not have a consistent pattern. In some programs clicking it is the same as hitting the return key. In other programs it brings up a menu. After awhile you get the hang of which programs do what. Nonetheless, this creates an unneeded learning curve to a basic function. They really need to have a return key function button right next to the scroll wheel. This would allow for consistency and make it easier to hit return without having to first scroll on the right and then switch to a key on the front.

Lastly, on the plus side, the 8700g, despite what some claim, does allow for other bluetooth devices besides an earpiece. I have a Shasta keyboard that works great. According to some manufacturer sites, it's also possible to use a bluetooth scanner, although I've yet to try it.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the 8700g. (Can't say that about either of my last two new phones - a Samsung and a Nokia.) I also look forward to buying a Blackberry in the future when perhaps they've added Wi-Fi and improved the interface a bit.

Edit: As of around mid-October, T-mobile will finally release a smartphone with (stereo!) bluetooth and Wi-Fi. It's called Dash and it looks a lot like a Blackberry, but runs Windows Mobile. Besides the badly needed Wi-Fi, the phone also has a 1.3 camera and video, takes a memory card, is MyFaves capable, and allows for short voice recordings. And here's a clincher - it also shares the Blackberry push email capability. Drawbacks - fickle keys that sometimes don't work (especially the volume controls).

Would I buy the Dash instead of the 8700g if I was buying now? Probably. Such is life when it comes to technology. Always changing.

I disagree with the review below. I had treos, PPCs and other over priced phones and I found the blackberry to be the most reliable phone in the market. Theres no un-expected restarts, it doesnt freeze and the operated system is very stable, no lagging what so ever!! T-mobile service was awesome also, I called their service line, was on hold for about 10mins (which is normal for any retail store) and the sales rep matched cingular's price for the same phone which was about $200 less! Overall satisfied, best phone I ever used!

I've never used a Blackberry before, but found this device to be fantastic. The green and red buttons perform the same familiar functions as my old cell phone, but the nifty screen and easy interface makes it better than a smartphone. I had been told it would be difficult to use a Blackberry, and was a bit intimidated by this, but I found that the functions became second nature very quickly. Overall, a great device!