Customer Reviews

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I've been looking for that one component that could take over for my utility belt of gadgets...blackberry, pager, cell. While I could have gone with one of the newer blueberries, I decided to wait because form factor is a big thing with me. Plus, my experience with the blueberry-type RIM devices has not been anything spectacular. Sure, they get mail great...but the color screens left a lot to be desired, and the phone wasn't anything to write home about.

About 6 months ago, I purchased a Nokia 6820, as it had a very small form factor, full keyboard, and the promise that Blackberry would be available. Well, in my area, the 6820 was great in certain areas but was a lousy phone at my house. The full feature set Bluetooth was nothing short of amazing...once you got it to work. So, 6 months later, I still carry a pager, a blackberry, and a cell phone.

I saw some reviews of this phone previously, but waited until a colleague of mine picked one up locally. I needed to feel the real phone and play with it a little, as the mock up at the store wouldn't have done anything for me.

Well, I ran out and picked one up...and what a fantastic device this is. The screen is absolutely beautiful with some minor washout in direct sun. Good radio signal all around, great speakerphone, and fantastic e-mail support (duh). The actual phone is much better than previous blackberries with clear reception.

Form factor is great and fits in the palm of my hand well. While not a small phone like the 6820, it is much better than previous models. Sturdily built, it seems like it could take a good amount of abuse.

The new keypad, albeit initially confusing, is fantastic. I was skeptical of the SureType capabilities, but after 10 minutes, it's about 99% accurate with what I'm typing. Overall, I'm very pleased.

My one caveat which makes this 4 stars rather than 5 would be Bluetooth support. It isn't full featured (such as syncing through Bluetooth, file sharing, etc), as the only feature it utilizes is a Bluetooth headset. Not a major negative, but something that does knock it down from perfection.

Accessories...comes with what it needs...two USB cables, one travel charger, case, software, handsfree earbud. Wish it came with a cradle like the older models, but it really doesn't need it.

Overall, great device. Just one feature short of amazing.

This isn't a phone for everyone. In fact, it's probably not great for a lot of people. However, if you have the BlackBerry Enterprise Server with your corporate Exchange account, and e-mail is your main line of communication, this thing will change your life.

Everything that is good about the BlackBerry devices in general is their ability to integrate with the server-side mail, calendar, and address book, as far as I am concerned.

With respect to the 7100t, it's best qualities are basically making it a better phone than the previous line of BlackBerries. The only compromise in doing so was the new keyboard, but if you're okay with it (I'm about as good on it as I am on the regular BB keyboards, i.e., not very) then it's not really much of a problem. The improvements are: size/form; ringers/ringer volume; speaker and microphone sound quality; buttons/shortcuts for locking keyboard/making calls/hanging up/switching to "vibrate" mode.

Nice things that BB integration adds to the phone (besides the obvious things like e-mail, easier SMS, etc) are tight integration with your server-side address book, appointments calendar, etc. This is really only good if you use Outlook to manage these thing primarily, and use the BB when you're not at your computer.

If you want more advanced phone features (custom rings/pictures for incoming callers) then you might be disappointed. It's a good phone, but nothing spectacular.

If you don't have a BES account (or otherwise tightly link your e-mail, calendar, and contacts in to the device) you'll also be unimpressed.

I picked up my blackberry a week after they came out. I LOVE it!!! I have had a few glitches (where AIM would not work) however, after an explanation and 50 free minutes, I didn't bat an eye at it. (They were still working on the programming b/c it was so new).

I can view attachments, I can link up all my emails (Except for my hotmail one for some reason).

I use a lot of the features on the phone including the calendar, tasks, alarm clock, web...there's so much you CAN do on this phone I'm wondering what you CAN'T do!!!

While attending a business meeting away in Florida (I am in MA) -- I found it great to communicate with my clients from so far away. Almost ALL the people at the conference had some form of a Blackberry and none had the slim design of the T-Mobile.

The larger blackberry's are a bit odd to handle. T-Mobile has the two letter keypad which recognizes the words you want to type. I have written long emails without missing a beat!

I also love the speakerphone feature -- check out the tips online for helpful ones like hitting the period button to interchange from speakerphone to handset during a call.

I keep finding new tricks with my phone! Last night while on a call with my mother, my sister called, I clicked one button and hit "join" and all three of us were talking!

While I had them on speakerphone, I played around by clicking the turnwheel and clicking on notes...the option to type notes while on a conference call is great!!! Especially if you need to take down directions, etc.!

I'm one very happy high tech girl over here!!!

T-Mobile has been great to me for the past 2+ years...I'll stick with them!!!

:) Enjoy!!

After being pretty happy with the Treo 600 I moved on to the Treo 650 with Cingular. Some of the issues I had with the 650 may have been related to Cingular but as a consumer who has the time or patience to sort through that. In general the 650 with Cingular was a total disaster. The phone had to be reset 2-3 times a day, bluetooth usage was hit or miss and I tried 3 different headsets. Worst of all, Palm just allows you to install whatever application you desire and does not manage any conflicts that may occur. Your first indication of a problem is the phone repeatedly recycling.

Now for the 7100t on T-Mobile. It's been nothing but goodness. Getting corporate e-mail configured on the phone was fool proof and having other e-mail accounts set up to sync with the phone was a breeze. The phone has NEVER frozen or reset. I have never had to reset the phone myself. The Treo manuals have an easy to access 'reset' button because it's such an issue for them. The keyboard requires a little bit of patience, but like a high tech car, if you want high performance and a good ride you have to take some time to learn. Yes, there are two letters on most of the keys and in the end that serves to provide a smaller device and also means you don't have to move your fingers around alot to type words. This becomes a nice benefit. I find I can type faster than I could with the Treo keyboard.

If you are used to a stylus, then it takes getting used to. The blackberry just does not use them and what that means is you can do almost everything with 1 hand.

A few words of advice to get productive with this phone:

1) download the user manual from the web site. it has lots of detail about the phone. be sure to read all the detail regarding how to use the keyboard.

2) don't be so concerned with 3rd party applications to put on the phone. this phone comes with most everything you need to be productive. i found with the Treo that I needed about $100 worth of accessory software to be productive and to make up for small software features that were not packaged with the phone.

3) learn the short cuts with the keyboard. you can scroll up and down by hitting 3 or 9 and can go to the top of a list or the bottom of a list by hitting 1 or 7.

Being a Palm junkie, I was entirely ready to junk my PDA, cell phone, and Blackberry for a Treo 600 (the 650 wasn't out at that point). However, after using a Blackberry and appreciating the functionality, I decided to look into the 7100t before I jumped on the Treo...I'm glad I did.

The form of the 7100t is tops in the BB line (I have a colleague who has the 7100g...not the same), and, at the same time, has the power to handle all the necessary tasks of a busy executive. Although the keyboard, with its "SureType" technology takes some practice (not much), it is a little bit of heaven once you get it down.

A little more about the form...this is the first BB that actually has the shape and feel of a cell phone. The original BB I owned was not conducive to phone use, even though it was offered. The 7100t is just about the same size as the Treo, making the basis for comparison very good...and compare I did. The 2.1-inch, 240-by-260 color display is probably the best I've seen in this size a device, and beats the lower res Treo like a whipping post. A friend of mine bought a Treo 650 recently (after seeing my 7100t) and came to me boasting about the "better keyboard." When we put them side-by-side, he was almost embarrassed at the screen quality of his Treo vs. my 7100t.

I use my 7100t extensively for organization purposes (PDA)...calendar, address book, and task list daily. The 7100t interface is extremely friendly and syncs perfectly with Outlook on my office PC. And, although the 7100t has IM and web browsing options as standard features, I don't make use of them due to the lack speed and screen size (although in a pinch, you can engage the browser and Google whatever you like).

A bit about the keyboard and Suretype...RIM's literature indicates that to make the device more "phone-like," they opted for the 20-key hybrid keypad in which the keys are relatively small, flat, and close together. Most keys have two letters and a number on them, but are arranged in the familiar QWERTY format. I've got fairly large hands, and don't have much trouble with the keys. RIM's proprietary SureType is leaps and bounds ahead of most predictive text systems previously offered. Its database has incredible breadth and is actually quite adept at discerning the word one is typing. Honestly, it takes less than an hour to get used to the predictive nature of the typing interaction, and then you're off and running.

As to cell service and functionality, perhaps I'm the lucky one here. I have had none of the difficulties expressed by other reviewers relative to dropped calls or static reception. Frankly, the quality of this cell is better than the last two cell phones I've owned (Samsung and Moto).

Although I wasn't overly excited about having to switch to T-Mobile to get this phone, the service has been excellent (so far) and their plans accommodating. Beyond that, this device has been absolutely wonderful and it is a constant companion.

Highly recommended.

GOAL: My primary objective when I first got this phone was to have a cell phone and pager in a single unit that worked where I live and fit in a plan my company provided. Fortunately, the blackberry service from T-Mobile did just that - and now I'm not sure how I ever worked without it.

SIGNAL & BATTERY: I'm a Database Administrator who is on call 24x7. It's important for me to stay connected with my co-workers and the automated paging systems set up on our servers. I needed a cell phone/pager that had adequate signal strength and decent battery life (I'm not too picky). The 7100t has almost double the signal strength of my Sanyo and the battery life is amazing. Generally I can go three to four days on a single charge. I put about 2 hours of talk time a day on it, I receive 20-30 emails a day on it, and I receive from 5-40 pages a day. Considering the amount of communicating back and forth with the server, 3-4 days is very impressive to me. I had to charge my other cell phone every night.

SOFTWARE: I'm not too impressed with the amount of freeware software available yet for this device. Don't get me wrong, there is plenty of software available if you are willing to pay $$ for it. The 7100t Java API is starting to get a bit more focus however. I am currently running an Office Communicator app that allows me to use MS Office Communicator at work. I am running another chat program that allows me to use ICQ, MSN Messenger, AIM, and Yahoo Messenger. I have a Telnet/SSH client installed that allows me to telnet/ssh into my *nix boxes. I also have a Windows Remote Desktop app that allows me to RDP into my Windows boxes. All free! The APIs are readily available for the Blackberry devices - complete with a 7100t emulator to do your testing. I would suspect freeware/open source apps to grow in number as more geeks like me start playing around with Java development.

SURETYPE: A nice feature of the blackberry is SureType. Since the manufacturers incorporated a full QWERTY keyboard into 20 keys, they had to come up with a nice way to use those keys. The answer is SureType - and I love it. SureType (in a nutshell) is an intuitive autocomplete that tries to match what you are typing with its internal dictionary. The cool thing about the 7100t is, you can add words to a Custom Word List, which puts those at the top of the preferred words. For instance, I would try to type the word "get" and it would come out "hey" if I moved fast and didn't pay attention. I added "get" to my Custom Word List, and that problem is history...now I just can't type "hey" as easily :)

TRACKWHEEL: One complaint I hear a lot about is the trackwheel on the side of the device. I have to say, being left-handed, I was not happy that the trackwheel was on the right. But, I'm used to being opressed by rightys. After a month of use, I have to say: "It's not that bad!" You get used to it. And, thinking about the function and design of the trackwheel, I'm not sure there is a better design.

SMS MESSAGING: How did I ever live without SMS Google? (...) - this is not a plug, this is a MUST HAVE for anyone needing directions, movie times, weather, phonebook lookup, etc. T-Mobile also has some cool SMS features on their website...be sure to check them out.

CUSTOM RINGTONES: If you search the blackberry forums long enough, you will find a UK version of "Mobile Phone Tools" by Philips. This will allow you to convert MP3/WAV files into ADP files that your blackberry can recognize. Upload those files to a webserver, browse to it on your phone's browser, and save the new ringtone. Yep - pretty easy! (...). I have "Yellow Ledbetter" right now - love it! Oh yeah, your blackberry also recognizes MIDI files - and you can save them as ringones. Here's what I do:
1) Find a MIDI file on the .NET
2) Email the link of that MIDI file to my blackberry
3) From the email, get the link of the MIDI file
4) Save the file and you have a new ringtone too!

EMAIL: I love email on my blackberry. I have Outlook set up so that a lot of the normal corporate SPAM goes to a custom server-folder...that way only the email that hits my inbox comes to my blackberry. I never have unread email in my inbox anymore. The blackberry helps me keep connected and be responsive even when I'm late (from a long night of database recovery) or in a meeting (that is going on...and on...and on!)

ADDRESS BOOK: Couldn't live without it! I update my contacts on my desktop at work, and they are automagically synchronized to my handheld! I can type on a full-size keyboard, make changes, and *poof* they appear on my blackberry. The reverse is true too - changes on my blackberry get reflected back to the server. So, when you're out and about, and you get a business contact or a nice lady's number, it will be in your Outlook address book when you return! Don't forget to put ICE in your address book - (I)n (C)ase of (E)mergency...Google it for more info...very important!

SUMMARY: I'm tired of typing. Great device, great signal, okay games and software, excellent connectivity with Outlook. I love it!

After three months of hard use, I'm not sure that this product has evolved from the BlackBerry 7230. What's better (all comparisons refer to the 7230):
1. the presence of a speakerphone;
2. the screen is much more vibrant (but scratches VERY easily); and
3. smaller size and better shape.

However, do not underestimate the absence of a full keyboard. You will acclimate fairly quickly, but typing is simply not as fast, especially at first. The software is quite intuitive but it has never gotten the word "but" right; instead, it invariably chooses "bit" (same with "duck" and its more colorful, rhyming counterpart). I have a problem at least once a day with some common words like "get" and "hey," "are" and "see."

On BlackBerries in general, I miss being able to give distinctive ring tones to callers and the absence of a true cursor is frustrating (when writing an e-mail, you can only go up and down through the document, not left to right, without deleting, such that there is no way to insert a word or sentence without a lot of extra keystrokes). The ringer volume at its loudest is very faint; forget about hearing it in another room. I am not a member of the ringtone fan club, but nor am I all that impressed with the tones that come with the BB and the inability to download new ones. Neither does there seem to be a way to turn off automatic e-mail forwarding without disabling the entire account, then having to set it up again later. I find it hard to believe that that's true, but after consulting with T-Mobile's customer service and the instruction manual, it is still an unresolved issue. The battery life is unimpressive but this isn't a huge issue for me (though it IS annoying that it takes forEVER to charge from 95% to 100%. We're talking hours). Like other reviewers, I've had problems with AOLIM not working, and am annoyed that I cannot view e-mail attachments. And what's the deal with making this only for PCs, not Macs?

The call clarity is great and e-mail forwarding is instant. I found this to be true in Mexico, Europe, and Asia, too. Surfing the Web is slow and should only be done if there is absolutely no alternative, although the full-color graphics are impressive. I am sold on this phone and won't got back to the 7230, but I won't miss it when the next BlackBerry generation is released.

I have had the phone for about 2 weeks now, and absolutely love it.

I have had virtually every phone out there, and until recently I carried an LG VX6000 and a Blackberry 957 for email with the full keyboard.

Initially typing on the 7100 is a bit confusing, but once you re-adjust to the keypad lay out the device takes over and rarely needs correction due to the expanse of the 35,000 word dictionary.

The keys are well laid out, the screen is bright, sharp and clear, even if it does kinda blow a bit in direct sunlight - but all color phones do. The device is small yet feels solid, unlike most phones out there.

The Browser and Instant Messenger clients are great with always on connection. Particularly impressed with the browser and the display of Internet sites.

Sound quality is good, call tracking is fantastic, and the phonebook rocks hard.

Great phone - you really can't go wrong. Oh yeah - the ability to open and view attachments in your email (which, I know other larger Crackberrys out there already have) really makes life easier on the road.

The 7100 is a compromise between a phone and a PDA, and it shows. Most other comments have highlighted the good points, so I'll focus on the gripes:

1. Send and end keys are waaay too small. Other keys are packed too closely together. Easy to punch the wrong key.

2. Very thin (like 1 pixel thin) browser fonts. No option to make them thicker.

3. Over-reliance on the trackwheel. Some 1 button shortcuts to the calendar/email/tasks/notes would be really really nice. this phone is *not* designed to be operated by one hand.

4. Fonts are sometimes bigger than the popup windows. Incoming calls get part of the number cut off. If you call out using the address book, multiple entries sometimes have their tags (work, mobile, etc) cut off. Maybe this is only with the T-Mobile theme.

5. Poor sync options if you don't have the Blackberry enterprise server software. There's basically no way to sync the calendar/task/phonebook wirelessly without BES.

6. The 4.0 desktop software doesn't play nice with a non-standard Outlook profile and multiple personal folders. Sometimes, the option to pick another folder disappears.

7. Can't use Bluetooth to interface with laptop. 'nuff said.

8. Short battery life. About 24 hours. Maybe I'm running too many apps in the background.

9. Supplied holster could be better. Clip doesn't swivel. Holster doesn't grip the phone as tight as before. This is after 7 days.

Everything else that's written as a review here is true, so I'll stick with the complaints.

1. No voice functionality. If they put Bluetooth on the phone, I'd like voice dialing. Not there.

2. No Voice memo. Yep, e-mail, games, and IM, but no Voice memo.

3. T-Mobile has eliminated the attachment of Images to e-mails!

You can open word docs, excel spreadsheets and PDF's and the manual says image files as well, but T-mobile does not support this feature. (please call to complain, this is a critical omission that should, and can be fixed)

4. No Camera. OK, this is the reason I got the phone. There are a lot of places you cannot take camera phones. My phone cannot have a camera. This one works for me.

Other than that it's a great phone and worth the $$$, talks well with MS Outlook, browser works well and IM is good. Odd keybord takes a bit but works great after 30 minutes of "typing"

only 3 stars until T-Mobile allows image attachments.