Review Mobile Phones

Palm Treo 650 (Alltel, CDMA)

Intro:

Palm Treo 650 (Alltel, CDMA)

The Palm Treo 650 for Alltel offers all the same features as the other carrier variations, including Bluetooth, a speakerphone, Palm OS 5.4, multimedia, and e-mail support. The Palm-based smart phone is available for $249.99 after discounts and rebates. For more information about the smart phone’s design and features, please read our review of the Palm Treo 650.

Our recommendation: Buy

Written by Marsha Phillips - New Haven, Kentucky

Keywords: cell phone company, mobile phone ringtones

• Palm Treo 650 (Alltel, CDMA)
• Palm Treo 650 (Alltel, CDMA) Battery
• Palm Treo 650 (Alltel, CDMA) Charger
• Palm Treo 650 (Alltel, CDMA) Ringtones

In the lab: Siemens A75 - cellular phone - GSM

Intro:
Product Short Spec: Band / mode: EGSM 900 / GSM 1800/1900 (Tri-Band) Talk time: Up to 250 min Weight: 2.8 oz

Siemens A75 - cellular phone - GSM

Our recommendation: Buy

Written by Javier Haskins - Madison, Georgia

Keywords: cect p168 cell phone, mobile phone coverage

• Siemens A75 - cellular phone - GSM
• Siemens A75 - cellular phone - GSM Battery
• Siemens A75 - cellular phone - GSM Charger
• Siemens A75 - cellular phone - GSM Ringtones

Review: Symbol MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant

Intro:
Product Short Spec: OS provided: Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Phone Edition Installed RAM: 64 MB Processor: Intel 624 MHzXscale Wireless connectivity: Bluetooth, IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g Input device type: Stylus, Keyboard, Touch-screen Smartphones ShortSpec: Band/mode: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 RAM installed size: 64 MB

Symbol MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant

Our recommendation: Buy

Written by Catherine Crawley - Neola, Utah

Keywords: cell phone in europe, cheap mobile phone plan

• Symbol MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant
• Symbol MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant Battery
• Symbol MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant Charger
• Symbol MC70 Enterprise Digital Assistant Ringtones

AskMeNow

Intro:

AskMeNow

After a slow start in the United States, text messaging finally has taken off as a popular form of communication. As its use has grown, several companies (besides the carriers) have jumped in to make money from the technology. One such company is AskMeNow, which offers a convenient and surprisingly accurate service that should please trivia nuts and information hogs. AskMeNow promises to answer a variety of queries through text messages. Simply send the service a text with your question (see below for the range of possibilities) and AskMeNow will respond right away. Each question costs 25 cents each plus your carrier’s text messaging fee, and the charges will show up on your normal carrier bill. That’s a bit overpriced in our opinion–particular since Google Mobile doesn’t charge for its competing service–and because some answers can arrive in multiple messages, your charges can shoot up quickly if you carrier charges for each message received. Using a pool of information specialists in the Philippines, AskMeNow says it can answer just about any question for which there is an answer on the Internet. And in that respect, it delivered. Within just a few minutes, it correctly identified the capital of Paraguay, when the Battle of Gettysburg occurred, the chemical symbol for potassium, and when All in the Family appeared on television. It also told us how many meters are in a mile, the distance between San Francisco and Sydney (both in miles and nautical miles), the French word for “highway,” and which musical artist sang “Hung Up” (Madonna and Paul Weller). In short, it handled just about any question we asked and answers usually were quite in-depth. It even answered a trick question by telling us where Sri Lanka is, when we asked the location of Ceylon (the country’s former name). It couldn’t tell us, however, how many 747s Boeing built (we know that’s random but the answer–1,375–is on the Internet), and it wouldn’t tell us the number of McDonald’s restaurants in Maryland because the question “conflicted with our question and answer policies,” which limit the system from answering “in-depth research questions” or anything that doesn’t meet its “family-friendly” editorial standards. To be fair though, we couldn’t find a quick answer either. AskMeNow also was successful in providing 411 listings, movie theater locations and show times, stock quotes, a three-day weather forecast by zip code, sports scores, and flight arrival and departure times for major airlines. It could look up reverse directory listings when we provided the phone number and got the address in return. Inspirational quotes, horoscopes, and a joke of the day are more amusing distractions. You also can get news headlines organized by keyword (such as “business” or “entertainment), but the results we got were a bit scattered and often confusing. For example, when we asked for the top headlines of the day for Dec. 8, it listed Rebecca Romijn joining the cast of Ugly Betty as the second most important story of the day. Also, a story on the injuries to Chicago Bears defensive tackle Tommie Harris had the cryptic headline, “D-line hamstrung: Harris may even miss postseason.”

Our recommendation: Buy

Written by Michael Jones - Hearne, Texas

Keywords: cell phone stalking, mobile phone car kits

• AskMeNow
• AskMeNow Battery
• AskMeNow Charger
• AskMeNow Ringtones

Preview: HP iPAQ hw6510 Mobile Messenger

Intro:
Product Short Spec: OS provided: Microsoft Windows Mobile for Pocket PC Phone Ed. 2003 SE Installed RAM: 64 MB Processor: Intel 312 MHzXscale Wireless connectivity: IrDA, Bluetooth Dimensions (W x D x H): 2.8 in x 0.7 in x 4.6 in Input device type: Stylus, Keyboard, Touch-screen, 5-way joystick Weight: 5.8 oz Smartphones ShortSpec: Band/mode: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 RAM installed size: 64 MB

HP iPAQ hw6510 Mobile Messenger

Our recommendation: Buy

Contributed by David Battin - Angoon, Alaska

Keywords: cell phone tracker, composers for your mobile phone

• HP iPAQ hw6510 Mobile Messenger
• HP iPAQ hw6510 Mobile Messenger Battery
• HP iPAQ hw6510 Mobile Messenger Charger
• HP iPAQ hw6510 Mobile Messenger Ringtones

Cingular 2125

Intro:
Positives: The Cingular 2125 packs a lot of features into its compact form factor, including a 1.3-megapixel camera, a speakerphone, Bluetooth and EDGE support, and Windows Mobile 5. The smart phone also offers outstanding battery life. Negatives: The Cingular 2125 suffers from mediocre call quality and doesn’t have integrated Wi-Fi. The smart phone also has a quirky power button, and the Mini SD card expansion slot is located behind the battery. Facts: Although it lacks Wi-Fi and has only average call quality, the Cingular 2125 is a powerful smart phone that will help mobile professionals be more productive on the road.

Cingular 2125

A little more than a year ago, a small wonder called the Audiovox SMT5600 took the smart-phone world by storm with its powerful features and ultracompact form factor. Even today, it continues to be one of readers’ favorite smart phones. Now, a worthy successor has come along to let the SMT5600 retire: the Cingular 2125. The 2125 is Cingular’s first company-branded B2B device and offers many of the same great qualities of the SMT5600, but it adds some upgrades, such as the latest Windows Mobile 5 OS and a better camera. Unfortunately, the 2125 falls a bit behind some of its competition--the T-Mobile SDA--with its lack of Wi-Fi and its average call quality. That said, the 2125’s pros outweigh the cons, and it’s still a powerful smart phone that will help mobile professionals be more productive on the road. The Cingular 2125 is available now for $299.99, but you should be able to get it for less with service. Unless you’re a smart-phone fanatic, you may not have heard of a Taiwanese company called HTC. Alhough not a household name, the company quietly has built some of the hottest Windows Mobile smart phones in the market today, including the Cingular 2125. At a compact 4.3 by 1.8 by 0.7 inches and a light 3.7 ounces, this candy bar-style phone is a boon for mobile professionals; it won’t weigh you down, and it eliminates the need to carry multiple devices. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that it’s a good-looking device, sporting a sleek metallic blue and silver finish. Overall, it’s very reminiscent of the Audiovox SMT5600, with the exception of an additional 0.25-inch overhang on top of the device that houses the power on/off button and the infrared port. We should mention the tricky power control at this point, which already has garnered some reader complaints. It’s marked by a small circular button, so the natural tendency is to simply push it in, but you actually have to push and pull it down. It’s not particularly annoying, but it’s definitely a weird design quirk. Stretch out: The Cingular 2125 features a more spacious keypad layout than the T-Mobile SDA. The Cingular 2125’s 2.2-inch-diagonal display is a sight to behold. Although it’s not a touch screen, it displays 64,000 hues with a sharp 320×240-pixel resolution, making colors pop out and producing crisp text and images. Viewing photos and Web sites on the device was a treat. Just below the display are two soft keys that are well spaced and easy to press. The cramped layout of these keys, as well as the numerical dial pad, is a sticking point for us on the T-Mobile SDA, but we’re glad to see the Cingular 2125 goes a different route. The Today shortcut, the Back button, and the Talk and End keys surround the navigation joystick. Unfortunately, it’s the same tiny toggle that plagues the SDA, so you have to pay attention to the direction you’re moving and firmly press the joystick in the middle to select an item. The dial pad is roomy and backlit, and since the keys are raised above the phone’s surface, it’s easy to dial by feel. On the left spine, there are three unmarked buttons. The top button launches the Communication Manager, where you can turn on/off Bluetooth, the speakerphone, and ActiveSync; if you hold down the key, it will launch the voice recorder, though we didn’t find this out until we read the user manual. Just below that is the volume rocker, which can’t be used to navigate the menus. There’s a lone camera-activation button on the right side, while the camera lens and the self-portrait mirror are on the back. You can find a 2.5mm headset jack and a port for the USB sync cable and AC adapter on the bottom of the device. The Cingular 2125 ships with a soft protective case/belt holster, an AC charger, a USB cable, and a wired stereo headset. Yes! The Cingular 2125 has a Mini SD card expansion slot. No! It’s behind the battery. Now, we have some good news and bad news. First, Positives: The Cingular 2125 is equipped with an expansion card slot. The bad news, however, is that it’s located behind the battery, so you have to remove the cell pack each time you want to access it, and it accepts only Mini SD cards. That said, we understand that concessions have to be made for size, and we appreciate the inclusion of expandable memory. The Cingular 2125 is chock-full of goodies but falls behind its competitor, the T-Mobile SDA, with its lack of integrated Wi-Fi. We’ll touch on this a bit later, but first, a few of the basics: The 2125’s phone book is limited only by the available memory (64MB of SDRAM, 64MB of flash ROM), while the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts. For each entry, you can store up to 12 numbers, three e-mail and instant-messaging addresses, birthdays, anniversaries, and more. You can also pair them with one of 12 ring tones and a picture for caller ID. Other treats include a vibrate mode, speed dial, text and multimedia messaging, a voice recorder, and yes, a speakerphone. The Cingular 2125 runs Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition, which means you won’t get the full Mobile Office suite found on the Pocket PC Edition, just Outlook Mobile. Don’t be alarmed, though; you can still view Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and PDF files by installing the ClearVue Suite from the included CD-ROM. We were able to transfer and open all four formats on the 2125 successfully. You can’t edit said files, but given the 2125’s smaller form factor and lack of a keyboard, it’s not the best device to do such a thing anyway; it’s just nice to be able to review your work and be more productive on the road. Can’t stand to be away from your e-mail? You don’t have to be with the Cingular 2125. The device handles corporate and personal e-mail, and it’s compatible with Microsoft Exchange Server, GoodLink, and Cingular Xpress Mail. The phone is also upgradable to Microsoft’s Messaging and Security Feature Pack, which will allow for direct push e-mail. You can set up the 2125 to retrieve messages from personal accounts, such as EarthLink, BellSouth, and Yahoo. MSN Messenger is the only instant-messaging client preloaded on the handset, but you can access other popular services, such as Yahoo and AOL, via the Web browser. Obviously, the lack of a QWERTY keyboard doesn’t make the Cingular 2125 ideal for messaging, but the integrated Bluetooth gives you the option to connect to a Bluetooth accessory keyboard so that you can stretch your fingers and type to your heart’s content. We touched on the lack of Wi-Fi earlier, and its absence is a little easier to take because of the EDGE support, but we’re still disappointed, especially since the T-Mobile SDA managed to pack it in. We would have appreciated that extra avenue for surfing the Web. As it is, the Web-browsing experience was a little poky compared with that of the SDA, but it gets the job done. Get ready for your close-up: The Cingular 2125 comes with a 1.3-megapixel camera and a tiny self-portrait mirror. The Audiovox SMT5600 only had a VGA camera, but the Cingular 2125 kicks it up a notch with a 1.3-megapixel camera. The editing options are identical to those found on the T-Mobile SDA, including four quality settings (Basic, Normal, Fine, and Super-Fine) and four resolutions (160×120, 320×240, 640×480, and 1,280×1,024). You also get a 2X zoom, brightness controls, a time- and date-stamp option, and a photo counter. Normally, we would bemoan the lack of a flash, but the 2125’s Night setting did an admirable job of lighting up pictures taken in dark environments. Other lighting choices include Auto, Daylight, Incandescent, and Fluorescent. To spruce up your snapshots, you can add a picture frame or change the tone of the picture to Grayscale, Sepia, or Cool. If you want to make movies for the small screen, the phone’s camera records video clips with sound in MPEG-4, H.263, or Motion-JPEG AVI format, and it offers two resolutions (176×144 or 128×96). Also at your disposal are most of the editing features found on the still camera. We have to admit--the picture quality was not too shabby. Although not frameworthy, our snapshots came out clear and bright, and you can share your memories with others via multimedia message o
r e-mail, as well as save them as wallpaper. Other customization options for your phone include different color themes, background images, and sounds. If none of the defaults suit you, take a visit to Cingular’s Media Mall and shop around. Finally, during your downtime, you can enjoy a variety of multimedia fun, including MP3, WAV, WMA, and AAC music files, as well as MPEG-4 video streams, thanks to Windows Media Player 10 Mobile. We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Cingular 2125 in San Francisco, and call quality was a mixed bag. We had no problems hearing the conversation, but on several occasions, our callers said they detected an echo. Also, the speakerphone wasn’t the best we’ve heard; volume was a bit low even when we jacked it up to the highest level. We had no problems pairing the handset with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset, and though audio quality took a bit of a dive, this may have more to do with the headset than the phone. The Cingular 2125’s battery is rated for a talk time of 4 hours and up to six days of standby time, but like the T-Mobile SDA, the 2125 laughs at that lowly number. The smart phone lasted an astounding 11 hours before finally calling it quits, and it met the rated standby time. According to the FCC radiation tests, the Cingular 2125 has a digital SAR rating of 0.94 watt per kilogram.

Our recommendation: Buy

Written by Henry Gomer - McLeod, Texas

Keywords: unlocking rogers cell phone, how to install tomtom symbol for mobile phone

• Cingular 2125
• Cingular 2125 Battery
• Cingular 2125 Charger
• Cingular 2125 Ringtones

Review: Nokia N70

Intro:
Note: This product is part of the Nokia N series. .

Nokia N70

Quick Take: For more information on the Nokia N70, please see our “Nokia N-series line show” feature.

Our recommendation: Buy

Written by Betty Riggins - Naples, Florida

Keywords: cell phone nudity, gps mobile phone tracker

• Nokia N70
• Nokia N70 Battery
• Nokia N70 Charger
• Nokia N70 Ringtones

Review: Samsung SGH-T629 (T-Mobile)

Intro:
Positives: The Samsung SGH-T629 has a slim profile and a large screen. Features of the quadband phone include a Micro SD card slot, a 1.3-megapixel camera, a music player, and Bluetooth support. Negatives: The Samsung SGH-T629 has very slippery keys, and the keypad is difficult to dial by feel. We also experienced spotty call quality. Facts: The Samsung SGH-T629 is a great-looking, slim phone with a solid feature set, despite a few design flaws.

Samsung SGH-T629 (T-Mobile)

Samsung has definitely made a name for itself in recent months with its thin phones, and the slider style is no exception. The Samsung Nimbus from Alltel and the Samsung SGH-D807 from Cingular are just two recent examples of Samsung’s stake in the slim slider market. The Samsung SGH-T629 is the latest slim slider from the Korean powerhouse, and this time its carrier is T-Mobile. We like it for its feature set as well as its style, and would recommend it for those who want skinny phones with decent multimedia offerings. It retails for $249.99, but you can get it for $149.99 with a new two-year contract. The Samsung SGH-T629 is a slim slider phone. Of course, the primary attraction of the Samsung SGH-T629 is its thinness. Measuring 3.9 by 2.01 by 0.55 inches and weighing in at 3.2 ounces, the T629 is certainly one of the skinniest phones to come our way. The phone itself is covered in a silver-gray hue, and though it’s a little blocky around the edges, the device felt lightweight and comfortable, both in the hand and when held against the ear. A charger/headset jack and a volume rocker reside on the left side, while the right spine is home to a Micro SD card slot and a dedicated camera button. Flip the phone around, and you’ll see the camera lens and self-portrait mirror at the top. You can take photos with the phone closed. Sliding the phone open is a tad more difficult than with other slider models we’ve tested, however. Instead of pushing the phone up from the bottom lip, you’ll have to slide it up by pushing the front of the phone. There is a slight plastic ledge jutting out from underneath the display that helps you do this, but we still ended up smudging the display with fingerprints when sliding the phone upward. You can adjust the phone’s slider settings so that it answers the call immediately when you slide it upward, and you can also set it to stop any operation if you slide it downward. The 2.2-inch display is absolutely stunning. It supports 262,144 colors, and it looks vibrant and bright, with colors that pop from the screen. The Samsung menu interface is pleasing to the eye, and we enjoy the animated icons and colorful graphics. You can also view the submenu of each main item as you’re scrolling down the list, which makes for handy navigation. The backlight timer can be adjusted, as well as the screen’s brightness. As with most Samsung phones, the dialing text can be configured with different backgrounds, font sizes, and font colors. Underneath the display is the navigation keypad, while the dialpad is revealed when the phone is slid open. The navigation controls consist of two soft keys, a four-way toggle with a middle OK key, a call key, a cancel key, and an end/power key. The toggle also doubles as shortcuts for the camera, the voice memo recorder, the contacts list, and text messaging. We found the keypad extremely slippery, and the keys on the dialpad are set nearly flush with the surface of the phone. This made it tricky to dial by feel and navigate the phone easily. The Samsung SGH-T629 has quite an impressive feature set for such a skinny device. Each entry in the address book can hold as many as five numbers, one e-mail address, and a memo; you can also assign a picture ID, one of 16 polyphonic ring tones, and a caller group for caller ID purposes. The SGH-T629 also supports MP3 ring tones, which you can upload yourself or download from T-Mobile. Other basic features include text and multimedia messaging, a speakerphone, a vibrate mode, instant messaging (AIM, ICQ, MSN, and Yahoo), Bluetooth, voice dialing, voice recording, an alarm, a calendar, tasks, a calculator, world time, a unit converter, a timer, a Micro SD card slot, and a wireless Web browser via T-Zones, T-Mobile’s mobile Web portal. The SGH-T629 is also a quadband world phone that supports the T-Mobile’s EDGE network, which allows for faster downloads. The Samsung SGH-T629 has a 1.3-megapixel camera. We’re quite pleased with the phone’s 1.3-megapixel camera. It doesn’t come with a flash, but it does have a 10X digital zoom and a brightness setting. Other camera settings include five size resolutions (1,200×1,024; 1,152×863; 800×600; 640×480; 320×240), the viewfinder size (full screen or actual screen), shooting mode (single shot, multishot, or mosaic), effects, fun frames, a self-timer, default photo name, and sound options for the shutter, the zoom, and brightness. All camera sounds can be shut off if you choose. The camera took great photos, and we were pleased with the results, especially from a 1.3-megapixel camera phone. You can also record video in two sizes, 128×96 or 176×144, but they didn’t turn out as well as the photos and ended up shaky and blurry. The phone comes with 21MB of built-in memory, but you can always upgrade to more storage with the help of a Micro SD card. The Samsung SGH-T629 took decent photos. The SGH-T629 also comes with a built-in MP3 player. There aren’t any external music controls, so you’ll have to scroll to the Fun & Apps menu in order to access it, plus you’ll have to use the navigation keypad to control the playback. Uploading music from a computer is fairly straightforward and is a simple matter of drag-and-drop. The MP3 player also has repeat mode, a shuffle mode, an equalizer, a visualization tool, a backlight mode (Always On or Normal), and a dedicated volume control for the player. Personalization options are pretty standard for the Samsung SGH-T629. You can customize the wallpaper, the background colors, and the greeting message, and you can choose to have the calendar appear on the main display or not. You can also assign different tones for incoming messages, alerts, the keypad, and the slider, as well as when the phone powers on and off. The phone supports Java games and comes preloaded with Bobby Carrot, Airship Racing, Arch Angel, Freekick, and Midnight Pool. If you’re not satisfied with any of the options, you can download more graphics, sounds, and games from T-Mobile’s T-zones Web portal. We tested the quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) Samsung SGH-T629 world phone in San Francisco using T-Mobile’s service. Callers said they couldn’t hear us too well most of the time, and we found that service was poor in certain areas. However, in areas with better reception, call quality was much improved, with clear call quality on our end and vice versa. Speakerphone quality was surprisingly good, thanks to the full-duplex speaker. Music heard from the MP3 player was crisp and clear, though it obviously sounded a lot better with a headset on. We had no problem pairing the Samsung SGH-T629 with the Nokia BH-800 Bluetooth headset. The Samsung SGH-T629 has a rated talk time of 5 hours and a tested talk time of 4 hours and 56 minutes. It has a rated standby time of 8 days. According to FCC radiation tests, the SGH-T629 has a digital SAR rating of 0.814 watt per kilogram.

Our recommendation: Buy

Written by Bertha Martin - Gay Hill, Texas

Keywords: gsm cell phone, free pay as you go mobile phone

• Samsung SGH-T629 (T-Mobile)
• Samsung SGH-T629 (T-Mobile) Battery
• Samsung SGH-T629 (T-Mobile) Charger
• Samsung SGH-T629 (T-Mobile) Ringtones

Preview: Motorola i560 w/ Two-Way Radio (yellow)

Intro:
Product Short Spec: Carrier: Nextel Communications Talk time: Up to 165 min Combined with: With two-way radio Weight: 4.7 oz

Motorola i560 w/ Two-Way Radio (yellow)

Our recommendation: Undecided

Written by Steven Ortega - Quincy, Illinois

Keywords: cheapest cell phone plans, mobile phone signal jammer

• Motorola i560 w/ Two-Way Radio (yellow)
• Motorola i560 w/ Two-Way Radio (yellow) Battery
• Motorola i560 w/ Two-Way Radio (yellow) Charger
• Motorola i560 w/ Two-Way Radio (yellow) Ringtones

Up next: RIM BlackBerry 8700g

Intro:
Positives: The RIM BlackBerry 8700g offers easy e-mail setup and adds support for popular instant-messaging clients. The quad-band 8700g also comes with an Intel processor, EDGE speeds, Bluetooth 2.0, a speakerphone, and a full QWERTY keyboard. Negatives: The BlackBerry 8700g’s keyboard feels a bit cheap and slippery. Also, there are no expansion options, and we encountered some problems viewing PDFs on the device. Facts: The RIM BlackBerry 8700g offers T-Mobile consumer and business users a robust, user-friendly messaging device and cell phone with great performance.

RIM BlackBerry 8700g

Ever since the Research in Motion-vs.-NTP battle escalated, we haven’t heard too much from RIM in terms of product announcements–until now. Along with T-Mobile, RIM introduced the BlackBerry 8700g at CTIA this year, replacing the BlackBerry 7290 and sprucing up T-Mobile’s smart-phone lineup. Like its cousin, the BlackBerry 8700c for Cingular, the BlackBerry 8700g offers users a next-gen device with a full QWERTY keyboard, and it comes with an Intel processor and EDGE speeds for faster performance. In addition to support for Bluetooth 2.0 and up to 10 corporate or personal e-mail accounts, the 8700g offers some extras that make it more consumer-friendly and easier to use right out of the box than the 8700c. Overall, the device delivers on all fronts: as a phone, an e-mail machine, and a handheld. The RIM BlackBerry 8700g will cost $299.99 with a two-year contract (or $349.99 with a one-year contract) and will be available on April 17. Unlike the RIM BlackBerry 7290 it replaces, the RIM BlackBerry 8700g offers a sleeker and more compact package at 4.3 by 2.7 by 0.7 inches and 4.7 ounces. Sure, it doesn’t have the cell phone form factor of the BlackBerry 7100 series, and if you’re new to BlackBerrys, the device’s squarish shape will take acclimation, but in return, you get a full QWERTY keyboard and a spacious 2.5-inch-diagonal QVGA display. While we’re on the subject, the BlackBerry 8700g’s screen is gorgeous. It displays 65,000 hues with a 320×240-pixel resolution–a vast improvement over the BlackBerry 7290. Colors are vibrant, with sharp, clearly defined images and text. It’s great for navigating the intuitive menu or for viewing Web pages and images. The display also features a light-sensing technology that automatically adjusts for your environment, depending on whether you’re indoors, outdoors, or in the dark. We put it to the test, and we’re happy to report that the screen was always readable. You can also adjust the backlight’s brightness and time-out settings, as well as font size and type, all through the Options menu. A small LED above the screen flashes different colors to alert you to various messages: green for network activity, red for message notification, yellow for low battery, and blue for Bluetooth connectivity. Like the latest crop of BlackBerrys, the 8700g features Send and End keys for more of a cell phone-like experience. Below the display, you’ll notice the 35-button QWERTY keyboard along with the new Send/End and soft keys also found on recent BlackBerrys. The center soft key, or the front convenience key as RIM calls it, can be programmed to launch any application, as can the side convenience key on the left spine. The keyboard itself is fairly spacious, and we had no problems firing off quick e-mails and text messages. Yet, while they are well backlit, we didn’t enjoy the slippery and plasticky feel of the keys. Aside from the aforementioned side convenience key, there’s a USB port and a headset jack on the left side, while the familiar track wheel and Escape button are on the right. As with the BlackBerry 8700c, you can toggle between different applications by pressing the Alt button on the keyboard, then Escape. Rounding out the BlackBerry 8700g’s chassis are power and mute buttons on top, as well as the speakerphone on the mobile’s backside. RIM packages the 8700g with a healthy set of accessories, including a wired headset, a belt holster, a USB cable, an AC adapter, and a travel charger. The RIM BlackBerry 8700g shares many features with its cousin, the BlackBerry 8700c, but it offers new tricks that should attract more consumers. We’ll discuss some of the similarities first. The 8700g takes advantage of the same 312MHz PXA901 Intel processor for enhanced performance, and it supports T-Mobile’s EDGE network for faster Web browsing and download times. As a phone, the address book is limited only by the available memory, which tops out at 64MB of flash memory and 16MB of SDRAM; the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts. For each entry, you can store up to eight numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail and Web addresses, company information, and notes. In addition, you can assign them to a group category: business or personal. You get 35 polyphonic ring tones with support for MP3s, a vibrate mode, conference calling, speed dialing, call forwarding, and a speakerphone. For wireless headsets, car kits, and desktop connectivity, Bluetooth 2.0 is onboard as well. As a quad-band phone, the 8700g can be used overseas. In addition to Bluetooth 2.0, the RIM BlackBerry 8700g offers a speakerphone for hands-free calling. The differences between the 8700g and the 8700c center mostly on the e-mail and messaging departments. The smart phone can still sync with your company’s BlackBerry, Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise server to deliver corporate e-mail in real time, and it continues to support up to 10 personal/business POP3 or IMAP4 e-mail accounts. However, the 8700g makes it easier to set up e-mail accounts right out of the box, thanks to the BlackBerry Internet E-mail service. A utility on the device, aptly named Set Up Internet E-mail, guides you through the whole process, and it doesn’t involve much more than inputting your e-mail address and password. We used it to add our Yahoo account, and it was a snap–decidedly easier than with the 8700c. We received messages in our in-box after about 20 minutes. Also, e-mails sent and received from personal e-mail accounts are now reflected in the source account. In other words, if you use the 8700g to send a message from your Comcast account, the message will also be in your Sent folder when you log on from your PC; you also have the option to delete messages on your handheld or on your handheld and in-box. And there’s some extra good news for Yahoo users–thanks to RIM’s expanding partnership with Yahoo, you can now enjoy the joys of push technology and receive your Yahoo mail in real time. The proprietary instant-messaging client was one of our consistent complaints of past BlackBerry models, but that ends with the 8700g. We’re glad to see RIM add support for popular IM apps, such as Yahoo, ICQ, AOL, and MSN. Google Talk is also available for download, and the 8700g supports text and multimedia messaging as well. Of course, to get work done, on-the-go mobile professionals may need more functionality than e-mail, so the BlackBerry 8700g’s attachment viewer opens popular file formats, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Corel WordPerfect, PDF, JPEG, GIF, and more. You can also see tracked changes and embedded images, as well as zoom and rotate documents. We had no problems viewing several Word and Excel documents; however, the PDF file gave our device some problems, as formatting was lost and the full document didn’t load. Other applications on the 8700g include a calendar, a Web browser, a tasks list, a memo pad, an alarm, and a calculator. There is no audio or video player, and games are restricted to one title (BrickBreaker). Alternatively, more titles, as well as ring tones and wallpaper, are available through T-Mobile’s T-zones. We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) RIM BlackBerry 8700g in San Francisco using T-Mobile service, and overall, call quality was good. There were occasions that our callers sounded somewhat garbled, but for the most part, conversations were clear and volume was adequate. Though callers said they could tell we were using a cell phone, they had no problems hearing us. The speakerphone was also excellent, performing just as well as the regular phone, if not better. We had no problems pairing the 8700g with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset, and though audio quality diminished a bit, this may have to do more with the headset than the phone itself. The Web browsing experience was decent. The EDGE support helped with faster speeds, although graphics-intensive sites took a bit longer to download. As with all handhelds and smart phones, viewing Web pages on such a device takes some getting used to and requires quite a bit of scrolling. The BlackBerry 8700g is rated for 4 hours of t
alk time and up to 16 days of standby time. In our tests, the 8700g battery lasted for an impressive 7 hours of talk time.

Our recommendation: Buy

Provided by Ann Bryant - Tipton, Michigan

Keywords: secure cell phone, mobile phone company

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