BlackBerry 8800 Review
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 22, 2007 Comment on this |
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The BlackBerry 8800 is the latest iteration of RIM's incredibly successful BlackBerry lineup of enterprise focused handsets. The direct successor to the widely available 8700 series, the 8800 adds a new slim form factor, multimedia features, and it ditches the scroll wheel in favor of the trackball. Under the hood anyone who is familiar with BlackBerry OS will find themselves right at home, which isn't a bad thing considering how stable and quick the operating system is. Although the multimedia features are a little on the basic side, it's nice to see RIM making an effort to recognize that business users do like to play sometimes. The trackball is a mixed bag, with the scroll wheel better at navigating the long menu lists that are a common occurrence on Blackberries, but the trackball is better positioned for access to the keyboard, and we found it very comfortable to use. As far as the form factor, we love the new slim design, but we found the keyboard to be a slight step back from the 8700's excellent QWERTY.
We reviewed the BlackBerry 8800 on AT&T's (formerly Cingular) network. It is currently available for $299.99 with a two year contract or for $499.99 without. The same model is available from T-Mobile, and a similar model, the 8830, is available from Verizon Wireless which contains both CDMA and GSM radios.
[page title="Tour & Design"]
Front Closed
Left
Top
Bottom
Right
Back
Battery Out
In the Box (5.5)
Handling (5.0)
On one hand, the 8800 is on the large side of things, but it is still small and thin enough to be comfortably held against the ear. The index finger can easily reach the volume controls, so you can adjust the call volume without taking the phone away from your ear. But, you need the other hand to use the other controls since you can't reach the call or hangup keys with just one hand. But, that's the way that BlackBerries are designed to be used with both thumbs falling naturally onto the keyboard when you hold it in both hands. And, like all BlackBerries, the keyboard is excellent. It is small, the keys are well-spaced and are easy to find by touch.
Portability (8.0)
At around 4.8 ounces, the BlackBerry 8800 is light enough to fit into a pocket without dragging you down. At .55 inches thick, it should fit into most pockets without causing too much of an unsightly bulge. A plastic belt holster is also included as standard, and there are no shortage of covers and cases for BlackBerries.
Aesthetics (6.0)
BlackBerries don't tend to be stylish devices. If you choose a phone on looks rather than features, you'll want to consider a more design-focused phone such as the Motorola Krzr. RIM has obviously been putting in some effort into aesthetics since the edges are curved, and it has less of the brick-like design of previous BlackBerries.
Durability (9.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 feels like it should stand up against daily use. There are few moving parts, and there are no bits that are likely to be torn off or otherwise broken. The battery cover fits on tightly, and it should keep dust and moisture away from the battery and memory card. Our only major concerns are the durability of the trackball, which might get gummed up with dirt and dust.
[page title="Audio Quality"]
One day, cell phones will be directly implanted into our brains, and the voices in your head will be from people calling you, not a sign that you're having a breakdown. In the meantime, you still have to hold cell phones to your ear, and that's why we test them this way. To get definitive, accurate information on the quality of the sound they produce and receive, we use the same testing equipment that the manufacturers themselves use: a HATS (Head and Torso Simulator) that has a highly calibrated microphone in the ear and a professional electro acoustic analysis program called SoundCheck. This is produced by Listen, inc, and it analyzes the sound that the HATS captures to produce the results that we feature on this section. Most web sites make a few calls to test a phone and tell you it sounds OK; we use professional equipment to do an in-depth analysis. For more information on how we test cell phones, see this article.
Sound Receive Frequency Response (6.99)
Sound Send Frequency Response (5.7)
Handset Side Tone (8.72)
[page title="Imaging"]
Resolution (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does not have a camera, so it will score 0 in most of the following categories.
Color (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Noise (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Live Preview (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Unlocked Standby to First Shot (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Shot to Shot Time (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Shutter to Shot Time (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Interface (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Photo Album Software Internal (2.0)
Although the 8800 has no camera, it does have a rather basic picture viewer that allows you to browse images, delete them, set them as the background for the home screen, and view them in a slide show. However, it doesn't allow you much control. You can set how long each image is displayed for, but you can't add music or use fades or effects between images. Manual Control (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Zoom (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Focus (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Flash (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Metering (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
White Balance (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Image Handling (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Video
Overall Video Score (0.0)
As the 8800 has no camera to capture videos, it gets a score of 0 in many of these categories. However, unlike most previous BlackBerries, it can play back videos. Check our multimedia section for more on video playback.
Video Resolution (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Video Compression (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Interface (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Manual Control (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Zoom (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Editing (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
Modes (0.0)
The 8800 has no camera, so it scores 0 in this category.
[page title="Making/Receiving Calls"]
Dialing Speed (4.6)
To see how fast you can dial, we time how long it takes to dialing five sample numbers. Dialing from the home screen is simple, you just start hitting the keys with numbers above the letters, and it switches over the phone screen. The fact that these keys are part of the QWERTY keyboard means that there's a certain element of hunt and peck to this. We timed it at an average of 4.35 seconds. That's a little slower than some phones with larger dedicated keypads, but it's more than acceptable.
Talk and End Buttons (8.0)
Located below the screen, the talk and end buttons are fairly large and easy to find. They are, however, a little bit smaller than the 8700, and we did find ourselves pressing the menu and end buttons by accident sometimes.
Call Management (4.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 puts a list of incoming and outgoing call numbers on the first page of the phone application, making it easy to find a number that you've called or received a call from. We weren't able to determine how many numbers this list can hold. The six most recent are shown on the screen, and older numbers can be reached by scrolling down. Startup to Call (15.38)
In this test, we measure how long the phone takes to go from being turned off to hitting enter on a phone call. Typically, we don't measure the time to call, as that depends on the network. The 8800 was very quick to start up. It took us just 6.5 seconds from the phone turned off to hitting dial after entering a number. That's significantly faster than the 8700 which took 10.8 seconds. This is also much, much faster than smart phones based on the Windows Mobile OS, such as the T-Mobile Dash that took a lengthy 76 seconds.
Ring Volume (8.4)
Using a professional SPL meter, we measured the loudest of the default ring tones on the 8800 at 84 Decibels. This is loud enough to wake even the soundest sleeper. It is slightly louder than the heftier BlackBerry 8700, so it's good to see that the thinner profile has not affected the ringer volume.
Ringtone Customizability (6.0)
In line with the new media-centric focus of the 8800, the new handset supports polyphonic ring tones. It can use any MP3 file as a ringtone, so you can have your choice of any number of bleeps, bloops, or music as a ringtone. To use an MP3 file as a ringtone, simply drop it into the Ringtones folder on the device.
Non Audio Alerts (7.0)
The 8800 has a vibrate profile, but the vibration is pretty weak. You can hardly feel it even if the device is sitting in your hand. This is partly a consequence of the thin profile; it doesn't leave much room for the rotating weight that the phone uses for the vibration alert. The LED on the front of the device also flashes when a call is coming in; but, you won't notice this unless you're staring right at it since the LED is not very bright.
[page title="Messaging"]
Supported Email Services (6.5)
Messaging has always been one of the strong points of BlackBerries, and the 8800 is no exception. It can work with POP3 and IMAP servers. Support for email services such as those offered by GMail or Yahoo! is poor, though, since no software for any of these services is included. You can send and receive email from them if you don't mind sorting out things like mail server addresses, but we don't award points for this. Push Email (4.0)
Push email is available to users through two services: the BlackBerry Internet Server which is run by your ISP or the BlackBerry Enterprise Server. As the names suggest, the former is for individual users, while the latter is for large companies that want to run their own mail servers. A desktop redirector is also available if you use Microsoft Outlook. You run this on your PC, and it automatically forwards any email that comes into your device. Push email is one of the strengths of the BlackBerry devices, but as recent events proved, RIM had a network crash that stopped the flow of email for some time early in April that indicates a weakness. Their Internet Server service relies on their servers which do crash sometimes.
Multiple Email Accounts (10.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 supports up to 10 POP3 and IMAP email accounts; enough for even the most prolific of emailers. Email accounts can be added either on the device itself, through the deskstop software or online through the web-based controls offered by the network. This flexibility makes it easy to add and manage a number of email accounts.
HTML and Attachments (2.0)
The email client built into the 8800 does not handle HTML. All emails are displayed as text only. This can be a good or a bad thing. It means some emails won't be displayed properly, but it also means that you won't have problems with spammers and the like sending HTML emails that you don't want. Attachments to emails depend on the service you use, since the files are processed by the service to make them usable by the device. We were able to view, but not edit, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations. However, Word Documents were not processed correctly.
Email Customizations (2.0)
The messaging program on the BlackBerry 8800 does not provide you with many customization options when creating emails. You cannot change font color or the height of displayed emails. You cannot change font type and size within the program; however, you can change those things globally in the phone settings. You can create signatures for outgoing emails however.
Time to a New Message (11.36)
Email Usability (11.0)
Using email on the BlackBerry 8800 is just about the same as any other BlackBerry except for the difference in input. The BlackBerry 8800 uses a trackball as introduced on the BlackBerry Pearl instead of the traditional scroll wheel. Email accounts are each given their own Inbox on the home screen, once in an account you move between messages by moving the trackball up/down. Unlike BlackBerries that have a scroll wheel which, when pressed in, activates a menu that allows you to open the selected message and access all other commands, you open the selected message on the 8800 by pressing in on the trackball. To open the menu, you use the dedicated menu key to the left of the trackball. Although this adds a little bit of complexity to the interface, we find that it is actually more intuitive. Overall, we found email on the 8800 to be as excellent as any other BlackBerry, despite the slight differences in hardware. The auto complete on address feature allows you to begin typing an individual or company name in the To: field of email addresses and have the device automatically suggest matches from your address book. We were pleased to see that the BlackBerry 8800, just like the 8700, suggested email address for first name, last name and company. It did not make suggestions based on email address. This is yet another feature that make BlackBerries the messaging powerhouses they are.
Supported IM Services (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 supports RIM's BlackBerry Messenger service out of the box. Unfortunately this services charges your for text messages for each IM sent or received, as such we do not award points for it. Additional IM support must be added via third party software. RIM themselves do offer some clients for several IM services, but these aren't included with the 8800 by default.
MMS Support (1.0)
Unlike the BlackBerry 8700, the 8800 does support MMS messaging. You can create a new MMS message from within any Inbox. Unfortunately, it appears that not much thought went into the interface. We were unable to send a MMS message from the photo album software and were unable to add photos from the album to a MMS that we created in the Inbox. Instead, we were limited to relatively few templates that are preloaded. It may be possible to add MMS media by dropping files into this folder, but this is an unnecessary complication.
SMS Smiley Face Interpretation (0.0)
To test the ability of a device to interpret smileys sent via SMS as their graphical equivalents, we send four test smileys to the device. Unfortunately, the BlackBerry 8800 was not able to interpret our test smileys as their graphical equivalents.
SMS/MMS Ease of Use (6.0)
Although the BlackBerry does not support MMS well, SMS messages are easy to create. SMS has its own Inbox similar to an email Inbox on the home screen. As with email, you scroll through messages using the trackball and open them by pressing in on the trackball. The menu key brings up a menu where you can choose to compose a new message or manage existing messages. We were pleased to see that the menu in any Inbox will give you the opportunity to create a SMS, MMS or email message. When a new SMS is created, you are taken to a list of your contacts to select the one you want or given the option to send to a new phone number. Overall, SMS on the 8800 was simple and straightforward, but it lacked more advanced features as found on the Treo devices.
Time to a New SMS Message (2.62)
To test how easy it is to create a new SMS message, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen until we have a new SMS dialogue open. We repeat this process five times and take the average for our score. The BlackBerry 8800 took an average of 3.82 seconds to get to a new SMS. This is slower than the BlackBerry 8703e and slower than creating a new email on the 8800. We found that our time was slowed down by the fact that we had to scroll down most of the menu list to get to the new SMS item, and we then had to select the appropriate contact before we got to the dialog.
[page title="Organizer"]
Synchronization Ease of Use (6.33)
The BlackBerry Desktop Software that you use to synchronize your BlackBerry with your PC is straightforward and easy to use. It is not as pretty as the new Windows Mobile Device Manager, but it gets the job done and it's reliable. With the BlackBerry Desktop Software, you can synchronize your calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes. You can also use the software to move files back and forth to the device and backup your BlackBerry. Synchronization is supported via USB and Bluetooth.
The BlackBerry Desktop Software works with Outlook or BlackBerry's Stop Manager. The 8800 does not synchronize natively with a Mac; however, there is third party software available to enable this. The free program PocketMac for BlackBerry allows you to sync the 8800 with Mac's PIM software, including Apple's own iCal and iWorks programs. However, this program is not included with the 8800; you have to download it to use it.
Alerts (9.0)
You can create alerts for both calendar events and tasks on the BlackBerry 8800. When creating alerts for calendar appointments, you will need to choose a time period before the appointment occurs. There are a wide variety of choices available, so most won't have a problem with this, but it would have been nice to also be able to choose a specific time as you are able to do when creating an alert for tasks.
When an alert actually goes off, you hear the sound/vibration assigned by your current profile. The screen stays off if you are not actively using the device, but when you activate it, you see a dialog with the option to open the appointment/task, dismiss the alert or snooze for five minutes. The alert sounds for one minute, and if you miss it, you will see the dialog on the screen the next time you turn the phone on. The LED also blinks red when you have an alert.
Over the Air PIM Sync (4.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 can synchronize your contacts and calendars over the air via a BlackBerry Server and Exchange server. It does not support synchronization out-of-the-box with services like Yahoo or Google. This is not surprising considering that this is an enterprise focused device.
Address Book
Adding Contacts (6.13)
To test how easy it is to add contacts to the address book, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen (unlocked) until we have added a contact name and phone number. We repeat this process for five different contacts with diverse names and then take the average for our score. The BlackBerry 8800 took an average of 16.3 seconds to add a new contact. This is slightly faster than the BlackBerry 8700's 17.9 seconds, but it's slower than the T-Mobile Dash (13.44 seconds). We found the interface when adding a contact to be easy to use and intuitive, as with most things on the BlackBerry platform. Looking/Sorting/Search (6.5)
You can sort your contacts by first name, last name, or business. You can also view groups of contacts. You can search through your contacts easily by first or last name. To search by company, simply type the name you are looking for. The list automatically filters the list of contacts based on what you have typed. We were pleased with the array of sorting options available on the BlackBerry 8800 and found searching through contacts to be very easy.
Fields (5.6)
When creating a new contact, the BlackBerry 8800 provides you with 25 different fields (with multiple fields for each of two addresses) and the ability to add an additional two email addresses. You can also add a contact photo and a custom ring tone, and we were happy to see a notes field where you can enter any information you need. We were disappointed that there was no ability to create a custom field as Series 60 phones allow you to. Despite the large number of fields, it doesn't match the 40 fields the Treo 750 offers. It should be sufficient for most business users' basic needs however.
Speed Dial/Voice tags/Voice command (5.67)
Calendar
Adding Calendar Items (14.45)
Calendar Views (4.67)
Fields (11.0)
When creating a new calendar appointment with the BlackBerry 8800, you can enter a title, start/end, location, choose to create an all day appointment, recurrence, reminder, and note. As with other Blackberries, we were happy to see that you can set a time zone for appointments. We were also pleased at the range of options for recurrence, with the ability to create complex patterns like appointments that only happen on certain days of the week. In addition, you can add invite contacts to appointment. We were, however, disappointed that there was no support for categories especially since categories are supported in tasks.
ToDo/Tasks
Adding ToDo/Task (5.32)
ToDo/Task Sorting and Prioritizing (7.0)
You can sort your tasks by name, priority, due date, and status, as well as filter by category.
Fields (10.0)
Notes
Adding Notes (3.81)
Note Interface (7.5)
Note Formatting (0.0)
Unfortunately, the BlackBerry 8800's notes program is not as good when it comes to formatting notes. You cannot change font type, size, or color from within the program. You also can't add formatting like italics, bold, or underlining. We should mention that most notes programs lack this type of functionality, but that doesn't mean we wouldn't like to see it.
Voice Memo (1.0)
Unlike the BlackBerry 8700, the 8800 does include a voice notes application, although its implementation leaves something to be desired. Located in the same applications folder as the text notes applications, the voice notes application can only be used to record a voice note to send via MMS. We are unsure about why RIM and/or Cingular would choose to include a crippled voice notes application since most regular phones, much less smart phones, include fully featured voice notes.
[page title="Multimedia"]
Accessing Music Software (3.65)
Dedicated Music Controls (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does not have any dedicated music controls. If you want to pause music or change tracks, you will first need to navigate to the music software.
Music Software Functionality and Organization (3.6)
The music player on the BlackBerry 8800 does support standard .m3u playlists. There is no way to create and edit playlists on the device. The 8800 did recognize tags for our test AAC, Mp3, and WMA files, showing title and artist, the only things the phone displays. The music software on the 8800 is very basic, using a folder structure to access your music, there is no library that allows you to sort music by categories such as title, artist, or album. This means you will need to put some thought into how you load music onto the device since whatever folder structure you choose is what you will be stuck with. The 8800's music software did recognize the album art for our test album, a nice feature since even many music oriented devices often fail to support this. There is no support for advanced features like ratings, but you can take advantage of the 8800's multitasking capabilities to play music in the background. There is no equalizer available. The music experience on the 8800 does leave something to be desired, especially compared to the more complete media applications found on Windows Mobile or Series 60 smart phones. Still, the basic functionality is there, and considering that the 8800 represents one of the first RIM handsets to support music playback natively, we are glad to see this ability at all.
Online Song Downloading (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does not support any online song download services.
Streaming (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 was unable to play streaming MP3, Windows Media, or Real Media audio from our test site.
Podcast Support (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does not include any dedicated software to download and/or organize podcasts.
Music Sync with PC (7.0)
You can move music files to your BlackBerry's media card using either the media manger in the BlackBerry Desktop Software or by connecting the device to your PC as a mass storage device. When it is connected as a mass storage device, you can use Windows Media Player to manage file transfers; however, it does not support transfers of DRM protected content.
Music Formats and DRM (4.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 is able to play Windows Media, AAC, Mp3, and WAV files. It does not handle Real or Org Vorbis files. It also does not support any form of Digital Rights Management. We are pleased that the 8800 supports a good range of music file types, but we hope that RIM chooses to add support for DRM protected files in the future.
Music Interruption (10.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does a very good job of handling a situation where music is interrupted by an incoming call. It pauses the music when the call comes in and then resumes from the exact same spot when the call ends.
Video
Video Software Access (3.17)
To test how easy it is to get a video playing, we time how long it takes to go from the home screen (unlocked) until we have a video playing. We repeat this test five times and take the average for our score. The BlackBerry 8800 took an average of 6.3 seconds to get a video playing. This is just about average for smart phones and a little faster than the Treo 750's 6.88 seconds, but it's slower than the Treo 700p's 5 seconds and the T-Mobile Dash's 4.83 seconds. It is significantly faster than the Motorola Q (8.6 seconds), however. Video Controls (2.0)
When playing video on the BlackBerry 8800, the volume keys of course control playback volume. There are two controls that you can access with the trackball, on the left is a play/pause button and on the right a stop button. All other controls must be accessed via the menu key, including things like moving to the next or previous video. This is a little clunky and we would have preferred to see some of these commands available via the trackball as play/pause and stop are.
Video Software Score (2.5)
As with the music player, videos on the 8800 are managed via a simple folder system. There are no advanced features like sorting by title, type, etc., nor can you rate videos or view them in full screen. We were pleased to see support for background play however. Like the music player, the video player on the 8800 is there simply to provide basic functionality and doesn't compare well with Windows Media Player on Windows Mobile Devices. It comparable with Realplayer on the Series 60 platform but that's because neither is very impressive.
As with the music player, video files are organized into a simple folder hierarchy. You can switch between multiple files in a folder using the next/previous commands, however there was no ability to create or edit playlist files. You also cannot sort your video files or search through them; however, you can play video in the background.
Video Sync with PC (7.0)
You can move video files to your BlackBerry's media card using either the media manger in the BlackBerry Desktop Software or by connecting the device to your PC as a mass storage device, the same as music files. When it is connected as a mass storage device, you can again use Windows Media Player to manage file transfers; however, it does not support transfers of DRM protected content.
Video Formats (3.5)
The BlackBerry 8800 was able to play all three of our test 3GP files, encoded in H263 or MP4, it was not able to play our test Mp4 file encoded in H264, nor was it able to play Quicktime, Windows Media, Real, or Flash files. Despite the problems with our MP4 file, the device can play some MP4 files as the sample file is encoded as such. As a result, we awarded only half points for that file type. We would have liked to see better support for more video file formats.
Video DRM (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does not support any video DRM formats.
Video Playback Smoothness (10.0)
To test how smoothly video is played back, we test a series of five 3GP files of increasing bit rates. We were pleased to see that the 8800 was able to play back all five files from 48kbps to 768kbps without any problems. This means that those wishing to watch high quality video on the 8800 should be able to do so, although, we recommend that you format it for the screen size because of the lack of full screen viewing.
Online Video Downloading (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does not support any over-the-air video download services.
Video Streaming unscored
Because of the lack of standardization of video streaming services, we do not score this section. However, we do test a couple of websites to see how the device performs. Unfortunately, the 8800 was unable to play either streaming Windows Media video or streaming 3GP video from our test sites.
[page title="Software"]
OS (8.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 runs RIM's BlackBerry OS. This is an extensible Java based operating system that provides very good performance and multitasking capabilities. Compared to previous Blackberries that use only a scroll wheel and back button, we found that the interface was easier to navigate using the trackball, menu, and back buttons. We like the fact that multitasking is more transparent with the "switch application" option available whenever you hit the menu button, allowing you to view and switch between running applications. The interface is quick and easy-to-use which is standard for BlackBerry devices. Our score for phones running BlackBerry OS is standardized.
Home Screen Score (5.5)
The home screen on the BlackBerry 8800 is the same as that found on other BlackBerry devices. The top third of the screen is used for indicators such as battery, signal strength, time, and date. The bottom two thirds of the screen is where you will find the scrollable list of icons for programs and folders. We were pleased to see that you can use the menu key on the home screen to move icons around. You can also change the background picture on the home screen by selecting the appropriate option from the menu when viewing a picture in the album software. Overall, we found the home screen on the 8800 to be very usable; however, we prefer the active home screens found on Windows Mobile and Series 60 devices. Extensibility (7.0)
As a smart phone operating system, BlackBerry OS has a wide array of native third party applications available that add functionality to the device. You can also install Java programs like Opera Mini. Although the selection of native applications for BlackBerry OS is not as large as Windows Mobile or Palm, you still have quite a few to choose from.
Customizibility (6.0)
BlackBerry OS provides you with a good selection of options to customize the look and feel of the phone. You can change the default font and font size in the settings. As we mentioned above, you can change the home screen background picture and rearrange the icons. You can also change the theme, which changes both the icon layout and background picture on the home screen. We found the customization options on the 8800 to be very good, with the ability to change display text especially useful.
OS Responsiveness (10.0)
As with previous BlackBerries, the 8800's operating system is extremely responsive. In a sharp contrast to Windows Mobile and Series 60 smart phones, we rarely experienced lag when launching an application. We appreciate the responsiveness of Blackberries, and we're sure that it's one of the things that keeps users so loyal.
Gaming (5.0)
Browser Features (7.0)
Browsing Interface (7.0)
Browser Access (5.0)
To test how easy it is to access the web browser on a device, we count the number of steps it takes to go from the home screen (unlocked) until we have browsed to our website. We use steps rather than a timed test to take the network out of the calculation. Entering the web address is counted as a single step. The BlackBerry 8800 took eight steps to reach our web page. This is one step more than the 8700 and is slightly slower than the T-Mobile Dash's 6 steps and Treo 750's 5 steps. We found the process quick and easy. Despite the fact that we counted four steps to launch the browser, this took only a short amount of time.
Calculator (9.0)
Alarm (2.0)
The alarm on the 8800 is the same as that found on the 8700. You can only set a single alarm that goes off either every day or on weekdays only. There are none of the advanced features for having the alarm go off on only certain days as found on the Treo 750. You can choose the alert that goes off with the alarm, which is a nice feature. But, we were disappointed that you can only set a single alarm.
Document Software (3.0)
As with the BlackBerry 8700, we were able to view Excel, Powerpoint, and PDF files but curiously not Word documents. The viewers are integrated into the messaging software, so you cannot simply load a PDF onto the phone's memory and then access it. Rather, you have to email it to yourself. The 8800 does not include any software to edit office documents; however, you can purchase third party software such as eOffice. As a business oriented device, we were rather disappointed by the dearth of support for Office documents. Windows Mobile devices, of course, have an office suite, and most Series 60 devices come bundled with a version of Quick Office. Still, we suppose some viewers are better than nothing.
Other Software (2.0)
In addition to the software we discussed above, the 8800 includes the same excellent search application that we found on the 8700. This allows you to search your messages, calendar, contacts, notes, and tasks. The 8800 also includes a password management applications that allows you to securely store passwords. [page title="Battery Life"]
Call Time (10.6)
To test battery performance while on a call, we make a test call to the phone using Skype. We then play an audiobook over the connection to simulate conversation. We ran the test twice with the BlackBerry 8800 on AT&T's network, and it did well in both tests, lasting 10 hours and 24 minutes in our first test and 8 hours and 50 minutes in the second. In order to be conservative, we scored the 8800 on the shorter time. Still, 8 hours and 50 minutes is better than any other phone we have tested to date. It blows away the Treo 750's 3 hours and 58 minutes, and it's significantly better than the BlackBerry 8700's 5 hours and 23 minutes. In the business world where you need your phone to be working when you need it, the 8800's excellent talk time is a huge bonus.
Music Playback (7.04)
To test battery performance when playing music, we set an album to play continuously at full volume and time how long it takes for the battery to run out. The BlackBerry 8800 continued its excellent battery performance lasting 9 hours and 47 minutes in our test. This is a very good score, but in this department, it falls below the Treo 750, which lasted 15 hours and 22 minutes in our music playback test. The 8800 lasted slightly longer than the Treo 700p (8 hours 8 minutes) and the T-Mobile Dash (7 hours 24 minutes). We like that the 8800 will easily last a cross-country flight or a long commute as your music player.
Web Browsing (10.86)
To test battery life when browsing the Web, we point the web browser at a page that is set to play a sound and refresh every 30 seconds. We make sure the screen stays on and time how long the battery lasts. The BlackBerry 8800 did well again in this battery test, lasting 9 hours and 3 minutes. This is the best time we have seen from any phone we have tested to date, beating out the T-Mobile Dash's 5 hours and 25 minutes. It lasted almost three times as long as the Treo 750 (3 hours 3 minutes), although it should be noted that the 750 browsed over a 3G connection while the 8800 only supports the slower EDGE network.
Idle Time unscored
We do not test idle time. RIM's stated standby time for the BlackBerry 8800 is 22 days (528 hours).
[page title="Connectivity"]
Cellular Bands (8.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 is a quad-band GSM phone. We reviewed the phone on AT&T's network. As a quad-band phone, the 8800 not only supports North American GSM bands (850/1900) but also international GSM bands (900/1800). This means that the phone will function on any GSM network worldwide, an important feature for business users that travel internationally. Our score for cellular bands is standardized based on the number of bands supported.
Data Support Score (3.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 supports GPRS and EDGE data on all four of its GSM bands. EDGE tops out at about 230 kbps, although your performance will vary depending on your local network performance. We were disappointed that the 8800 does not support AT&T's newer 3G data network. Other smart phones like the AT&T 8525 and Treo 750 support both AT&T's 3G network and global 3G networks. Still, EDGE is more than sufficient for email and light browsing. Our score for data support is standardized based on the type of data supported and the bands it is supported on.
Bluetooth (6.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 supports Bluetooth 2.0, which allows for multiple connections at the same time. The BlackBerry 8800 supports the headset, handsfree, desktop connectivity, dial up networking, and wireless bypass profiles. We were easily able to pair a Bluetooth headset with the 8800.
Wi-Fi (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does not support Wi-Fi. This is a disappointment as Wi-Fi would enable helpful services for business users such as VOIP.
Infrared (0.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 does not support Infrared. Although we understand that this is an older technology, we would have liked to see support for it as business devices often have to interact with older legacy hardware.
[page title="Hardware"]
Keypad
Text Words Per Minute (7.86)
To test how quickly you can type on the 8800's keyboard, we time how long it takes to enter a short sample sentence with two hands and calculate how many words per minute this works out to. We repeat our test five times and take the average for our score. The BlackBerry 8800 took an average of 24.42 seconds to enter our sample text. This works out to 39.3 words per minute (WPM), slightly slower than the BlackBerry 8700's 41.9 WPM. It is also slower than the Treo 750's 43.8 WPM and the T-Mobile Dash's 45.4 WPM. We found the keyboard on the 8800 to be more cramped than the 8700's, with limited key travel and feedback. The keys are slightly angled out towards the edge, which helped with accuracy, but it didn't make up for the smaller space between the keys. Overall ,we found the keyboard very usable but not amongst the best we have ever tested. T9 and Auto Complete (0/0)
As a QWERTY-only device, the BlackBerry 8800 has no need for T9 predictive text. However, we were disappointed by the lack of an auto complete feature. Auto complete can help you tap out long words quickly, and it would have been a welcome upgrade over the 8700, which also lacks it.
One Handed Usability (4.61)
We also do our words per minute test with a single hand, as we know that many people find themselves in situations where they need to tap out a quick message one handed. As with our two handed test, we repeat our test five times and take the average for our score. It took an average of 41.64 seconds to enter our sample text one handed on the BlackBerry 8800, which works out to 23.1 WPM. As with other QWERTY phones, one handed usage of the keyboard is significantly worse than two handed. This is due to the large size of the keyboard, which does not lend itself well to typing with a single hand.
Keypad Backlighting (4.0)
The keyboard backlight on the BlackBerry 8800 is linked with the screen backlight. There are ten brightness settings, and you can set the backlight to go off after one of seven time periods from 10 seconds to 2 minutes. There is no option to keep the backlight on indefinitely. The keyboard backlight is on whenever the screen backlight is, which means that even if you're in a well lit situation the keyboard will still be backlit. We found this to be a little wasteful. We found that the quality of the keyboard backlight left something to be desired. Although we were able to see all the letters and symbols, we found the backlight to be much weaker towards the center of the keyboard.
Controls
D-Pad/Joystick (8.0)
Unlike other Blackberries like the 8700, the 8800 eschews the traditional scroll wheel and instead uses a trackball. The trackball sits where you would find a joystick or D-Pad on phones like the Treo 750. The trackball is a curious interface device, it is very similar to the small balls found on some mice like Apple's Mighty Mouse. It will move freely in any direction, but it only recognizes vertical and horizontal movement. You can see when you move in the diagonal that the interface moves in steps left/right and then up/down. Pressing in on the trackball activates whatever you have selected. We did find that when you press in on the trackball, you will sometimes slip and move the highlighted item, an annoyance.
In general,moving about with the trackball is quick and easy. We found that it was more comfortable than a traditional D-Pad or joystick as you don't have to exert any pressure to move. However,if you have a long way to go you will need to "flick" the ball multiple times. When scrolling through menus or the home screen, you can get places quickly, but we did sometimes have trouble with more precise movements. For example, we found it very easy to skip over a menu item when it was close to the cursor. Sometimes, it took several attempts to highlight the item we wanted. We did get better the more we used the trackball, and we were pleased to see that there are settings for the sensitivity of the ball in both the vertical and horizontal directions. By default, it is set to 70, but there are a total of ten settings from 10 to 100 that you can choose from.
We would have liked to see the trackball act a little more intelligently, perhaps starting slower for better short range control but then scrolling faster as we move it further. However, as it is, we found the trackball to be a solid replacement for the traditional BlackBerry scroll wheel. It compared very well with some of the more comfortable directional pads we have seen on phones like the T-Mobile Dash and Treo 750, and it is much better than any D-Pad for scrolling through long lists. That being said, the scroll wheel is much better than the trackball for scrolling through long lists, and this is especially important on the BlackBerry platform where scrolling through lists in menus and messages is required.
Touch Screen (0.0)
As with all BlackBerry devices the 8800 lacks a touch screen interface.
Jog Dial (1.0)
Though not strictly a jog dial, the 8800's control ball functions in much the same way, allowing rapid scrolling through menus.
Soft Buttons (0.0)
As with all Blackberries, the 8800 does not have soft buttons.
Volume Control (3.0)
The volume keys on the 8800 are located near the top of the right hand side of the phone. There are two keys, one for up volume and one for down. The keys feel "squishy" and don't provide very much tactile feedback. We also found that when pushed, they unbalance the phone in our hand. We would have found it better to have them a little closer to the middle of the phone. Unlike most regular phones, the volume keys only function when you are in an application that has volume controls, such as in a call or the music player. To control the device volume at other times, you will need to use the profile system.
Power and Standby (6.0)
The power button the BlackBerry 8800 is on the top of the device on the left side. When the device is on, the power key will cycle through screen settings with a single press, going from backlight at normal, backlight maximum and backlight off. A long press on the key will turn the device off. When off, a short press will turn it on. The key sits flush against the body of the device and is squishy when pressed with little tactile feedback. It is not likely to be hit by accident however, which is what you want most from your power key. It is comparable to the power key on the BlackBerry 8700 in both form and functionality.
Other Buttons (4.0)
In addition to the buttons discussed above, the BlackBerry 8800 has a couple of other useful buttons. Flanking the trackball, you will see a menu key on the left and a back key on the right. The back key fulfills the same function as the back key on previous Blackberries, taking you back to the previous screen or dismissing a menu. The menu key opens the menu, a function that is assigned to a single press of the scroll wheel on the 8700. We like having the menu key separate as it seems more intuitive to us than using a scroll wheel to bring up a menu.
A dedicated push to talk button (PTT) is located on the left side of the phone near the middle. As with the BlackBerry 8700, which has a similar key, this can be reassigned to another application if you wish. A final key is located on the top of the device on the right side. This mute key will mute any sound the device puts out with a single push, while a long press will put the phone into standby mode. When in standby, the phone will turn the screen off and ignore key presses until the power or mute key are pushed. We found the additional buttons on the 8800 to be generally useful, and we especially appreciate that the PTT button can be reassigned for those who don't use this service.
Display
Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.0)
As with the BlackBerry 8700, the 8800 has a landscape QVGA (320 x 240 pixel) display. QVGA has become the standard for mid to high end phones, and it provides good detail for most functions. Our score for screen resolution is standardized based on the total number of pixels displayed.
Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (8.27)
Pixels per inch (PPI) is a measure of how densely pixels are packed into the screen. Higher pixel density leads to richer colors and sharper detail, while lower pixel density can make the screen seem washed out. The BlackBerry 8800 packs 165.3 pixels per inch. This is slightly higher than the BlackBerry 8700's 155 PPI, which reflects the fact that the screen is slightly smaller on the 8800 than on the 8700.
Screen Physical Size (6.0)
The BlackBerry 8800's screen measures 2.4" diagonal, larger than the 2" or 2.1" screens that have become the standard on most regular phones. This is slightly smaller than the 8700's 2.5" screen, although we did not notice the difference in regular use.
Screen Brightness (9.0)
To measure screen brightness, we use a light meter to measure the light given off by the screen from two inches away. We turn the screen's brightness to maximum and point the browser at a blank white page to ensure that we capture the maximum brightness. Under normal maximum brightness, the BlackBerry 8800 scored an impressive 90 lux; however, the phone also has an ultra bright mode that can be accessed by hitting the power key. In this mode, it scored near 200 lux, incredibly bright. This mode is likely meant to be used only in bright light situations and so we scored the phone on the lower "normal" maximum brightness that most users will use most of the time. We have to admit that the "ultra" bright mode hurts your eyes. As we discussed in the keyboard backlight sections, the 8800 has 10 settings available for both the screen and keyboard backlight. You can also use the light sensor on the phone to have the backlight adjust itself automatically. Both of these options can be set in the phone settings.
Screen Bright Light Performance (8.0)
To measure a screen's performance in bright light we shine 3000 lux of light onto the screen, equivalent to a bright sunny day and judge how legible the screen is. As we discussed above, the BlackBerry 8800 has both an "ultra" bright setting that you can access by hitting the power button. Using this brightness setting, we found the screen was extremely legible, the best we have seen to date on a phone. Although we did have to squint a little to read the smallest text on the screen, we were still able to read it. Icons and other graphics were easily legible.
Color Depth (6.0)
Color depth is a measure of how many colors a screen can display. The more colors it can display; the more "true" color reproduction is. As with the BlackBerry 8700, the 8800 displays 65,000 colors. This is fairly standard for mid to high end phones, although some of the better phones are starting to sport 260K or even 16 million color displays. 65,000 colors will be more than sufficient for most business users. Photos and videos look OK but are not outstanding. Our score for color depth is standardized based on the total number of colors supported.
Ports & Storage
Power & Data Ports (9.0)
As with all previous BlackBerries, the 8800 uses a standard Mini USB port for both data and charging. We wish more manufacturers followed RIM's lead in this area. Charging via USB port is supposed to be supported, however, when we plugged it into a laptop to test this, we received a warning that the current was not sufficient to support USB charging and that we should reinstall the device drivers. We had not installed the phone's drivers on this computer, so it may be necessary for USB charging to be used, which is somewhat limiting.
Headphone & Jack Compatibility (2.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 has a standard 2.5mm headset jack, as did the 8700. The phone ships with a stereo headset, and you can easily find adaptors from 2.5mm to 3.5mm if you want to use regular headphones with the device. We were disappointed that there was no support for stereo Bluetooth, although that might be a little too fancy for what is still a business oriented device.
Internal Storage (1.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 has 64MB of built in storage that you can use for messages, contacts, calendars, and additional applications. For such items, 64MB should be sufficient; however, if you want to store multimedia we recommend that you invest in a Micro SD card.
Expansion Slot & Format (5.0)
The Blacbkerry 8800 supports Micro SD for extra storage. Micro SD is currently available up to 2GB of storage, which is sufficient for about 500 Mp3 files. The storage slot is located underneath the battery cover, but you don't need to remove the battery to access it. Rather, just above the battery, you will find a metal slot for the card that can be raised up on a hinge. Simply slide the card into the slot and then push it back down to load it. This is a bit fiddly, especially with such a small card, and we would have preferred to see an external slot that was spring loaded.
[page title="Other Features"]
Tethered Modem (6.5)
As with the BlackBerry 8700, you can use the 8800 as a tethered modem for your computer. Unlike the problems we ran into with the 8700, we were able to use the 8800 as both a USB and Bluetooth modem. Setup was fairly straightforward, but you may need to get your carriers dial up numbers in order to set up a connection. Having the ability to dial out with your phone is an excellent feature for business users that may need to get online quickly, too bad the device doesn't support AT&T's 3G network.
GPS (7.0)
Like all BlackBerry devices for the past few years, the 8800 includes a GPS receiver. Software that can use this is included, albeit with limitations. Telenav Maps is installed on the 8800 out of the box. This allows you to create static maps for free. With this, you can plot a route between two addresses. It can’t, however, use the GPS features or provide turn-by-turn directions unless you buy the enhanced GPS service (Telenav GPS Navigator), which costs $9.99 per month for unlimited routes or $5.99 for up to ten routes per month. This is disappointing. Google Maps provides the same functions as the Telenav Maps software for free, and other phones (such as the Nokia N95 and N73) provide some of the features of the subscription GPS service for free, but the 8800 charges you just to find out where you are.
It also does a mixed job of navigation. We found it took some time to get the first GPS fix in an urban situation, and the turn by turn directions were difficult to understand. Being in a car, it is necessary to have the speaker at maximum volume; however, the distortion of the speaker at the maximum volume required made it difficult to decipher some of the instructions. On a couple of instances, it also warned us of an upcoming turn after we had already missed it and then berated us for missing the turn. Frankly, navigation is difficult enough without cell phones complaining that we have missed turns we didn’t know about. We found the GPS features of the 8800 useful but sometimes irritating. My wife rated it highly on her scale of how much the device irritated her and how much she wanted to throw it out of the window.
PTT (5.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 supports AT&T's push to talk network. Push to talk (PTT) allows you to use your phone as a walkie talkie with other PTT enabled phones. The PTT application is straightforward and easy-to-use. You can add contacts and set your availability. By default, the shortcut key on the left side of the phone opens the applications. Unfortunately, we did not have another PTT enabled phone, so we were unable to actually test the service, as such our score is based only on the software interface.
[page title="Value & Comparisons"]
Value (4.0)
The BlackBerry 8800 is currently available from Cingular for $299.99 with a two year contract or $499.99 without a contract. This is a hundred dollars more than the 8700 and between $100 and $150 more than the BlackBerry Pearl. For BlackBerry lovers, the increased price may be worth paying for the additional multimedia capabilities over the 8700, but when compared to phones like the Samsung Blackjack ($74.99) and Nokia E62 ($69.99), both of which have better multimedia capabilities, the price seems a little excessive. The increased price is a reflection of how new the handset is. Smart buyers will wait a few months for the price to come down to a more reasonable level.
Comparisons
T-Mobile Dash - The T-Mobile Dash is a Windows Mobile Standard (previously smartphone) handset that provides a solid range of functionality and very good battery life. Although the 8800's email and PIM functionality is slightly better in some respects, the Dash is a significantly better multimedia device and the battery life is comparable. Both devices also integrate well with corporate environments using Exchange Server, but the Dash's camera may be a liability for some businesses. Of course, the BlackBerry OS is easier to learn and use than Windows Mobile, and those who are married to BlackBerries because of work or familiarity will obviously prefer the 8800. On the other hand, the Dash is available for $100 less than the 8800 and has just been upgraded to Windows Mobile 6.
Treo 750 - The Treo 750 is comparable to the 8800 in almost all respects in terms of PIM functionality. In some places, the Windows Mobile Pocket PC device does better. For example, category support in the calendar. As with the Dash, the Treo 750 suffers from a more complex and difficult to learn operating system than the BlackBerry 8800. But, if multimedia capabilities are important to you, the 750 is a better device. Where the 8800 is a clear winner over the 750 is in battery life. The Treo 750 has very poor battery performance for call time and browsing. Prices for both these handsets are comparable, and really, it's a matter of preference for platform between the two.
BlackBerry 8700 - The BlackBerry 8800 is clearly the successor to the 8700 series of BlackBerry devices. In almost all respects, the 8800 performs as well or better than the 8700, especially with the addition of multimedia capabilities. On place where the 8700 wins out is price, but for those who can afford it, we recommend the 8800.
[page title="Conclusion"]
Who's It For
Business User
The BlackBerry 8800 is an excellent choice for business users looking for a very good messaging and PIM device that will integrate well with most corporate environments. The addition of multimedia capabilities and a slicker form factor is just the icing on the cake for RIM's latest excellent BlackBerry device.
Budget Callers
The 8800's excessive price tag will scare most budget callers off. Those looking for a BlackBerry device will be better off purchasing an 8700 or a Pearl if they want more multimedia capabilities.
Chatty Teenager
The BlackBerry 8800 is not a good choice for chatty teenagers as many of its business capabilities will be wasted on them.
Media Maven
BlackBerries are not good choices for media mavens, even the 8800 which adds music and video playback capabilities. The software on the 8800 is limited in its capabilities, and the lack of a camera puts the nail in the coffin.
Conclusion
We really liked the BlackBerry 8800. It packs all of the things we like about the BlackBerry platform: solid battery performance, stability and simplicity in use, into a much more attractive package. Although the addition of multimedia capabilities via music and video playback software is not very polished, we appreciate having the option. RIM's going to have to do a lot more work before this BlackBerry will replace an iPod, though.
The biggest change for traditional BlackBerry users will be the move to a trackball from the scroll wheel. It does well in most situations, but when scrolling long lists (and lets face it, there's a lot of long lists on BlackBerries) it's not as good as the scroll wheel. We did like the improved GPS capabilities of the 8800 and the ability to add additional storage via Micro SD.
So is the 8800 a sufficient upgrade over the 8700 that users should rush out to upgrade? Unfortunately, we can't say it is. The 8800 is more of an evolutionary rather than revolutionary upgrade. For those who really want the multimedia capabilities, it might prove worth it, but we still don't see any 3G capabilities or Wi-Fi. These are two features that we'd really like to see on the BlackBerry platform.
[page title="Ratings & Specs"]
| Dimension | |
| Height | 4.49 |
| Carrier | ATT |
| Type | Traditional QWERTY |
| Low Price | 0.00 |
| Width | 2.60 |
| Depth | 0.55 |
| Weight (including battery) | 4.73 |
| Physical | |
| Number of Screens | 0 |
| Main Screen Dimensions | |
| Main Screen Resolution | 320 x 240 |
| Main Screen Colors | 0 |
| Main Screen Type | |
| Secondary Screen Dimensions | |
| Secondary Screen Resolution | |
| Secondary Screen Colors | 0 |
| Secondary Screen Type | |
| Keys | |
| Number Keys Type | |
| QWERTY |  |
| QWERTY Keyboard Type | |
| Other Control Keys | |
| Internal Components | |
| Processor | 312 Mhz |
| RAM Memory | 0 |
| Flash ROM Memory | 64 |
| Memory Card Slot | Micro SD |
| Jacks & Ports | |
| Microphone Jack | |
| Headphone/Mic Jack | 2.5mm |
| USB Port |  |
| Dock Port | |
| Radios | |
| Bands | Quad-Band |
| Bluetooth 1.2 | |
| 802.11 b wifi | |
| GSM 850 | |
| GSM 900 | |
| GSM 1800 | |
| GSM 1900 | |
| CDMA 800 | |
| CDMA 1900 | |
| Bluetooth 1.1 | |
| Bluetooth 2.0 | |
| 802.11g WiFi | |
| External Antenna Port | |
| SAR at Ear | 0 |
| SAR on Body | 0 |
| Flight Mode | |
| Data Standards | |
| GPRS | |
| EDGE | |
| 1XRTT | |
| EVDO | |
| EVDO Rev A | |
| HSDPA | |
| UMTS | |
| Battery | |
| Standard Battery Type | Lithium-Ion |
| Standard Battery Capacity | 1400.00 |
| Standard Battery Model | mah |
| Vendor Quoted Standby Time | 24.00 |
| Vendor Quoted Talk Time | 5.00 |
| Camera | |
| Maximum Native Still Resolution | |
| Image Sensor Type | |
| Megapixels | 0.00 |
| Optical Zoom | |
| Digital Zoom | |
| Built-In Flash | |
| Focus Type | |
| Aperture Range | |
| Shutter Speed Range | |
| Focus Range | |
| Exposure Modes | |
| Exposure Compensation | |
| White Balance Modes | |
| Scene Modes | |
| Video Capture | |
| Video Resolution | |
| Video Frame Rate | 0 |
| Video Format | |
| Maximum Video Clip Length | |
| Audio with Movies | |
| Audio Format | |
| Software | |
| OS | BlackBerry OS |
| PIM Software | |
| Max Number of Address Book Entries | 0 |
| Max Number of Appointments | 0 |
| Included Business Software | |
| Included Leisure Software | |
| Included Syncing Software | |
| Other Software of Note | |
| Calling Features | |
| Address Book Type | |
| Address Book Photos | |
| Alternative Ring Types | |
| Speakerphone | |
| Can work as PC Modem? | |
| Customization | |
| Ring Tone Formats | |
| Individual Caller Ring Tones | |
| Skins for Look & Feel | |
| Messaging (built-in clients only) | |
| SMS | |
| Yahoo! Messenger | |
| MMS | |
| POP3 | |
| Exchange | |
| IMAP | |
| AOL Mail | |
| Blackberry Mail | |
| Good Mail | |
| AIM | |
| ICQ | |
| MSN Messenger | |
| SMS Message Capacity | 0 |
| Web Browsing | |
| Web Browser | |
| Music | |
| Music Playback | |
| Music Player | |
| Music File Formats Supported | |
| Downloadable Music Service | |
| Video | |
| Video Player | |
| Video Formats Supported | |
| Downloadable Video Service | |
| Bluetooth Profiles | |
| Advanced Audi | |