BlackBerry 8800 Review - Conclusion
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Alfredo Padilla Published on May 22, 2007 Comment on this |
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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.
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