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