BlackBerry 8820 Cell Phone Review - Making/Receiving Calls
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Mark Brezinski Published on October 11, 2007 Comment on this |
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Dialing Speed (6.43)
To test dialing speed, we time how long it takes to dial a set of test numbers. Each time we start with the phone in an unlocked standby. We then find the average time per number. The 8820 could get a call out in 3.11 seconds, which is a decent time. As the keypad is really small, people will either love or hate it for dialing. It means there won't be much finger movement necessary, but it also means mistakes are really easy to make. We would've liked the buttons to be slightly bigger to aid in potentially cutting down on mistakes.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| BlackBerry 8820 | 3.11 | 6.43 |
| Nokia E90 | 2.36 | 8.47 |
| Nokia N95 | 4.62 | 4.33 |
| T-Mobile Wing | 5.46 | 3.66 |
| PHONE 4 | 4.25 | 4.71 |
| Apple iPhone | 3.96 | 5.05 |
Talk and End Buttons (8.0)
The talk and end keys are located on the ends of the d-pad lineup. They're a good size, and easy to find by touch. Unlike on most phones, the end button doesn't have the secondary function of powering down the phone. The talk button also brings up a list of contacts, which circumvents the need to find the address book icon.
Call Management (4.0)
Startup to Call (1.28)
For this test we time how long you can expect to wait to make a call if your phone was off. The 8820 provides a problem here, as the power button doesn't really shut the phone off; it's just a different level of standby. We therefore had to take out the battery to get the true start-up time. Though we realize most people won't be swapping batteries frequently, we score phones based on the worst-case scenario. We did two sets of timing tests, however, one after the battery had been removed, and one after the phone had been shut down with the power button. The difference was fairly dramatic. After the battery had been removed, the phone took 78.07 seconds to boot up and perform a call. Many advanced devices take a while to boot up, but only some extend past the minute mark. If you haven't taken out the battery, you can expect a startup to call time of 6.55 seconds.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| BlackBerry 8820 | 78.07 | 1.28 |
| Nokia E90 | 32.12 | 3.11 |
| Nokia N95 | 36.40 | 2.75 |
| T-Mobile Wing | 62.86 | 1.59 |
| PHONE 4 | 42.26 | 2.37 |
| Apple iPhone | 26.12 | 3.83 |
Ring Volume (8.57)
To test ring volume, we hold the Nokia N95 inches away from a sound pressure meter and play back all the built-in ringtones, notifiers, and alarms. At its loudest, the 8820 measured 85.7 decibels. This isn't the loudest we've seen, but some of the ringers and alarms are so incredibly shrill it would be hard to miss them.
| Cell Phone | Volume (decibels) | Score |
| BlackBerry 8820 | 85.7 | 8.57 |
| Nokia E90 | 85.4 | 8.54 |
| Nokia N95 | 105.3 | 10.53 |
| T-Mobile Wing | 85.3 | 8.53 |
| PHONE 4 | 83.2 | 8.32 |
| Apple iPhone | 84.9 | 8.49 |
Ringtone Customizability (6.0)
The 8820 can set any MP3 file as a ringtone. All you have to do is drop it into the ringtones folder, then select the browse option that begins the list of built-in ringtones.
Non-Audio Alerts (7.0)
Despite giving vibrate its own profile, the 8820's vibration mechanism isn't strong enough to do it justice. We can honestly see how you could have your hand on the phone and still miss it. The LED will also clue you in on a call with its flashing. This will help you if you can see the phone, but if it's in your pocket, there isn't much to alert you of a call.
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