ProductCritic: BlackBerry 8800 Reviews

Lance's Thought Stream (88)

In conclusion, the Blackberry 8800 is far and away the best Blackberry ever. The trivial shortcomings of this phone do little to detract from the overwhelming delightful experience it provides.

Reg Hardware (85)

The 8800 is aimed more at the BlackBerry converts and those that value a better keyboard over size. It’s a stylish device too – taking a number of cues from the Pearl to create a handset that most people wouldn’t be ashamed to have on show. Add in a decent-sized screen, QWERTY keyboard, media playback facilities, reliable BlackBerry email and built-in GPS and it’s a well thought out and competent device. While its size may put some people off, if you value text over talk then it’s an obvious choice.

CNET (80)

Despite some minor issues, the RIM BlackBerry 8800 offers mobile professionals a well-rounded smart phone with added multimedia functions, GPS, and push-to-talk capabilities. That said, messaging remains its forte.

vnunet.com (80)

RIM’s latest BlackBerry supports satellite navigation as well as the traditional BlackBerry email and messaging functions. The BlackBerry Maps navigation tool lacks some features of rival software, but its inclusion makes this device an attractive option for mobile workers.

PC Mag (80)

A tremendously effective messaging phone, the 8800 adds a trackball and music player to the traditional Blackberry form factor. But the lack of 3G high-speed wireless will be an issue for Web surfers and laptop modem users.

FOXNews.com (80)

That’s a quibble, though, as the new 8800 looks sharper than RIM’s current top-of-the-line 8700: It’s more than 25 percent thinner, and it packs some key multimedia enhancements.

infoSync World (70)

The BlackBerry 8800 has a great feature set, including the well-designed trackball, GPS-navigation, an excellent microphone and speaker for calling, as well as a bright, clear screen. Still, the interface holds the phone back in almost every way. The device does a great job with e-mail and calling, admittedly its primary functions, but should be a much more pleasant phone to use.

Pocket-lint (70)

This might be the best looking BlackBerry to date, and at its core job it works a treat, however RIM are missing quite a few tricks here. We can forgive the lack of a camera – after all this is designed for business users, however the lack 3G, HSDPA or Wi-Fi support is shocking compared to the competition and the GPS isn’t nearly half as good as it should be.

LAPTOP Magazine (70)

Overall, the BlackBerry 8800 is an excellent smart phone and a surprisingly good navigator. At $299, it’s priced between the sleeker, BlackJack and the more powerful Cingular 8525 ($399), which offers both HSDPA and Wi-Fi connectivity. Whether it’s $150 better than Cingular’s BlackBerry Pearl depends on how much of a premium you place on having a full-sized keyboard, up to five hours of talk time, and GPS capability. We think it’s worth it.

Smart Device Central (70)

If ease of use and e-mail are paramount in your world, the 8800 is the ultimate device at the moment, and the music and video players are just good enough to be fun. But power users may lean towards the Samsung Blackjack instead, with its higher-speed modem and better music and video syncing with Windows Media Player.

TheCellFreak.com (70)

The 8800 is definitely a capable phone, but unless you’re infatuated with the idea of using a trackball with a QWERTY keyboard, this Blackberry 8800 review suggests you steer clear of the model, as it feels like a time bider between the innovation of the Pearl and Blackberry’s next big thing.