Gizmodo: blackberry 8800

WildCharge Releases iPhone, iPod, BlackBerry Pearl/8800 Wireless Charging Adapters

Jason Chen — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:30:34 EST

Wildcharge, the device that lets you wirelessly charge your RAZR, has just released new adapters for the iPhone, iPod, BlackBerry Pearl, BlackBerry 8800 and 2nd Gen iPod Nano. It still works the same: put the adapter on the back of your phone, place your phone onto the charging pad and wait for the juice to flow. No pricing information on this quite yet, but the old RAZR chargers were $34 (or $89 for the pad and the charger together). [WildCharge]

BlackBerry 8300 Goes All Curve-y

Wilson Rothman — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:30:00 EDT

The word on the streets is that RIM's BlackBerry 8300 might show up as early as next week, and that it will bear the (classy?) name "Curve."

We already told you that the smartphone formerly known as Daytona won't have Wi-Fi, nor any kind of 3G. As a GSM handset, it looks like it's having the same basic troubles that Nokia and others are having trying to build a world phone that runs on US HSDPA. (The 8830, a CDMA phone, had no trouble conforming to EVDO standards.) Give it a year perhaps?

Now we have new facts, or at least new educated guesses, along with some tantalizing rumors.

No Wi-Fi, sure, but now we're hearing that there will be a 2-megapixel camera, unlike the all-business 8800 and 8830. The Curve will also be slimmer than the 8800 series, but will still most likely pack built-in GPS.

As for the name, the reason MobileWhack suggests that the 8300 will be called the Curve is that both blackberry8300.com and blackberrycurve.com are owned by the same entity. MobileWhack said that the two sites were also linked, but when we visited, all we got were white screens of possibility.

Will T-Mobile introduce it on May 7, RIM's Capital Markets Day down in O-Town? Or will ~~Cingular~~ AT&T ship it sometime this "summer"? We don't know. There is also speculation that a Verizon/Sprint Pearl handset may appear on the 7th, but judging from our recent conversation with Verizon Wireless, and the fact that both carriers are really pushing the 8830s, that seems a bit far-fetched. All we can do is wait and wonder and maybe make some calls. – Wilson Rothman

Blackberry 8300 is the Blackberry Curve [MobileWhack]
BlackBerry 8300: What to Expect from RIM's Uber Smartphone [SmartPhoneToday]

BlackBerry 8800 Now Available on T-Mobile

Charlie White — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 08:59:55 EDT

It's about time the BlackBerry 8800 made its way to T-Mobile. Until today only available on Cingular, T-Mobile will hook you up for $249.99 if you buy a service plan. We've been using this phone for about a month, and can vouch for its sweetness. Heck, about the only thing it doesn't have as a camera, and who wants one of those crappy shooters that you'll never use anyway? Some corporate types can't even bring a camera phone into the workplace, so the lack of a camera is just as well for some. Hey, carry a point-and-shoot if you want to take decent pictures.

The Blackberry 8800 fits in your hand and pocket nicely, and it's nicely rounded, not too big and not too small. Our favorite feature is its pearl-like mini trackball, a little nipple that feels like it's slightly vibrating or even humming when you manipulate it. It's unlike any control device we've ever encountered. We also dig its built-in GPS. This phone sounds good, too, its keyboard is nicely backlit, and its overall user experience gets a big thumbs-up. Check out its gorgeous beauty in the gallery below, or jump for its full spec list. – Charlie White

BlackBerry 8800 from T-Mobile USA features:
- A large screen with 320 x 240 px color display
- Dimensions: 4.49 x 2.60 x 0.55 inches and 4.73 oz
- Expandable memory via microSD expansion slot
- Instant messaging clients: AOL, Yahoo! MSN and ICQ
- Multimedia player with music and audio capabilities
- HTML browser for visiting favorite web sites
- Full QWERTY keyboard
- Intuitive user interface with an easy-to-use trackball
- Call management features such as smart dialing, conference calling, speed dialing, and call forwarding
- Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), dedicated "send," "end," and "mute" keys, speakerphone, and Bluetooth support for hands-free use with headsets, car kits and Bluetooth peripherals
- Quad-band GSM/GPRS (800/900/1800/1900) and EDGE network support for international roaming
- Support for polyphonic, MP3 and MIDI ringtones
- BlackBerry Internet Service—allows access to up to 10 personal and corporate email accounts, including most popular ISP email accounts
- BlackBerry Enterprise Server support—integrates with Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise environments and features a new set of IT policy controls for managing the handset's features and usage.

BlackBerry 8800 Launched on T-Mobile [Mobiledia]

Hands On: TeleNav GPS Navigator Bluetooth Kit on a Blackberry 8800

Charlie White — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 17:30:00 EDT

We've been testing the TeleNav GPS Navigator software ($10/month for the service on Cingular with a data plan) on a BlackBerry 8800 for the past few days, and found it to be an impressive performer. It's extremely easy to set up, where as soon as it's downloaded into our Bluetooth-equipped BlackBerry, and after a few minutes of entering passwords and such, it was all ready to go.

The GPS-capable BlackBerry 8800, along with the TeleNav ~~unit~~ software was even able to receive signals from GPS satellites while it was indoors and away from any windows, a feat no other GPS receiver has been able to do. But the real wow factor is its performance, which we quickly discovered when we took it out on the road. Read more after this gallery:

Whenever we goofed and missed a turn, it quickly recalculated its directions, and we also appreciated the 10 million points of interest loaded on the server, not in the BlackBerry.

Our only gripe? It's not as easy to manually enter destinations as that task is when using full-sized GPS navigators, but then if you call the TeleNav toll-free number, you can just speak the addresses to the voice recognition server, and it'll enter those addresses for you. That feature actually works pretty well. Also on the plus side, it has excellent 3D maps that rival any GPS navigation system.

This is the best implementation of a GPS software and hardware system we've seen yet for smartphones. It calls out the directions loud and clear, complete with street names, without being too much of a drain on the battery.

That does it, we're taking this baby along with us on our next road trip. It's the first time we've seen a cellphone-based GPS system working just as well as our favorite Garmin StreetPilot c550 GPS navigator. Big thumbs-up. – Charlie White

Update: Let's make it clear that you don't even need that Telenav hardware unit shown in these pictures, because there's already a GPS receiver inside the Blackberry 8800. Cellphones not equipped with GPS need that unit, which costs around $100. CW

Product Page [TeleNav]

The WSJ on the Blackberry 8800's Swoopy, Difficult Keyboard

Brian Lam — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 20:37:39 EST

Katie Boehret, trained by Godfather of Gadgets Walt himself, reviews the Blackberry 8800 in this week's edition of The Mossberg Solution. The whale of a PDA picks up some styling cues from its hipper sibling, the Pearl, including its namesake white trackball, and the swoopy keyboard design, transposed to its QWERTY.

She likes the trackball, but loathes the keyboard:

...this device's keyboard...left me frustrated no matter how many emails I typed...Instead of using essentially flat keys like those on older BlackBerrys, each key on the 8800 has a slight, distinguishing ridge that I found annoyingly restrictive; my thumbs had to be in exactly the right positions to type well. Keys on the older keyboards can be tapped from any direction or angle.

Corporate IT departments and CEOs everywhere give a concurrent, collective sigh.–Brian Lam

BB 8800 [WSJ]

Cingular BlackBerry 8800 in Stores

Louis Ramirez — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 09:58:39 EST

If the Boy Genius is right, it looks like RIM's newly minted BlackBerry 8800 will be in Cingular stores across the country any second now. BG has a full unboxing up at his site along with a few notes on the device's performance. I gotta say, I never considered myself a BlackBerry kinda guy, buy having played with one at 3GSM I'll admit to wanting to take one home. I didn't find it to be that much of a fingerprint magnet as others have reported, but the keyboard, interface, and trackball were spot on. Any of you guys spotted one in stores yet? – Louis Ramirez

Unboxing: Cingular BlackBerry 8800 [The Boy Genius Report]

Top 10 Phones of 3GSM

Noah Robischon — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:45:37 EST

The 3GSM World Congress only started today. But like children who can't keep secrets or hold their bladders, every handset maker announced its new lineup in "me first" fashion. Which is why we're able to bring you this top 10 list of the most outlandish, impressive and iPhone-like phones of the show. Starting with number 10...

10. Possio GRETA
When it comes to ballsy innovation, no touchscreen or banana phone beats this combination fax machine, printer, copier, scanner and cellphone in one. Why they painted it the color of maroon nail polish is a question that can probably only be answered by a regional manager for Dunder-Mifflin.

9. Motorola Q9
The Jay Leno chin is gone, the color is much, well, blacker, and it's a true global phone. Sometimes it's the little things that make all the difference.

8. RIM Blackberry 8800
The jury is still out on SureType, so RIM took all the best features of the Pearl (including the nipple-like navigator) and combined them with a full QWERTY keyboard. Crackberry-licious.Gallery.

7. Nokia 6110 Navigator
A GPS phone with 3.6 Mbps throughput will keep you one step ahead of pursuers, that's for sure. The $600 price tag, however, means that you are being chased by debt collectors. Gallery.

6. Samsung U100
Two words: Wafer thin. 5.9mm. Gallery.

5. LG Prada
The LG Prada is so hot right now it could take a crap, wrap it in tinfoil, put a couple fish hooks on it and sell it to Queen Elizabeth as earrings. It's going to be break-dance fighting with the Samsung U100 later tonight. Gallery.

4. Motorola Z8
A hinged slider phone that automatically switches into landscape mode? Everyone is going to want to try it once. Gallery.

3. Nokia N77
The great thing about Nokia is that they can take a bunch of features that everyone has seen before—mobile tv, push-to-talk, FM radio, micro SD slot—and freshen it up by turning the phone sideways. Gallery.

2. Samsung SGH-F520
This side-to-side and up-down slider with a touchscreen wins the award for the most iPhone-competitive handset at the show. Its Achilles heel? It will probably never be released outside of Korea.

1. Neonode N2
This phone, which uses an open software platform, probably has a snowball's chance in hell of being used outside of the homebrew mobile phone club. But the 3-inch tall, gesture-controlled phone is also a true harbinger of phones to come.

–Noah Robischon

Blackberry 8800 Up Close and Personal

Charlie White — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 09:29:07 EST

That newly-minted Blackberry 8800 is now in the hands of our intrepid correspondent in Barcelona, and here's a few close-up looks at the latest QWERTY phone from RIM. Check out the full gallery, right here:

RIM BlackBerry 8800 Hands On

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 08:43:46 EST

So here we are in Barcelona, Spain at the 3GSM World Congress where we plan on shining our spotlight on the coolest, newest mobile phones around, and what do we see first? RIM's hot new BlackBerry 8800—hanging from a metallic, octopus-like tentacle at the RIM booth. We knew the 8800 was coming, but now that we got some time to play with it, I gotta say—it's a huge improvement over the Pearl. (I was never a fan of SureType). The full QWERTY keyboard is big and easy to use (especially if you have big paws like me). There's also a QVGA display, a microSD slot, and though it's wider than the Pearl, I kinda like the extra junk in the trunk. And of course there's the signature white nipple sitting right in the 8800's midriff. Full gallery to come.

Boy Genius Paws the RIM Blackberry 8800, Takes Lots of Pics

Charlie White — Wed, 07 Feb 2007 14:15:00 EST

The infamous Boy Genius got his hands on a shiny black Blackberry 8800, and he shows us tons of pictures of the device along with numerous screenshots. He likes the look and feel of the handset, saying its keyboard is just as good as its 8700 predecessor. He's also digging the screen, "Oh man, the screen!"

He especially likes the quickness of the unit, saying that its OS loads a lot faster than that of the Blackberry Pearl, and also noticed its speaker "sounds a lot better." And is it us, or does it look slightly thinner than its predecessor, too? Nice phone. – Charlie White

Hands On: BlackBerry 8800! [Boy Genius Report, via CrunchGear]

BlackBerry 8800 Hitting in Two Weeks?

Louis Ramirez — Tue, 06 Feb 2007 15:42:01 EST

Word on the street has it that RIM will be launching a new BlackBerry handheld two weeks from today (Feb 20). Considering all the leaked shots we've been seeing recently, this could be the day we finally see the 8800 come to fruition. Either way, if you've been shopping around for a new Crackberry, you'd be wise to wait until after the 20th. – Louis Ramirez

BlackBerry 8800c Coming Feb 20 [BlackBerry Cool]

BlackBerry 8800 Size Comparison

Louis Ramirez — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 09:58:12 EST

If you've had your eye on the new BlackBerry 8800, but were wondering how big it was, a Flickr user by the name of Greipurs has posted this shot of the BlackBerry Electron (8700) with the Huron (8800). The 8800 looks a bit wider and bigger, but also appears to be slimmer. Then again, the photo was taken at a weird angle. Either way, the latest rumblings on the Net say the 8800 will bust out on the 12th of Feb, though as much as we prefer the 8800's full QWERTY keyboard over the Pearl's SureType pad, the lack of a camera and Wi-Fi kills the deal for us. – Louis Ramirez

BlackBerry 8800/8700 Comparison Photo [BlackBerryCool]

BlackBerry 8800 (or 8900c?) Spotted in the Wild

Gizloco — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 10:27:45 EST

Businessmen, lobbyists and compulsive e-mail checkers take note: the BlackBerry 8800 is now out in the wild. Word first hit last fall about the existence of this new BlackBerry with integrated trackball. There's a bit of controversy, though, as some people claim that this is actually the BlackBerry 8900c rather than the 8800. Either way, there's more spy shots after the jump.

Another theory is that Cingular could just be rebranding the 8800 as the 8900c. Supposedly it'll come with full Wi-Fi support, so when our spies get a hold of it, we should know for sure. It should find its way into the pockets of Fortune 500 CEO sometime this quarter. Humanity, sponsored by RIM. – Nicholas Deleon

BlackBerry 8900c rumored: five pix here [BBHub]

Blackberry 8800 Spotted, Spec List, Too

Charlie White — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 09:46:31 EDT

Seems like we were just talking about the Blackberry 8703e rolling out RIM's door, and now here's a picture and a partial spec list of the Blackberry 8800. Unlike its CDMA-only 8703e brandmate, this one will support GSM/GPRS, EDGE, and—wait for it—WiFi. It looks thinner than its predecessors, and it has a 320x240 screen, Bluetooth 2.0, a full QWERTY keypad and of course, that addicting, homewrecking Blackberry email.

If this baby is as thin as the spec list says, (exactly how thick is "ultrathin," anyway?), it looks like Blackberry could be catching up to the rest of the techno-world. Our interest is piqued. There's a whole lot more info; take a look at the spec list and an all-angles pic, after the jump. – Charlie White

Blackberry 8800
•Quad-Band: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS, EDGE + Wi-Fi
•Email
•Phone and SMS
•Corporate Data Access
•Organizer
•Wireless Internet
•BlackBerry Maps
•Trackball, ESC key and Menu key
•Integrated earpiece and microphone
•Integrated speakerphone
•Bluetooth v2.0; headset, hands-free and serial port profiles supported
•Polyphonic, MP3 & MIDI ringtones, vibrate, on-screen or LED indicator
•Embedded RIM wireless modem
•Supported by version 4.2 or higher
•Ultra Thin
•Full QWERTY keypad
•Large 320 x 240 screen
•Full multimedia feature set
•Possible on some versions of the 8800 (Camera - 1.3 mp, 5x digital zoom, flash and maybe even video recording)
•Media Player - audio and video playback (Built-in streaming*) stereo headset compatible.
•64 MB Flash, expandable memory (Micro SD)
•Great phone experience w/ Advanced noise and echo cancellation
•Voice activated dialing, speakerphone, Bluetooth 2.0

RIM's BlackBerry 8800 Specs & Details [Pinstack]