Review: MelissaOx's on the Tmobile 8700g

**melissaox** · #1 04-23-2006 -

Well I have had it for about 2 days now. I LOVE it.
My first thought when I saw the 8700 out of the box (which my hubby so wonderfully went up to our office to get for me Thanks Baby) was that is was smaller than I expected. This is a good thing. Then I saw the keys.... they seemed awfully small... maybe not a good thing.
Having typed on it alot over the past few days, the keys are perfect for me. They were not too small, and the BB fits into my hand perfectly. It is a great size.

The screen is amazing. Stuff that was ok and a little squished on the 7100t looks so much better on the 8700, kinda reminds me of going from the cheap basic tv to the nice HD widescreen we have now.
There is also no trouble seeing the screen outside as there was on the 7100t.
The 8700 is also much faster hands down than the 7100t. When my hubby gets back with it tonight I will have to get him to test load a page and see what the time difference is. I also get the EDGE network here, so I can not say how much is network and how much is phone.
I haven't played with the extra shortcut button on the side that takes you to profiles, but I bet I will be using it regularly every day to change to silent when I go to work. Its one less icon I have to worry about the location of.

I do not like the case that came with the phone, it is a hard plastic that is not very attractive. I will have to look around and see what I can get. I will also want to get screen protectors for it.
The call volume is great, I had no trouble using it as a phone. It feels more like a normal house phone next to the ear than my 7100 did.
The new TMo IM is great. You have to go into your web browser bookmarks and click on a link to download it to the phone. It now has an entry in your profile for each IM so you can select a different sound for a new message in each one. You also send a message by hitting enter - which was not the case in the IM on the 7100t and the main reason I did not use it.

Ofcourse now you can also get Google Talk and Yahoo IMs directly from RIM that work great, plus BB Messenger... this will probably put the squeeze on the 3rd party IM apps. There is less and less reason to use one of them every day.

Overall this is a great phone and I would reccomend upgrade to anyone, with the following caution - If you have big hands or fingers you might want to go to a store and try out the keyboard before spending the dough. Tmo was great to my hubby when he changed from a normal voice plan to a Blackberry Plan.

Oh and all the cords - USB, car charger, travel charger - that fit my 7100t fit my 8700 too. I still had to have seconds as we are using both BBs, but if it wasn't for that I would not need any new chargers.
I looked around for the Sidekick to compare key size, but I couldn't find it... I will have to ask the husband what he did with it.
I will add more to this as I think of it.

Also see this 8700g review

EricaJ1073 · #2 04-23-2006 -

Nice review but one question. Yahoo, MSN, AIM, and ICQ have to be downloaded to the 8700? I thought the 8700 series was supposed to have them already on there.

**melissaox** · #3 04-23-2006 -

It is not already on the phone, but it is a free download from Tmo with the link built into the bookmarks. Not sure why it is that way on the 8700. Maybe they got a lot of feedback from business users that they did not like it on the by default, this way you only add it if you want it. Who knows.
I like the icon better too. It shows up as a little talk bubble on my 8700 on the 7100t it was just IM.

**dlsolo** · #4 04-23-2006 -

Definitely a great review!

EricaJ1073 · #5 04-23-2006 -

Oh ok. Thanks again.

dtx · #6 04-23-2006 -

Great review! I had the same conclusions. keys took some getting used to, but now i feel like a 7290 keypad is HUGE, i feel like i'm jumping from key to key across a giant keyboard. the 8700 keys are tight together, i can roll my thumbs from key to key usually, i can type 33 wpm on it

i recommend this BB to every serious BB user! once you've tried it, you won't know how you lived without it!

**melissaox** · #7 04-23-2006 -

I had a little trouble with how to type numbers, - alt and then the key to type one number or alt & num to turn on number lock - and with delete and enter. I kept hitting enter thinking I was hitting delete. Made IMs a little confusing....
No problems now with those.
What I am running into today is forgeting I have a full keyboard and trying to type like I did on the 7100.

dtx · #8 04-23-2006 -

I have the same problem with enter\delete.
hah, I use a 7290, a 7100 and a 8700 (mostly the 8700 for obvious reasons). Imagine my confusion switching between them! Then I sit down at my desk and try using a real keyboard. I keep hitting <space> twice trying to insert a period!

**hayden** · #9 04-23-2006 -

great review!

**Toddboy71** · #10 04-23-2006 -

Nice review! I have grown back to loving the qwerty keyboard. It is easier to drive while typing with the Suretype though.

**melissaox** · #11 04-23-2006 -

Although we all do it, we shouldn't drive and type

sarad · #12 04-23-2006 -

Great review. And thanks for all you help!

**melissaox** · #13 04-23-2006 -

~~Posted via BB (wap.pinstack.com)~~ no prob. Anytime.

msbrenda64 · #14 04-24-2006 -

Great review! I'm looking forward to getting the 8700 in the near future.

EricaJ1073 · #15 04-24-2006 -

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I never had any problem adjusting to the switch from a full keyboard (my 7730's) to SureType (7100t's and a 7105t). If I ever get the 8700, I am sure I won't have any problem going back to a full keyboard.