T-Mobile's BlackBerry 8820 teaches an older dog new tricks with UMA calling. Is this the best of the BlackBerry bunch?
Review summary of the RIM BlackBerry 8820 (T-Mobile):
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_it00.jpg) The BlackBerry 8820 on T-Mobile gets it right when it comes to Wi-Fi, and we definitely like the HotSpot @Home service. We'd like to see plenty more improvements to the aging BlackBerry UI, including a nicer looking calendar and more productivity apps, but we think some business customers will find the UMA capabilities useful, and perhaps even cost-cutting. We could lament the lack of good multimedia options, but there is always the BlackBerry Curve and the Pearl for that. The 8820 might be the priciest of the bunch, but it also might offer the right mix of features for BlackBerry fans. Release: March 2008. Price: $350.
Pros: T-Mobile HotSpot @Home UMA calling. Great call quality and battery life.
Cons: Aging interface. Out-of-date browser. Needs better Office tools and prettier calendar.
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Full RIM BlackBerry 8820 (T-Mobile) Review:
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Design - Good
The BlackBerry 8820 looks like a larger version of the BlackBerry Pearl, which is not a bad thing. Besides the obvious trackball, it also comes with chrome bumbers and the same general shape as the Pearl, only wider, as opposed to the more stout-looking BlackBerry Curve series. We like the trackball, but not as much as we once did. It's a an improvement over the old clickwheel, but it should feel precise, when instead it's tracking felt very loose. Also, we would like to see it accelerate during scrolling. The letters are oddly shaped, contiguous rather than discretely placed. Each key has its own slope, which made typing a little nerve-wracking at first, but after a few long e-mails, we found our fingers had little trouble finding the keys. Still, we never felt as comfortable with the 8820's keyboard as we have with other BlackBerry devices.
The phone doesn't feel solid. Units we've tested tended to creak a bit, feeling like the plastic and metal had tiny gaps. Unlike, say, an iPod nano, whose gaps are so tight that you can't feel them, the BlackBerry device feels more loosely put together. Of all the BlackBerry 88XX-series devices we've used, T-Mobile's interface is the most helpful, but this is because MyFaves is a convenient and customizable speed dial option, and not because any great strides have been taken to improve the aging BlackBerry UI.
Calling - Excellent
The BlackBerry 8820 on T-Mobile has a neat trick up its sleeve when it comes to calling. The 8800 was already an excellent phone for call quality, but now the T-Mobile version of the 8820 takes things further by enabling Wi-Fi calling. Thanks to its UMA capabilities, what T-Mobile calls HotSpot @Home, the BlackBerry 8820 can make calls on a Wi-Fi network and transition them seamlessly to the cellular network, and vice versa? Still with us? Good, because the best part is the pricing. For an extra $10 per month, you get unlimited minutes for calls that start as Wi-Fi calls. If you start a call at Starbucks, then talk for the almost-nine hours of talk time we got on the phone, the entire call is free. We've seen UMA on a few phones before, including a BlackBerry Curve, we think it's a great option. It's also something AT&T doesn't include on their version of the same phone (though T-Mobile's 8820 is $50 more expensive).
The phone features all the calling capabilities we like, including Bluetooth, a good speakerphone, speaker-independent voice dialing and three-way calling. Setting up customized ring tones was easy, and the phone allows you to use MP3 files as rings. The contact list may be a bit bare to look at, but it's all business, and it features more fields than we could possibly ask for. What's more, you can dial a number or name directly into the dialing interface, and the phone searches for your contacts while you type. Setting up backups locally, with BlackBerry Desktop was easy, and we had no problem accessing our Exchange server for our address book.
Messaging - Very good
Push e-mail fanatics will be completely satisfied with the BlackBerry 8820's messaging capabilities, since it does well what BlackBerrys do best. Here, the lack of 3G isn't bothersome, as even attachments seem to load quickly. The BlackBerry can handle a wide variety of e-mail options as well, including support for up to 10 e-mail addresses. Unfortunately, many of these options rely on redirection software, which we find a bit obtrusive on our PCs. We prefer a more direct connection, but the redirector and Internet e-mail setup can synchronize with Exchange, Lotus Notes and IBM domino servers, which should make business users, the 8820's primary audience, happy. With no camera, MMS messages are pretty much out. The keyboard was not as easy to use from the get-go as the BlackBerry Curve, which has discrete keys. Still, the keyboard felt solid, though we never gave up staring at our fingers. The default font is a bit skinny for our taste, reinforcing the all-business attitude of the 8820, and even with font smoothing turned on, it isn't exactly a pleasing look. Still, you can cram literally hundreds of characters on screen at once.
We did a bit more digging and found some nice instant messaging options available for download. Though the device comes with only the BlackBerry IM client installed, we had no trouble finding clients for every major IM service, including our new office favorite, Google Talk. Even over the EDGE network, IM messages seemed responsive, and the client, though simple and bare, was effective.
Scheduling - Good
Nowhere does the RIM BlackBerry interface need a makeover more than the calendar and scheduling app. Though business users may be satisfied with the bare, heavily textual scheduling fields and the wiry calendar, RIM certainly won't be winning any beauty contests with the UI which is now, by our calculation, two or maybe three generations old. Sure, the BlackBerry offers more flexibility and options than Windows Mobile phones, but when the options come in a long, insipid list, it is much harder to sort through them. With this new generation of BlackBerry, so much of the exterior has changed that the interface seems even more dated. Of course, it works well, undoubtedly. Contacts synchronized easily between Outlook and the 8820, and the phone makes up for a lack of touch screen with good navigation using the trackball, and easy cut/copy/paste options. Still, the poor interface makes the whole experience less than pleasant.
Laptop sidekick - Mediocre
To it's credit, the BlackBerry device is more about leaving your laptop behind than adding to its functionality. With Wi-Fi for faster browsing, and good e-mail and scheduling options, the 8820 isn't meant to supplement a desktop nearly as much as Windows Mobile is. Still, we like tethered modem support on our smartphones, and EDGE networking is simply too slow to be useful to us for the uploading and serious browsing we do. We like that the BlackBerry 8820 uses simple mini-USB and can charge plugged into our computer, but this is a convenience, when we wanted some real power.
Multimedia and GPS - Good
The BlackBerry 8220 on T-Mobile comes default with BlackBerry Maps, but can also use TeleNav for GPS navigation, which is a nice choice. It won't supplant a true portable navigation device, but these are both better options than just using Google Maps. BlackBerry Maps on the device wasn't as bad as we initially thought, we just needed a little support, but we like having the option to use TeleNav's app. The GPS sensor on the T-Mobile BlackBerry 8820 found us quickly and navigated smoothly.
The Web browser on the BlackBerry 8820 is definitely behind the times. More of a one-column affair (though there are a few layout options), the browser did a poor job of interpreting pages and rendering legible fonts. Our own site, especially, suffered. Wi-Fi certainly offers a speed boost over the EDGE connection, but we're getting more and more used to "desktop grade" browser, like the Opera Mini browser, that render a more faithful Web experience.
The BlackBerry 8820 comes with stereo Bluetooth and a microSD card slot, unfortunately located beneath the battery cover. We've seen both the Pearl and the Curve with 3.5mm headphone jacks, but the 8820 sticks to the stodgy, though standardized, 2.5mm jack. Adapters are available, but also inconvenient and easy to lose. In all, the mobile media experience is there, but seems more like an afterthought. The lack of a camera should be a good hint, this is a phone that is more serious about business.
Battery life - Excellent
To test the BlackBerry 8820 on T-Mobile, we made a call using the Wi-Fi UMA capabilities of the phone. This left both the cellular radio and Wi-Fi radio active. We still managed more than six hours of calling under these strenuous conditions. We expect that cellular-only calling will be in-line with the 8800's impressive nine hour mark. BlackBerry devices continue to impress with their power management.
Price and availability
The RIM BlackBerry 8820 is available now from T-Mobile for $350 with a contract agreement and an instant discount of $150.
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