BlackBerry 8820

The BlackBerry 8200 smartphone looks very similar the BlackBerry 8800 model, launched earlier this year. In fact, the casing is almost identical, which will no doubt divide potential users.

Anyone who is upgrading from an older RIM device, such as the 7200 series, will marvel at the 8820's thin, glossy body. Users switching from other makers' smart phones may well feel that the 8820 is still something of a brick.

Both groups, though, should be impressed by what RIM has managed to pack into this phone.

The most important addition over the 8800 is, of course, Wi-Fi support. RIM has lagged behind the competition for some time in this respect: HP brought out its Wi-Fi-equipped iPaq Messengers last year and HTC has steadily added Wi-Fi support to its range.

One reason RIM has not rushed out WiFi support is because most BlackBerry contracts include unlimited email usage, at least in your home country. Another is that Wi-Fi tends to suck the battery life out of phones. This is especially so for Wi-Fi devices such as the 8820 that support Wi-Fi-based voice services.

We were unable to test Orange's business voice over Wi-Fi service, which is known as Unique, and there is no in-built support for open VoIP standards such as SIP. However, using Wi-Fi for web browsing and email seems to make little difference to the 8820.

The device typically managed between three and four days between charging, although most of the wireless LAN use was in an office with a strong Wi-Fi signal, rather than in public hotspots.

Handover between Wi-Fi and GPRS also works well on the 8820: there is no need to tell the phone to connect to the mobile network when you move out of Wi-Fi coverage, as long as both antennae are active.

On Orange, access to BlackBerry email is supported over a wireless LAN, and messages actually seemed to synchronise better this way than over the GPRS network. [see accompanying article on the BlackBerry Internet Service, BIS].

RIM does point out, however, that not all networks support access to BlackBerry services over Wi-Fi, so non-Orange customers should check this with their operator before signing up.

Wi-Fi is a useful tool, especially for regular business travellers who can use cheap or free Wi-Fi to avoid cellular roaming charges. However, it only partly compensates for the greatest drawback of the 8820: its lack of 3G support.

GPRS is fine for simple, text-based email but as soon as you start browsing the Internet or trying to download attachments, it feels like a real step backwards in comparison to 3G devices such as Nokia's E61 or HTC's TTyN (sold by Orange as the M3100). The 8820 does support EDGE, for faster data speeds, but we were unable to connect our review sample to an EDGE signal on Orange in the UK (EDGE worked well, however, on T-Mobile's German network).

Another disappointment was our inability to persuade the 8820's GPS functions to work in any way at all. Orange ships its smartphones with Orange Sat Nav, from software developer Webraska, instead of BlackBerry Maps (which the operator removes). Attempts to update the Orange Sat Nav software to a version that actually supported the 8820 failed over both cellular and WiFi connections. This is disappointing, as built-in GPS should be a useful business tool.

Multimedia support on a device without a camera is perhaps not a priority, although the 8820's media player works well enough and sports an easy-to-use interface.

The single earbud headset, although of good quality, is hardly suitable for listening to songs, however, making a stereo or Bluetooth headset an attractive upgrade. Call quality is good, however, and the speakerphone mode works especially well. Voice dialing is another neat function.

If you are in the market for a smartphone with a full-sized keyboard and are not worried about 3G support the 8820 is worthy of consideration, as long as the features of the BlackBerry Internet Service meet your needs.

For business users who already have a full BlackBerry email system in place, this smartphone is a useful upgrade, especially if you can make use of UMA services such as Orange's Unique.

But for small businesses and consumers who want quick and easy access to "push" email, BlackBerry is no longer the only fruit, and the 8820's other features such as its media player, GPS and Wi-Fi support may not be enough to compensate for limitations of BIS, no camera, and slow mobile access to the web.

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