Blackberry 7100t : 10/09/2004
By: Nick V.
The Phone
I was drawn to the Blackberry
7100t because it seemed to fulfill a few different needs I had in a phone. First
and foremost is size. The 7100t is surprisingly light and also an acceptable
size. It is only slightly heavier than a Motorola V300, but not noticeably so.The
phone is also relatively thin in comparison to other phones out on the market.
Obviously it is thinner than a flip phone and is probably close to the same thickness
as a standard nokia phone.
Apart from the physical
dimensions of the phone, I also needed features that would allow me to stay connected.
Features that are included with the T-Mobile plans are AIM/Yahoo/ICQ clients,
web browsing, and the blackberry web client, which I will discuss further later
on.Other features in the phone are the standard polyphonic ring tones, Bluetooth,
and speakerphone.
I would only rate signal reception
of the phone to be average. It is nothing exceptional, but I would consider it
on par with other phones I have had, which have been Motorola flip phones for
the most part.
The Screen
Indoors this is one of the best screens
I have seen. The colors are quite crisp on the phone and the resolution is also
quite nice for when you are chatting or browsing the web. However, the screen
does not perform very well in direct sunlight.You cannot see much of the screen
at all, and end up having to either turn yourself so the phone is in the shade,
or cup the screen to be able to read it. I am also disappointed by how easily
the plastic of the screen was scratched. I am not quite sure how it happened
but there is a scratch on the plastic and even a slight scratch impacts the usability
of the screen because it obscures what is being displayed behind the scratch. I
guess I would have liked to have seen some kind of screen cover, a more robust
plastic, or the ability to change out the plastic once it became too scratched,
but I do not think that exists. So as long as you’re not trying to use
this phone on the beach under the sun, I think the phone performs well.
The OS
The OS of the phone is standard blackberry
issue. The scroll wheel to move through the menus, and a back button to return
to the previous menu or the previous page you were browsing, and the standard
menu. My main complaint about this device is that it is SLOW! If you start entering
a number it sometimes takes a second or two to get caught up with what you are
entering. If you are browsing the internet then things slow down significantly
while it loads the pictures in the page. I was surprised at how quickly I was
able to get used to the blackberry environment though. I had never used a blackberry
before, and apart from the soreness in my thumbs, I was very satisfied with the
organization of the icons and where things were within menus.
The phone book is surprisingly complete
(I’m used to the Motorola phone book, so needless to say I have been deprived).
Changing ringer profiles is also easily
done through the menu. My main complaint in this regard is that I wish
there were a simpler way of changing the ringer, like a keyboard shortcut. If
there is one, I haven’t figured out how to do it yet. The ringers themselves
aren’t too obnoxious, and they sound pretty decent out of the speaker.
One of my big complaints right
now is the battery meter. It is either complete, or only shows 1/3 capacity.
The phone usually shows the 1/3 capacity after about 6 hours off the charger
with intermittent service, but then will stay with the 1/3 capacity for at least
24 hours longer. I am still testing to see how long the battery will go, but
Blackberry claims it will reach 8 days of standby time and I think 4 hours of
talk time.
There is also a nice icon for enabling and
disabling the radio for when you go into an airplane but do not want to turn
off the device. If you use Bluetooth, you’ll have to navigate into the
settings menu to disable the Bluetooth as well.
The Keyboard
One of the most controversial features
of this new blackberry is the keyboard and how it is organized. Blackberry decided
to make its device more compact by putting 2 letters on each key but maintaining
the QWERTY layout, and then using their SureType technology. SureType can be
compared to T9 on the Motorola phones, but I consider it to be much better and
faster. The phone will present you will guesses as to what it is you are trying
to type and I have to say they are about 90-95% correct depending on how many
names, places, etc you are trying to use that the phone may not know. Once you
use a word it doesn’t know, it seems to add it into its 35,000 word dictionary.
On the whole, I have been quite satisfied with the keyboard, even though I have
to wait for my thumbs to get stronger before I can get really crazy with the
device.
Features-
Bluetooth
Bluetooth for this phone is strictly for headsets. I
tired associating to my Pocket PC but I was informed there were no services the
two could communicate through. I would love to see this phone have Bluetooth
modem capability, so hopefully someone will find the hack. In the meantime I’ll
have to switch back to my V525 if I want to be able to have my laptop of pda
connect to the internet.
Speakerphone
The speakerphone on this phone is superb. The
sound quality is very sharp and voices come through great. People on the other
end can hear you very well as well. I used this speaker phone in the car with
the phone in my right hand as I changed gears and the person on the other end
could still hear my perfectly.
Browser
The browser included in the phone
will open full HTML pages and their pictures. The CNN web page loads beautifully
on the phone and lets you get caught up with all your news. The phone comes with
some web sites in the default bookmarks, but you can load whichever sites you
want by typing them in manually. I have only notices a couple pages the
phone could not load because of frames, but I think that may have had more to
do with the site than the phone.
Synchronization
I am currently using tmobile’s
blackberry web client to poll my POP3 e-mail accounts and then have them forwarded
to my Blackberry. The BWC only checks your mail every 15 minutes and there is
no option to have it change the polling times, so you are stuck with it, but
I am satisfied with receiving my e-mails every 15 minutes. You can also get a
plan that supports Blackberry Enterprise Server, but that usually costs $10 more
per month from T-Mobile.
I also used the included synchronization
software that uses intellisync to sync calendar and contacts with Outlook. The
calendar feature looks very much the same as on a Pocket PC, so it is something
I am already used to. The synchronization works quite well
both picking up changes from the phone and importing change into the phone.
Instant Messaging
As I mentioned before, the phone
comes loaded with AIM, ICQ, and Yahoo Messenger clients. I currently only use
AIM. The clients send their messages via SMS, so it is a good thing the Blackberry
accounts for the 7100t come with unlimited SMS. Chatting is only slightly delayed
by the SMS mechanism. It has come in quite handy for staying in touch with people
without having to use my cell phone minutes to communicate. The client looks
very much like the standard AIM client and will allow you to keep track of several
conversations simultaneously. If you are not in the AIM window, a window
will pop up and alert you if you have a new message and allow you to click ok
to go to the conversation.
Conclusion
On the whole I am enjoying
my experience with the 7100t very much. The holster of the phone is sleek and
has a very low profile which makes it feasible to even put in your pocket. The
phone has a great form factor. And most importantly, all the communications
goodies fulfill my needs for connectivity (phone, instant messaging, SMS, browsing,
and e-mail).
I recommend this phone with a rating of 9.0/10. The only changes I would really
make would be to make the screen perform better in direct sunlight, fix the
batter meter accuracy, speed up the OS, and include Bluetooth modem capability.
Pictures and Additional Information
7100t
on Phonescoop.com
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