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Here at Blackberry Centre, our users are real users that use their Blackberries everyday.
We don’t just review for the sake of it, we actually put the devices through their stride.
The 8700v was a workhorse of a smartphone. At the time, this was the best looking proper Blackberry ( if you discount the Pearl ).
It’s clear and simple user interface coupled with the effective scroll wheel ( a feature which is now removed from the modern Blackberries ) made the device easy to navigate and pleasant to use.
The screen and keyboard were of a good size which made reading and typing emails very easy, almost second nature. There were no rival email devices at the time, with the Windows Mobile devices and Nokia Communicator’s struggling to keep up.
The battery life was very good and it was possible to get 2 to 3 days of usage from a single charge.
However, the 8700 was relatively thick and chunky ( by todays standard ) but was much smaller than say the Nokia Communicator and most of the other HTC servings at the time. But this meant that the handset could survive the rough and tumbles of the business world with myself in particular dropping it countless times and the 8700 surviving with minimal damage.
The 8700 had support for Word, Excel and PDF documents which really rendered the Windows Mobile Smartphones inferior to such a well rounded and designed email device.
Pro’s
- Good looking design (at the time)
- Superb battery life
- Good screen
- Useful scroll wheel
- Robust
- Very good keyboard
Con’s
- No camera
- Large/chunky design
- No multimedia support
- No additional memory slot
The 8700 was a device to be used day in, day out. It certainly survives the rigours of everyday use and is loved by many Blackberry users. I have yet to see someone who has used the device to tell me that they don’t enjoy using it, which is more than I can say about the Nokia Communicator.
Blackberry 8700 ( 8700v ) Review
