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RIM Color BlackBerry 7230 Review

Posted by michael on from the stuff-to-lose dept.

securitas submits this painfully well-linked piece: "eWEEK reviews the RIM BlackBerry 7230 color handheld, Research In Motion's latest combination wireless e-mail/phone/PDA, and the first BlackBerry to feature a full-color display. The tri-band GSM/GPRS J2ME device features a 240-by-160-pixel, 65,000-color display, 16 MB flash +2 MB SRAM, an Intel 386 32-bit chip, SMS, an HTML browser (missing from the preceding BlackBerry 5810), a claimed 4 hours talk/10 days standby removable/rechargeable lithium-ion battery, POP3/IMAP/Exchange/Notes wireless e-mail for up to 10 accounts with file attachment management, security via Triple DES encryption, USB sync/recharging and the usual organizer functions. RIM squeezes it all into a 4.8 oz/136g, 4.4x2.9x0.8 inch/11.3x7.4x2.0 cm package (tech specs at RIM). The BlackBerry 7230 is exclusive to T-Mobile USA until 2004 and costs about $400. With this release, RIM is moving the BlackBerry into the prosumer/consumer market to expand its customer base beyond enterprise users. The release comes amid speculation of BlackBerry doom following RIM's recent patent ruling loss and ahead of the highly anticipated Handspring Treo 600, its direct competition (which includes the MS Pocket PC Phone Edition Smartphone and the Palm Tungsten W). More at Wired News, E-Commerce Times, InfoWorld and Forbes/Reuters."

7 of 119 comments (clear)

  1. Blackberry Jam by cybermace5 · · Score: 3, Informative

    These things keep getting more and more appealing. Someday when I have money I'll have to pick one up.

    During the power outage, our execs in New York and Toronto kept in contact by using their Blackberries. Might be the first time they ever REALLY used them, but hey!

    --
    ...
  2. RIM software extremely super bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative
    As part of my job I develop three applications for the Blackberry. All of them involve network access. The experience has been absolutely infuriating. Firstly you must use RIM's JDE which is terrible and slow. Secondly the operating system is a dog. In the 3.3 version the handheld unit would sometimes reboot, and this can take as long as 8 minutes in my experience. In the 3.6 version the network stack crashes itself by spawning too many threads, but then doesn't fix itself so the user is left to figure out for himself that he needs to reboot it with a paper clip (more often the user will be likely to just smash the damn thing and bring it to IT folks in pieces.) In the simulator, the networking stack can throw uncaught exceptions. The Blackberry Enterprise Server, which is needed to push data to the handheld, crashes regularly.

    I do dearly miss the previous generation of Blackberry with Mobitex network access. Not only does Mobitex have vastly better coverage that even works in airplanes, but that version of the handheld had a proper C API and berry-to-berry networking capabilities.

  3. Exclusive? Not Quite.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    RIM took the same device and gave it two product names, the 7210 and the 7230. Each are precisely the same and the 7230 is likely never to be carried by another company anyway (as RIM will make them specific for the carrier's needs then slap different number variation on it to distinguish the difference). I'd recommend anyone getting one to get the 7210 on AT&T Wireless as you won't have to deal with the crappy coverage that has become synonymous with the T-Mobile name. I got mine this last week, am not using the phone function, and still am at 65% battery left! Related reading: http://news.com.com/2100-1041-5063352.html

  4. Re:Can you still buy Blackberry units? by incast · · Score: 3, Informative

    The injunction banning RIM from selling was stayed pending appeal/re-examination of NTP's patents. You can read more about it at RIM's corporate website. For the meantime and the years it will take to get this through appeal, BlackBerry can continue to be sold in the USA.

  5. Ad? I think not. by The+Revolutionary · · Score: 4, Informative

    Of the submitter's previously accepted stories, this one and this one mention BlackBerry.

    While both do mention BlackBerry, both also mention competing products in a good light.

    Submitter's other stories which have been accepted, stories on completely unrelated topics, are equally abundantly linked.

    Judging by the submitter's past comments' moderation, the submitter does not need more karma.

    I suspect what we have here is not an ad, but rather a story submitted by a user who has some exceptional interest in following handheld phone/data technologies.

    --

    .sig Realistic fines for copyright in

  6. Don't be so paranoid by securitas · · Score: 4, Informative


    a company spokesman. No real average human being would have that many links of a product except a company man.

    Survey says.... BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

    Sorry, but I have never had anything to do with RIM beyond meeting some of their staff at trade shows.

    By your logic I work for Handspring and Sony too. If you look at my previous posts I always try to include a variety of sources.

    I'm considering getting an all-in-one phone/PDA-type device and I was looking at the relative merits of a BlackBerry vs. some of the other more phone-like devices. Since I'd already done the work trying to find out about it, I thought it might make a useful Slashdot post.

  7. Re:Exclusive? Not Quite.... Dual vs. Tri-band by securitas · · Score: 4, Informative

    The 7210 is DUAL-band. The 7230 is TRI-band. It makes a difference to some people.