Disclosure: I did not buy this product; my employer did - to replace the Blackberry 7510 they forced on me.
In this review, I will focus on differences between 7520 and 7510, and some of the new experience I have had common with the 7510.
What is Blackberry 7520 -
This is a phone, E-mail, personal digital assitant (PDA) in one. In today's language, you can call it a smart phone, although compared with today's other "smart" phones, it really has few applications, no shiny graphics, no camera or voice recorder.
The main reason why businesses adopt Blackberry is for its E-mail application. Blackberry is not the first phone to be able to send and receive E-mail, but is the first to be connected to corporate E-mail, addressbook, and calendar.
Another difference Blackberry has from other early smart phones is its QWERTY keyboard. Full keyboard makes composing E-mail a lot easier - until iPhone changed the game. Even in this iPhone era, many still prefer to have the touch feedback from a physical keyboard.
For more information about the basic functions, see my review about 7510.
What's new with 7520 -
7520 is really just an upgrade to 7510. On the outside, there has been no change. (Well, there is a slight change in colour tone, from a hint of metalic blue to industrial black.)
Inside, the most visible (and useful) change is the addition of Bluetooth. Another visible change is the addition of GPS. It come bundled with TeleNav application, but this application requires a monthly subscription fee. I gave it a try in the free trial period. I also tried a couple of other GPS applications for 7520. Like any portable GPS device, it didn't work too well in a vehicle. It is not useful enough to pay for.
Yet another addition is voice command - but this comes in as an add-on application, for a fee. Because this 7520 is a company issue, and because I have already subsidized my employer in so many ways, voice command is not compelling enough for me to shell out more sibsidy.
A really bad change in 7520 is its AC charger. The charger that comes with 7510 sports a plastic base with power prongs and a USB socket molded in; it uses a USB B-C cable to connect to the Blackberry. This means that you can use the same cable to connect to either the charger or the computer.
However, the charger that comes with 7520 sports a plastic base with foldable power prongs and molded-in DC wires. I have two problems with this. First, the power prongs are so easy to get folded that it's extremely difficult to plug them into a socket. Second, there is no exchangeability in cable - more wire to untangle.
What's old with 7520 -
As stated above, 7520 and 7510 shares the same dumb, bulky look (but a very comfortable QWERTY keyboard), the same fake-like color screen, and the same application layout and user interface, graphical and physical. 7520 also has the same poor battery performance.
Integrated device -
[Features covered in this section are shared with 7510.]
Although I'm not fond of reading E-mail from a smaller-than-credit-card window, I grew to use it quite a bit. In part this is because I figured out a way to use the entreprise E-mail as a full-text, two-way pager. Short messages (SMS) are not only too limiting in content, but Nextel doesn't provide 2-way messaging. Another part is, I ended up spending an unusual amount of time with work E-mail in this crazy work place.
Likewise, I am no fan of browsing Web with very limited contents. On a practical note, so far I do not find the WAP access particularly useful for work because most of useful contents are on private corporate network, which Nextel does not support. (My company does not provide a private WAP tunnel.)
In several occasions, multiple, I must say - OK, numerous, I tried to use the Web browser to search the Internet. (Yes, the Web browser can also access non-WAP Web sites.) However hard I try, however, I have had little success in obtaining useful information from the Web browser. There are still significant limitations on Nextel network.
The integration of the phone applications with other applications proves to be indispensible for me, as I ended up spending a big chunk of my day dialing into teleconferences.
Ease of use -
This part has not changed from 7510 so I'll skip it.
Functionality -
One very useful Internet application available for 7510/7520 is Google Maps. (Not the Google Maps you access from a Web browser - you can do that, too but the limitations in Nextel/Blackberry network makes that option impractical. This is an add-on Blackberry application you download from Nextel portal - a primative form of "app stores" made popular by Apple.) You can't imagine how many times I got stuck at a corner I don't know how to get out when I pulled out Google Maps for Blackberry. A very useful feature is "show traffic." I routinely used it when I had a short but oft congested commute.
7520/Nextel now supports wireless synchronization of addressbook, task list and notepad.
Unfortunately, I manage my contacts in Thunderbird, so I don't get to use wireless addressbook synchrnoization. RIM Intellisync software can sync with Netscape 4.5 down, but not 6.0 up (Mozilla, Thunderbird included). Although it has text and CSV file "translators", it does not read the LDIF file Thunderbird produces, and Thunderbird's cannot be translated correctly by Intellisync. So I have to convert Thunderbird CSV into MS Outlook, then synchronize Blackberry with Outlook. This is a major inconvenience as contact management is what matters in a PDA.
However, calendar integration with MS Exchange proved to be indispensible. Calendar is synchronized wirelessly, so I don't have to worry about it. What's important is also the integration with phone application. Because I have to attend so many teleconferences, the ability to simply respond to reminder, move the cursor on the phone number and click the thumb wheel and boom, connected.
Funny 7520 finally included reminder in Task manager, but I no longer use Outlook to manage my tasks, so I don't get to test this seriously.
Even though Blackberry 7510/7520 has become an indispensible business tool for me, I doubt how many consumers will want to buy a 7520. Although Palm/Handspring have gone out of fashion since the time I wrote the 7510 review, there are now so many attractive "smart phones" that I continue to be laughed at when my friends see the ugly black duckling.
BlackBerry 7520 Nextel Phone: Got a lot on the go? BlackBerry? 7520 PDA phone will keep you connected to the people and information that matter. Power...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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