On A Special Note
Rim updated 7100t to a 7105 version; this is a physical update and probably software as well so you may have to return you 7100 to pick up that one. The only major update is that the 7105 version ecompasses an even brighter and scratch resitant screen; and has a black around the edges instead of the baby blue color. Too late to return mine and I see the 7100 decreasing in stores as they replace them the 7105. So is possible to aply this review to the 7105t as they are essensially the same phone (a few months apart).

INTRODUCTION
Is this really a blackberry...? is the question.

Okay, I work with a lot of business people under daily bases; most which own or use a blackberry. They rearly look me in the face, just a quick glance at times - too busy looking down at their devices (rolling their jog dial). I often sieze the oportunity to throw random questions about the Rim 7100t . Most of them seem to be content with their two year or more old blackberries. This shows that blackberries are more personal than I thought. They work well and are hard to give up. With that said if is fair to say that the 7100t is probably aimed are the new comers to the blackberry world. They would love it and probably will not be giving it up anytime soon. Have I answered the question? Well Yes...it is a Blackberry especially in its functionality. It is an updated Color Screen Blackberry Phone with a new set of keys which are not too blackberrish and not to phonish(T9ish) either; if know what I mean. It is marginal with the best of both worlds like your hybrid vehicles.

Reiterating, yes! it is, but this time it has lost its original keys to a little bit more sophisticated set. It incorporated a bold new look into its design and manages to get away with its size right before your eyes.
Yes it could be a little challenging at first; one quickly warms up with trade up of wider keys hmmm. Typing on it, is as second nature as it was before. I did not find it a big deal. The scary thing is for it to pick the wrong word when you fail to monitor its progress. If you are fine with your current version then this may not be for you. If you are willing to try something new then welcome the Blackberry 7100t. The learning curve is not that big as people fear. If you are used to a keyboard, then it will be very easy to type on this road warrior. They say just type away…and it is that natural. It has a Pseudo QWERTY set of keys, unlike your regular phones it has more keys; but still less than your classic Rim Berry keys; To be exact it has four columns with five rows equaling twenty keys. This is excluding the three dedicated phone keys, which performs the functions of answering calls, hang up or activating your wireless key browser. Until the now blackberry belong to sort of like a business only club type users; by that I mean if you had to use it, you did and if you did not then do not bother; with few people looking over shoulder. Today it is even turn more head with its elegant screen;it trys to encompas more buyers, inviting the none blackberry users to join in. If you are coming from a normal type phone this will work even better your T9 phone, simply because of the added keys. It offers you more useful options; for example you can highlight texts, even cutting and pasting text is easily done. First of all you will find it much faster (75%-95%) and faster is better. You will love it. The direction keys can be tricky at times, but you will quickly warm up and it will be second nature in no time. It has a multifunction jog wheel and an escape button to the right side of the device; and lastly a power button directly on top; if you were not keeping count, you have a grand total of 26 keys. Hey! That is the whole alphabet but remember only fourteen are actual alphabet keys (in most cases two alphabets are asigned per key). So the most you will ever strike a key, is twice. Now, is not that better than three or more on the WXYZ key on your conventional number 9 key? However, you will occasionally have to select from a choice of words or help it complete certain worlds to match you desired choice. Correction is easy. From then on it will pick that word whenever you push your space key to type another. Fourteen keys explained, now what about the other six keys; well those are your space, asterisk, pound and shift keys. To conclude this key drill excercise, your symbol key has dedicated button... You have to push the your shift key and then the ZX button to activate the symbols. This will display a symbol table, which are cleverly mapped to your existing keys. Pushing the corresponding key will select the desired symbol; either that or can scroll to it, which ever is easier. If you can master that, then the symbols too will be at your fingertips. Enough said and welcome aboard if you are new to the Blackberry or better yet the 7100t; yes is a new kind of warrior. It is not the same like the earler version. It is either you like it or not.
I have always like the soft keys on the blackberries.
I have been close to them though but not enough to buy one until now because I had my fragile pocket pc. But when they added the new looks to go with their great service, I took the call to see for my self. Yes it is worth talking about considering it is a really hot item today. The price is still high and probably not right. So there is a wating list on eBay because not enough people can get their hand on it yet. You could wait for a person who does not prefer one to pick it up from there.

Something rather interesting is happening though; For once they are putting it up against the palms and pocket PCs. It is sort of hard to classify it that category though. It is a different type of machine. It is not a palm is does not operate or act like one, and it is not like a pocket PCs either; is a little different.
In my opinion I will say that is adjacent too both being in the middle. Palms and Pocket pc are not what they used to be anymore they are more power hungrier than ever…they pack a heavy processor, more memory and removable media; but the black does not have much of that kind of power. It has a different operating system and it more menu driven kind of like windows is, but with the aid of the jog dial. No touch screens to worry about; no accidental typos. It is simply java at its best; yes it still lives on this machine. You will be surprise how well it works will so little. Most of all it is a good-looking phone. This aspiring PDA was build on the very basics of mobile computing, the over all menu looks goods.
The home screen look can be toggle between a list display and a picture icon-type thumbnail display; however, the sub-menus need a lot of cleaning up.
It has tons of features, and finding it sometimes could be challenging; if you are just going to use it for phone and emails, you will be just fine.

Wow...What a huge introduction for a little phone,


Exclusive Comparison
I will be putting this against the Motorola A630 stand point, from time to time; for reference this way I may be able to explain it better. It is just a random pick besides are both fairly new phones on the market. So I felt it will make for a good comparison. You decided! The focus is on the Blackberry (7100t). There are many reasons why I am doing this and you will see why as you read on. Am I comparing apple and oranges? well I do not think so they have their difference but they have a lot more in common;

The Blackberry 7100t is a better machine when it come to web surfing and email checking because one is not limited to tiny attachment and the wap world. You can view your attachment amazingly they may appear microscopic at time.

Okay both A630 & 7100t rund some java applications and both serve you on the go. But the big-big thing is that they might have swapped keys, well actually the a630 adopted a QWERTY key, while the 7100t keys evolved from the conventional key. I see why people will be looking at both phones; plus the same company carries them both. The bottom line is that the key have always been better on the blackberry they are softer to push and they are durable. The Motorola A630 keys are a little bit harder and not that easy to type on because of the form feature especially the extreme left and right keys.
OFF topic excuse a little side comment
I figured that it is better comparison than BenQ and the Treo. I will not compare palms to pocket pcs because I feel they are two different machine. You are either a palms person or a pocket pc person. My preference is the pocket pc but I will go other though before palms OS, like the epoch or in this Case the Blackberry.

Moving on with the Black berry 7100t
If you need a great phone with out the extra bells and whistles (MP3, camera, OBEX, CAMCORDER); may be you do not have time for that. Then the 7100t blackberry is the one. This phone is for you. It will keep you informed about your calls in a friendly way. No setup or playing required here just watch it and it will tell you about your calls. Leave all the organizing to it. I guess this is where I can call it a PDA; but this time is does the work and not you. The messaging aspect is where it will leave the others in the dust; because it has a central inbox, which gets your mails and messages; you can fish out the senders and reply them in many ways. It is really nice. They say it has a learning curve, but what does not? you can not tell me you would hop into a plane and fly it the first time or hop on a motto bike and pop a wheelie the first time. The focus here is not the learning cure, there is not one; this is because it works on your basic familiarities. So you are already used to this kind of stuff. Just is use it is all takes and as time goes on whole you will find different preferences at your disposal, I guess this is what some people call learning curve. If you explore different devices like I do, then there is no learning curve. It is simple; I expect them to perform and it is either they do or they do not perform the task that I want. Just get one setup the time zones because it will ask you when you first get it; it will walk you through the basic customization, most phones do not do this. After that you can store it away in the pouch until the time comes when you have to do more; it is that simple. I can not stress its visually communication enough; it is what sets it aside from the others. You will notice that the screen is not too big nor too small; it is just right. Personally I got tired of microscopic phone; Just give me something that is reasonable and light; this does it for me.


LQQX
I was not comparing 7100t to the A630 to it bring down; rather was trying to show how close the feature are. Clearly the A630 is a cheaper get more way to go, but its looks is more deceiving than the black berry. The blackberry has its own standard, which has been passed on through the earlier model. The A630 just came out of no where or is their V series in disguise? Well I will talk more about that when I review the A630. Be sure to catch that when I do. I am jus t waiting for it to be listed then I will post that.
The blackberry reminds me of when palm first started; they start with very little then; but now look where they are now. Which show that there is much to expect. Black berry created the device but it is up to you to get all the other add-on you want. As there is very much on board. Sometime you want a clean slate. Most of all they can brag that it is a very secure phone. It runs security checks every now and then. This is the quality that I am talking about. The A630 will not do this. The screen of the 7100t if far brighter, sharper, crispier and I guess you can say better than the a630; Your eyes will reject the a630 it you visually try to compare both. You can tell the difference it almost hurts the eye to downgrade the screen. I am hope that the 7100t it is secure enough to keep unwanted people out. If you recall the sidekick phone had issue when supposedly someone hacked into it and took Paris personal data. Personally I would take the blackberry over the sidekick any day. This phone (7100t) is a phone in a its own class (all by it self) and it is not really fair to compare it to another; but it is has been group the PDA phone, so why not. The Screen is customizable to where you can change the fonts to suite your preference/needs. Now that is cool.

Okay moving on here.... I will try to cut the chase here to save you time; but that is hard, do not worry every minute is revealing. Read the subtitle if you want to jump to a feature of interest. I will not be talking or reading out a whole lot about the specs (although I may throw in a few); That you can easily read up on or find out about that; but this you will not find. I will focus on the usability and getting used too.

It come with a CD but I did not find much on the included compact disk; no additional software or add-on applications, just the link software was included; that was not very exciting. When you get a phone you usually get little on the software side this is to keep down the cost.




Rocket Science or Not
Well I think not; but it is a high-end phone with a simple look and feel. This is because of all the time and research put into it; couple with its pre-existing versions. It feels and acts simple but is not. It is a java machine; which looks like it traded out its keys to the a630 and adopted a new set. It is comfortable to type even more so than the A630. The 7100t Black berry keeps your finger from traveling too far and strains especially from your thumbs; you will be amazed at what you can accomplish with just one thumb; however it is much better to but the other thumb to work so that you do not forget you personal desktop or laptop computers; because your blackberry will not be taking their places anytime soon. So again it looks sophisticated but it really is not. It is plain and simple and no rocket science. The biggest deal is setting up your corporate email access; if you have one your business tech support can always guide you through that; if do not have that then t-mobile can help you set up the access to your own ISP internet provider emails.

Your Fears?
Well most people simply fear the keys, the layout. Oh gosh! they
say..."how am I going to learn that, it uses predictive text and
guesses and...". I call it the in between phone. How are you going to overcome
that? with out facing it. It has it's advantage. In my honest opinion, it is not
as scary as it sounds. It is different! However, it is a hassle at times, when your keys invoke
multiple matches; it gives you choices though. You have to occasionally glance
at it, to make sure that it is doing the right thing. You will will know when it
begins to drift off and the correction is just a jog dial away. Nevertheless it
is definitely better than a non QWERTY phone; you see the qwerty key give you
the advantage over any non qwerty form; however, it is still less than that of a
full split qwerty key layout if you follow my math. take another look at it
you'll see that there are two charters per key and not three. Three Characters
per key is a common assumption, hey the the "L" Character is all by
it's self. Sometimes I wish I can host a seminar about the phone. Personally I
moving on since I had it a year now, I need more power like on the multimedia
side. So the phone may be just right for you. Just read on and I will clarify
more features. If fact I like to see this type of keys incorporated into all the simple phones out there; now with that said, I would say that all none qwerty type key types, are the real hassle to generate any text. Those should be given to kids who are in the process of learning their alphabet, no pun intended. For the length of period which I had mine, that was the least of my worries.


A Touch On Specs

If you want to know it has 32MB of flash memory for storage and 4 MB as ram which is cool;
That is one it secrets which enable it to power through your talk data usage. By the way the a630 has just 5 MB of storage.
Most people do not receive documents that large anyway. It shows that there is potential for the black berry.
Sorry there is no expandability or slots; I guess the focus is being organized here and to make the best with what you have.
I am not complaining yet because I have not filled my flash memory yet. There are no camera or mp3s to lavish my memory on.

Supported Files
It just zips through mails fast and able to view and save most of you attachment, how neat is that?
The 7100t can view your *.doc, *.gif , *.jpegs, *.PDF and html file types. (A630 can not view docs, html, pdf, or even large pictures are challenging)
no mp3 player on board. Not yet, I do not know if a software for that is being worked on as we speak; however, I know there are utility you purchase to convert, mp3 to its own audio format; then you can listen to it or use it as a ring. I saw two on the web so far, one of which you can find at Handgo.com most of the software for the blackberry are not cheap though.

Pros or Affirmative side.

1.) The strongest point is its looks. It is like the ugly duckling, which became a handsome Gander (Male Goose).
The story goes that it was a duck surprising to find that it was not a duck. The gosling that got lost and followed a pack of ducklings and in the end it stood out, showing its true color. I got lots of compliment whenever I take it out of its pouch. I always get questions as people ask what kind of phone it is.
People can pick on the phones vibe. Some think it is a touch screen pocket PC because of the icon menus. It is really hard explaining what it is really; I tell them is a phone with a little extra; a blackberry with t-mobile and that it is a little more than a phone.. They often follow the question with it looks like a PDA; then I say it yes and no. It is a basic PDA, as far as I am concerned but more in the ballpark of somewhere in between. It is more like and email machine with phone features Or vice versa; It needs more bells and whistles to become a true PDA because PDAs have take a new turn.

2.) It was made for e-mail and this is its second strongest point, coupled with it ability to receive data and reply to them. This phone will let you catch a wave on the world wide web, verses your WAP enabled phone which barely touches the surface; especially when you are in need of information. My A630 Motoroal had all the right keys for surfing but it left me stranded when I tried to follow links or view simple HTML docs/links. I was told that the other wap phones were not really surfing they where just wapping and texting; this another reason to justify the addition of a $19 blackberry web access, which I feel is rather high though. That shows that there is a big difference between HTML and WAP sites which I feel should be the same price regardless.


3.) It makes a name for itself and is able to hang with the big boys. You can use it as a blackberry and add a second phone line; although is fully cable of standing alone. It is customizable. You can turn off its data service or wireless service (radio) easily.

4.) Uses true shortcuts to get to applications. In some cases you can delete items by using the delete key, instead of scrolling through your menu to find the delete option; saves time. yes it will verify before delete.

5.) I like the fact that the space key is located in the center of the device.

6.) the options to synchronize my address book.

7.) Battery life is good too. It is almost a standard for phones to have good batteries these days.

8.) The phone is a more serious phone and less for fun and games, so you can focus on what matters. It is built on java and has great screen if you must really want to get application to install; that is fine too.

Here is a quick general statement; just thumb down quick and the I will talk about the Cons.

My General Comments (Summary)

Just when we turn our head the black berry morphed again.
It is not the same; it is more like a phone now than it has ever been.
But you will miss your old keypad if you used to that already.
It made of for fewer keys with built in short cuts;
It is really smart indeed, a different kind of smartness (more personal the way is should)
The shortcut symbol places a map over the existing key when you invoked it.
As usual it is built tough
Its charger cable doubles as a USB cable. So you can easily synch you contacts. But that is it.
It also has interchangeable adapter plugs for world travel;
it a quad band phone.
Auto shut off light conserves battery
Bright and crispy screen which can easily take on your laptops monitor, that is how good.
Speakerphone Enable, which is loud and clear..
No Mp3 plays or ring but there are software that promises the conversion
It plays about 32 simultaneous midi instruments. This is more a few more chords than the A630 24 chord.
No video-play because the processor is not that capable. A630 does not either
People make it seem all that, I say it a simple phone with advanced features.
Yes size does matter; in this case the right size for a phone should be. It is not too big or small, just right....
Same goes for the screen not too big or too small just right.
The weight is evenly spread out; so that is good! So there is no distraction in trying to balance the phone in you palm (A630 different story.)
Looks like it can take a few beating, falls and will keep on ticking.
Plus I like the rugged feel to it. I choose 7100t blackberry over the a630 Motorola for its more sophisticated look; I will take the rugged look over elegant.
It can be masculine looks so no problem their either.
It has this sure type of input which promised a lot but...you will occasionally find your self seeking the old fashion multi-tap function; actually it twenty key limit the tapping to two taps as oppose to the three and more on the traditional phone.

This is another plus exclusive here is that the key are close together in a clever way and it almost natural to hunt for your keys. You can see how fast your thumbs get used to it. Now at first it may seem like a disadvantage but it is really an advantage because your finger travel a lot less than older blackberries or the Motorola A630. You never imagine that you could do so much with just one thumb. You can use two or one thumb to operate the side jock dial and the escape (back key). Just remember you symbol key you will need that often; because you are limited to just the Exclamation, Question mark, period, coma, asterisk, plus, and pound key on the face of the device; the rest you find through the symbol key.
You are going to do it when you buy this phone and that it is, play with the screen light. This is how. Just dropping it in the pouch cut off the screen; this is a result of some type of magnetic field or something of that nature; So you are go to love it.
Okay it was made for its pouch holster. They fit quite well together and it does not bother the keys or push them inside the holster; for added protection there is a key guard, which can easily be activated. I could not active the on the A630 and yet to find a holster which fits it. The A630 holster press the call button when I tried to squeeze it in to it supposedly pouch.



Cons and Contradiction
You did not think I would leave that out did; I normally read this first and get it over with.
Though the contradictions are small; it may be the main deciding factor in choosing this product

1) It is Expensive; I guess we are paying for cleverness here;which it should be doing in the first price. Phone should be clever in there design and functionality given the minimum keys used to operate it; however I don't see why the price should be 300 dollars before rebates offered to new customers. It lack all the other features which would warrant a higher price like camera, media cards and more. The only thing going for it is clever operating system and bold looks.

2) in addition to your ISP email service you will need at least the 19 plan dollar add-on for unlimited web access. You do not have too if your are just using for texting and phone.
3.) Rocket science; not really but you will need to play with for about three days..
4.) Oh this one really hit when I got all exited about having blue tooth and discovered that its limitations. No OBEX ( Bluetooth file transfer.)
the bright side is that is secure but I will rather have it with the option to turn it off.
5.) Well I am not sure if the operating system is upgradeable, they did not mention anything about it. So I am wondering about the future. Yes it is hot now but are there other products which will likely put it out of business; hmmm that really concerns me on the life spane.
6.) Yes It comes with a synch cable but now I could not upload my own photos to see for my self. I got tire of the few great picture it had. I was hoping to transfer data to it via the cable since the bluetooth was not capable of the transfer. I am sure this is going to hit people in the knees when they find out about this. Hey what happened to data portability? Do they my I have rely on downloads and paid subscription; what if I don not want the t-mobile rings.
7.) there was not file manager on board; how can a phone so advance lack such a basic feature of management. The out of the box software did not do it for me; the connection did not let me exchange photos or midi or view it shared folder or anything. I simple had the options to synchronize my address book.

8.) Software on board needs some cleaning up, it feels like early visions of Linux with a GUI (graphical User Interface)
in this case is java with a basic GUI, more creativity is needed here.
9.) no car adapter in the box
10) the push term is not really complicated - let me explain. Some mail box out there downloads your mail and sends it to your blackberry over a secure connection. Yes it possible to achieve this with out the blackberry.
11) I did not find a voice recorder!! Hey and this is considered a pda?? This is one of the reasons I but against the A630 because the A630 has a little of everything and not body called it a PDA; May be the screen was not bright enough.
12) I think the blackberry was a road warrior in the past but today thing have just gotten easier; There are lots of phone out there which also try to push the limits.
13.) more is need to backup the looks We need a new blackberry as soon as possible. I hate to buy this one and buy the next one simple because it lacks features. Well I do not mind if the price was lower. The new look it the most exciting aspect; so much so that it was put up against the palms and pocket pc. It is going to take more than looks to win the mass.
14.) Rebates are only offered to new customers so your net price will be about 200 dollars. I paid three hundred and forty six dollars with no rebates. I will be watching eBay for a price drop; so far none yet.

15.) Lacks a camera which is not a big deal because, those other phone tend to attach a cheesy cameras; but not having the ease to port a photo in? now that is a little discouraging..

16.) Lacks a touch screen a feature becoming more popular in PDA phone of its “class”.
However, it adopted a jog dial wheel instead. Scrolling is the key; so keep rolling and rolling and clicking; may be this is a positive feature saves battery. You can put this number up in the pros.

Rounding up here;
My Conclusion
It almost seems to have more negatives but remember I did not number some of the cons because those where rather quick statement left to your interpretation.
But it was much better I told you about there cons that way there will be no detrimental surprises.
It is a nice phone which is is really exciting to use. It makes a great gift. It is not what you call a smart phone because of the lack of multimedia capabilities; but the Blackberry 7100t phone is smart in many other ways. For example just putting it in the pouch shut the screen off and powers the screen; in most cases take out the blackberry from the pouch will open your new message, if you have any. So there you go information at your fingertips. You will also find short cut so clever in their design, that is unmatched by any other phone. You will probably not noticed it and this is because it works; very intuitive in its make; just like your door hinge which it always there and yet you hardly notice. It will take a while to be bored of it. Now do I think it will go obsolete? - Yes because it need to do more for free… (at no additional cost) now that the looks problem has been solved; now we need expandability and more software and connectivity and capability; it if will compete the rest. It is a very usefully machine

One more think is that you will not be able to dial word numbers if you do not know the representing number; for example 1 888 CALL - 2FLY. You will get the 1-888 part and the number two charter but you will have scratch your hear to look up the CALL and FLY number representation. This is on of the slight draw backs, I guess now it has lost one point in being a phone..

The button line is that we are well into the year 2005 and I expect more; regular phone can put up a fight with it; just like the A630 and it is not even a smart phone. We need more progress and no hold back. Yes it has achieved a lot but a little more is better. Who is the phone for, I will recommend it for everybody who is new to the market even those who just need a phone. You never know... some people might get it for is data feature and others might get it for it is a phone. I find it very easy to use on the phone aspects so you can buy it for your parents and loved ones. It is a whole lot easier to used than your regular flip phone with tiny buttons and funny. With the blackberry 7100t. you do not have to hunt for your menu keys. I can not say much about your car keys, because you look for them even when they reside in your pocket. The fact here it that information is at you finger tips. This one is sharp and bold at the same time. You can even change to looks from a thumbnail icon look to a List Clever look; either theme is great. My dad has a Motorola V300 or so and he cannot use all the little future on the phone; making it a waste of a phone; what use is the feature if one can get to it. But in the blackberry 7100t it keeps stuff you need at your disposal. This has a more mature style and communication. It displays your missed calls, voice and e- mail notification quite well.
The phone goes to work as soon as you activate it. Now I like that. It is just unique simple pone with advance feature. Simple people can easily ignore the advance features and the technical people have more things to feast with; forget practice, just get used to the phone, lots of scrolling if you venture that way; but once you get hang of it, you will want more (for the technical inclined) and others will not want more. Hence it is free for all.

Software
My guess is that since it is new phone programmers have to get acquainted with the key to better serve you
There are software being created for it at the moments at handgo.com but they are not cheap so it will cost your more to really customized if you need more excitement. Hopefully on the later versions if it survives that long. I will like RIM will buy some of the third party software to include; that and some type of removable or accessible memory. The phone is a secure phone so I guess this is one way to justify some of the other things left out. But the data is yours and if it is true PDA one ought to be able to get to the data when you want to and take it wherever you want. At least add more Bluetooth features, I know that this may pose some treat to the data on board. But that is why is should have and on off switch to limit the Bluetooth when needed.

Your FeedBack and Comments
Hope this helps, the things I do for you guys. Once again is your reviewer in technology Stevenson at your service. I have not written a review over year now, this one was really new and on the spot, so I though I bring it too light. I will be hanging around and possible write more stuff. Keep in touch, show your support if you trust this article.I will appreciate if I get more fans so hit the trust button. Thanks


Don't Forget To Rate this Review Bellow !! THANK YOU...
After all I said, Still noticed that there are those who still give me a bad review. I visit there sites and find out their insignificance.

on the last note be sure to check the upcoming 8700 series blackberry now that is for the power hungry fans. I have not got my hands on that but I will be putting that to my extensive test, so I can bring you the facts...stay tuned.


Bonus Specs on 7100t
Screen Size: 240 x 260 px
32MB flash RAM; 4MB ROM, not expandable
Quad-band GSM/GPRS: 850/900MHz, 1800/1900MHz (T-Mobile)
Midi Play 32 chords; with is better than the A630
960 mAh Li-Ion 3.7 volt battery; again higher and stronger than the a630
the batteries look alike but the terminals are shift



Recommended:
Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 346.39