Switching from 7290 to 8700

by Volker Weber

bb8700

I heard you loud and clear. A new Blackberry is on its way. Marco gets back the 7290 he gave me and I will be using a 8700 starting next week. I already know that it is faster and has a larger and brighter display. On the other hand, the 7290 display is readable without backlight. I am expecting to have to charge the 8700 more often than the 7290.

I will be using the 8700 in data only mode. That is not because the phone on the Blackberry is bad. But the 9300 syncs all calendars and contacts through iSync whereas the Blackberry needs PocketMac which can only sync one address and will insert all new calendar entries from the BB in its own calendar. My primary SIM card will therefore remain in the the Nokia 9300 and I will use the 8700 only as backup device.

Comments

If I remember correctly, you owned the 9210 before.

Regarding the 9300 sync speed of pNAB/mail/calendar:
Is it now faster than with the 9210? (rough estimated)

TIA, Marc

marc egart, 2006-03-14

Congratulation for this choice. You won't regret it ;-) I am using the 8700g for phone and email and the battery lasts at least 4 to 5 days.

Abdelkader Boui, 2006-03-14

No, I never had a 9210. I sync the 9300 over BT and it is pretty fast doing that.

Volker Weber, 2006-03-14

Sorry for asking again. Would you mind telling me your estimation how much time the 9300 would need to sync ~1.500 contacts over BT ?
My 9210 needs ~20minutes for these (just serial connection - maybe its time to exchange the brick :D

marc egart, 2006-03-14

Can anybody tell me if the 8700 can access the internet (no, no push, just the J2ME apps...) via a standard internet APN (i.e. NOT the BB APN)?

Background: I like the hardware, but don't need the push feature (i.e. don't want to pay for it)

Frank Koehntopp, 2006-03-14

Frank, yes, it can. But only for http, not for mail. IMNSHO it makes no sense at all to use a Blackberry without the service.

Marc. It may take 20 minutes on first sync, but not on subsequent syncs. And yes, it is time to exchange the brick. The 9300 however feels sluggish in normal operations. A Treo is much faster. Have not tested the 9300i (and did not even look at the specs).

Volker Weber, 2006-03-14

@Frank: I agree with Volker about the fact that it is useless to use a BlackBerry without the push service. But if you still want to give it a try without the BB service, than I would recommend to get a cheap BB (like 7230 or 7730) from ebay. Sometimes you can get this devices there for around 50 to 70 Euros.

Abdelkader Boui, 2006-03-14

Yeah, that whole BB calendar 'branding' in iCal is a pain in the arse - I publish my calendar, but of course, you can only use one calendar entry type when you do this, so the BB entries don't get published.

I suppose the only solution is to work with BB flavoured entries in iCal? That only works if you are happy to have one calendar entry type though (no Personal , Work etc) - it would be better if PocketMac could allow BB calendar entries to be mapped to any iCal category, wouldn't it?

I had a 7230 before, but made the mistake of still carrying a Palm T3, Nokia and BB around - looked like Dilbert in gadget belt mode! When my T3 started playing up and I fell out of love with the 6680 (didn't take too long - Nokia have really gone off the boil for the first time in years with the their handsets in my view), then the 8700g beckoned to me. When coupled with some *excellent* new tariffs (Flext) from T-Mobile (here in the UK) it was a done deal.

Love it - I tell you, that screen is to die for.

I miss some apps from the Palm (tidetool for one) and I wish that the BB third party software market wasn't *quite* so money grabbing - but things like Piconews save the day and IM from shapeservices.com is well worth the money - it just works!

John Ash, 2006-03-14

8700c is excellent! I have been told I can use it as a USB modem, Bluetooth modem will work but don't call support if having issues. I found some doc's on it but not for the Edge Class network.

Is anyone using this as a modem?

Clay Goforth, 2006-03-14

Oooh, Oooh, I'd like to use it as a modem too! Didn't realise that was a possibility - better start digging right away!

John Ash, 2006-03-14

John & Clay, to be able to use the BlackBerry as a modem you need a Windows box, because for the modem function to work you need the BlackBerry Desktop Manager 4.x running.

Abdelkader Boui, 2006-03-14

Research in Motion has a knowledge base article for how to use BlackBerry devices as modem with Windows XP and 2000. The phone number mentioned in the article can be different depending on your carrier, e.g. for T-Mobile Germany the number is *99#

Abdelkader Boui, 2006-03-14

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