BlackBerry 7100t review

Performance

Reception – T-mobile service has many rough patches. Depending on where you are, every mile of road can change whether or not you will be able to receive a call. This weak RF performance may not be noticeable to you until you start looking for emails and discover you haven't received a new email for a few hours and ten new messages will pop up once you reach an area of service. The reason many own this device is constant connectivity, something T-Mobile may not be able to offer all users. Please contact your local provider to look into this and take advantage of any trials periods with your service provider as this issue may just be an isolated problem in my local area.

Sound quality – With the newly integrated speakerphone calls are clearer on this device than previous models. Make sure to place the device face down when using speaker as not to muffle the sound. The calling functionality of this phone requires less network coverage then the browser does and still keeps T-Mobile a top competitor for voice only communications.

Battery life – Advertised the 7100t offers 8 days standby time and about 4 hours of talk time. However, with my extensive need for email and constant search for a usable connection I drained the battery daily. If you are a constant email/text messenger, these numbers will not satisfy your expectations. But as always, with the USB that syncs as it chargers, this device will satisfy those who are able to plug the phone in while they are based behind the desk.

Conclusion

Treo fans looking to switch over to a new streamlined BlackBerry device may want to wait for future releases. This is the best BlackBerry to date in most capacities, but it still lacks the robust expandability of its competitors. With limited third vendor application support and Bluetooth capabilities the 7100 series gets knocked out after a few strong rounds as a challenger to the Treo 650. If you are solely looking for the best pound for pound device for email and phone calls only, the 7100t has been designed to fit in your pocket. The messaging capabilities, newly designed keyboard interface (SureType predictive text), push email service and speakerphone are top notch on this device. However, the lack of multimedia packages, limited Bluetooth usage and slow evolving browser capabilities leaves me yearning for more out of Research in Motion.

As always, if you are interested in becoming part of our review team, drop me an email at: kidoborg@phonearena.com