RIM Color BlackBerry 7230 Review

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."

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[ciroknight]

is needed. besides, unless it runs linux, who of us cares? :-P

Ok, for me BB is a no-go.

[Qbertino]

I actually considered buying this one (I'm a 100% T-Customer in terms of conectivity) but after reading the review I'll pass.
It's OK if HTML doesn't show as flashy as on IE 6 with every plugin you can get on the web. But crashes? Slowpoking on certain code? Not very reashuring.
Can I update the Browser or install my own? Not easy anyway.
And the weedyness of the account (with extra costs) and it's unconfigurability and unconectability don't add to my trust in this thing.
Don't get me wrong, 400$ for a device that's as featureladen as this is a good deal. Especially when it manages to integrate a PDA with a Mobile pretty well and has a batterytime that is usefull. But with all this proprietary stuff and them glitches in the service account I'll wait another while.
This seems a bit like bananaware to me.

Re:Who needs this ?

[fliplap]

If you can't stay away some hours from your email, you'd better never leave the office.

I sometimes wonder if comments like this are trolls, or just people that don't know what they're talking about. I mean, I guess I can see your point if you're the kind of person that likes to sit at the office hunched over a desk staring into the monitor checking every box repeatedly, just to make sure its still up. Personally I'd much rather go sit in the park, or at home, and let Big Brother [bb4.com] email my phone if something dies.

Actually, this article has a two errors

[Anonymous Coward]

1) Every BlackBerry with the model numbers in the 62xx, 65xx, 67xx, and 72xx ranges can be used like a regular cell-phone, by holding it to your ear. No headset required.

2) All the four digit model number BlackBerries (GSM/GPRS, CDMA/1xRTT and iDEN) use ARM processors. Only the old Mobitex and DataTAC devices used the 386 processors.