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Spec Check: Vodafone Blackberry 8707v |
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Written by Adam Gosling
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Tuesday, 01 August 2006 |
The BlackBerry 8707v from Vodafone Australia is
the company's first 3G UMTS enabled BlackBerry offering a high-speed data
connection for surfing the Internet or downloading email while you are on the
phone.
When new dashboard software is released later this year, it
will also be possible to use the BlackBerry 8707v as a mobile broadband modem,
so you can connect your laptop to the net via the Vodafone's 3G phone network.
Styled like a traditional BlackBerry the 8700 series has a
wide berth at 69.5mm. It's quite long too at 110mm making sure there's plenty
of room for the QWERTY keyboard and large screen for writing and viewing
emails.
At 19.5mm thick the 8707v is a fair handful and weighing 134
grams it's not the heaviest of phones, but the whole package puts the
BlackBerry in a category of people wanting access to their email, rather than
looking to make phone calls.
Like other BlackBerry's the device is navigated using your
thumb on the trackwheel on the top right hand side of the handset. There are
dedicated Send, End and Mute keys, plus user definable keys for functions you
prefer to use frequently.
A full 35-key backlit QWERTY keyboard sits exposed on the
front of the handset underneath a huge 320 x 240 pixel display capable of
reproducing 65,000 colours. The display incorporates intelligent light sensing
technology that automatically adjusts the screen lighting to provide an
optimised view indoors, outdoors and in dark environments. The brightness of
the backlit keyboard is adjusted by the same sensing technology.
The $799 BlackBerry 8707v is powered by an Intel XScale
processor and will handle your email and web surfing with relative ease. A 64MB
internal memory allows storage for documents such as popular file format
attachments, including Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe PDF and graphics.
Integrated address book, calendar, memo pad and task list
all round out the business focused applications that come standard with the
device.
Handling up to 10 email accounts, the device is an email
junky's dream. But it also works as a phone including speakerphone
capabilities, and what BlackBerry manufacturer, Research In Motion (RIM),
describes as "state of the art" voice performance.
Call management features including smart dialling, speed
dialling, conference calling and call forwarding all add to the standard
messaging formats SMS and MMS.
Bluetooth capability allows you to pair the 8707v to
hands-free headsets and in-car kits, but it might be the exceptional battery
performance that serves as the clincher if you are thinking about this phone.
RIM confidently estimates the handset is capable of 16 days standby time and 4
hrs talk time.
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