BlackBerry 8800

Other than that, the sound quality through the headset and the speaker were great. With clear picture quality, the media experience, except for screen usage, was quite pleasant. Unfortunately the 8800 also, is not equipped with an FM radio. But that would be rather unnecessary in a phone meant for executives. The 8800 also doesn’t have a camera like the 8100 Pearl, but that’s because this baby caters to a different crowd. So we can't cut points on this.

Unlike the Pearl, the 8800 has a Hot-Swap slot for adding additional memory using MicroSD cards. The thing is though you need to open up the rear panel to insert or remove the card. The slot is located just above the battery.

Network / Connectivity
The 8800 is a Quad-band GSM phone. Hutch and Airtel are the network providers for BlackBerry that are issuing the 8800, letting it work on their EDGE network.

When connected via USB and the driver is installed, it does show up as a mass storage device so you can simply copy past files on to the drive. It’s also equipped with Bluetooth 2.0 that supports headsets, hands-free and serial ports.

Another interesting feature is the built-in GPS that the 8800 has. Although maps are not easily available, rest assured, they will be soon.

What puzzles me is how come this Smartphone doesn’t have Wi-FI. I mean I do understand that the Pearl was directed towards a more consumer-based market too, but isn’t the 8800 a more traditional business BlackBerry? Phones that cost almost half have WiFi ... *cough* E61 *cough*.