RIM BlackBerry 8700c

The 4.7-ounce BlackBerry 8700c looks like a shorter, fatter version of the 7100, or the offspring of a tryst between a Palm Treo 650 and a BlackBerry 7290. Regardless of its lineage, it's one of the best BlackBerrys in a long time.

For starters, the 320 x 240-pixel display is noticeably crisper and more colorful than those on previous models, including the 7100 series. That resolution dovetails nicely with the addition of Cingular's EDGE network to make it practical to view graphics-heavy Web pages (something we couldn't say about other BlackBerrys). Add in a fast Intel processor, Bluetooth, and plenty of memory and you have one of the best business-minded smart phones that money can buy.

A less-obvious improvement is that the display automatically adjusts to the lighting. This feature isn't that noticeable, but it helps extend battery life by throttling down the backlight whenever you're in a well-lit room. Talk time is four hours, which is on par with some other GSM/GPRS models, such as the 7290, but an hour less than the 7280.

Another enhancement is more memory; at 64MB, it's twice the amount available on any BlackBerry so far. That makes the 8700c practical for running apps such as Sendia's WorkSpace CRM. You can also fit a fair amount of photos on the device, but we wish RIM included a memory card slot.

The 8700c has two user-programmable soft keys, one between the Talk and End keys, and one on the left side. They're handy for setting up one-touch access to favorite apps. The famous scroll wheel is there, too, for one-handed navigation.

The 8700c is the first BlackBerry to feature an Intel processor, the XScale-based PXA901. This CPU speeds up the phone's EDGE communications capabilities while providing snappy application performance. One great new way to show off that processor is to zoom in on and rotate images sent as e-mail attachments. Better yet, if the image is fuzzy after zooming in, you can select Enhance to sharpen it. These two features are particularly handy for reading faxes and maps.

This BlackBerry has built-in attachment support for common formats such as PDF and Word. Like its predecessors, if you want to do more than read them, you'll need to buy an editor like DynoPlex's eWord ($60). That's one weakness compared to rival smart phones such as the Treo 650, which ships with DataViz' Documents To Go for editing Excel, PowerPoint, and Word docs.

For IM users, the 8700c supports BlackBerry Messenger; this is available as a free download, but works only with other BlackBerry users. That's a negative if you need to chat with AOL or Yahoo users.

RIM has tweaked the 8700c's keyboard, mostly for the better. For example, the Semicolon key is back, plus there's now a Speakerphone key. Because the 8700c is slightly narrower than its predecessors, the keyboard feels a bit cramped, but it's fine for extended typing.

The 8700c does a decent job with Web pages, but at least part of the credit goes to the Java-based browser. You can scroll through a page as soon as it starts to load, so you don't have to waste time if you're looking for text. Downloading all of CNN's graphics-laden homepage usually took at least 30 seconds. The 8700c is superior to its predecessors in terms of Web browsing, but it lags rival smart phones, particularly EV-DO models such as the Samsung i730.

If e-mail is a priority, then the 8700c doesn't disappoint with the ability to send and receive e-mail from up to ten separate accounts, including personal and work. Like all BlackBerrys, the 8700c pushes out new messages automatically, so they arrive without you having to lift a finger.

Overall, the 8700c is a worthy addition to the BlackBerry family. As long as you don't mind not having a camera or MP3 player inside your smart phone, this device is well worth the investment.