BlackBerry Cool

I saw/played with one of these at the Connect with the Experts Seminar in SF yesterday. VERY CRISP CLEAR NICE SCREEN!! The edge network speed is very fast as well. Hope Nextel/Sprint decide to get this model...

I haven't seen good enough pictures to really get excited. If the screen were better, web browsing more capable (faster, easier to access sites), and the battery life decent -- then I might get excited.

As it stands - I can't tell a thing about the screen itself as the pictures everyone is circulating show the same dull, dark screen.

And if Nextel could work in SMS messaging that woudl be a plus - their regular phones have it so the BB should too (yeah I know they have to jump through hoops to simulate SMS but they need to do it for the BB).

The keyboard spacing isidentical to the 7200 series device and so is the footprint. It's a little thinner than the 7290, not as tapered towards the bottom but it has a speakerphone. It's missing the new keys in the picture. The screen on it is amazing btw and it's very fast - no more clocking.

The pictures are real. I've used it and it's very nice. The only thing that's different is the quality of the plastic - that's a picture of the prototype 8700. The final unit is very refined.

This is one ugly duckling. Other than the 7100 series, BB's have always had a very distinguished Business look. This to me reminds me of my nephew's game boy. It looks cheap, like it will not stand a drop, unlike the survival stories you always hear about the 7200 series. It is a shame that somethig that people have looked so forward to for so long and with the suppossed enhancements it has that it winds uplooking like it does. I am hoping that these are made up Photoshop artists impressions or renditions of what they think or hope it will really look like, if I am wrong and they are real pictures, I hope and pray that my 7250 has a looooooooong life indeed because I do not see myself as changing or trading (down)to this even if I got it for free. I think that the bottom line is that if RIMM sees or has a need to either compete with the rest of the other phones out there, or believe that they need to tap or fulfill the needs of the less business oriented users out there, that they ought to then go with this and make it the flagship of a new division. Sorry but for me it is thumbs down.

I like the look of the new BB, however I hope the thumbboard keys are not closer together than my 7290's. They appear to be smaller and closer in the pics.

...and WHY CAN'T RIM STICK TO ONE DESIGN FOR THE KEYBOARD?

UHGGG!