Sept/Oct 2004

BlackBerry, or rather RIM, the company behind it, is hoping it has hit on the holy grail of the PDA/smartphone market with its latest model, the 7100v.

The drive is to produce a device which has a big enough screen and keypad to work as a practical mobile data device, yet is also compact and convenient enough to serve as a mobile phone - and also to retain enough of the "cool" factor (denied by many, but undeniably important) to be accepted as a phone by fashion-conscious users.

The 7100v, which is to be available only through Vodafone in Europe, seems one of the closest stabs yet at this objective.

On the data side, it has a bright, high-resolution colour screen (a far cry from BlackBerry's early mono LCDs), and incorporates what is being called a QWERTY keyboard, which uses a new technology called SureType for intuitive input. There are also dedicated Send and End keys and a thumb-operated trackwheel for navigation. There is 32MB of flash memory and 4MB of SRAM. Support is provided for handling attachments such as Microsoft Office documents and PDF files.

On the phone side, features include a speakerphone, Bluetooth support, and quad-band connectivity for international roaming. And of course there's BlackBerry's "push" technology for auto-downloading of emails.

The BlackBerry 7100v weighs 120g and has a claimed battery life (using the standard battery) of over four hours' talk time and over eight days' standby.