BlackBerry 8707v

Expected June/July 2006
30th May 2006 (ameneded 31st May 2006)

The BlackBerry 8707v is the first 3G BlackBerry device to market. It's a derivative of the ubiquitous BlackBerry 8700 series of devices, and it appears to have the same functionality as the 8700, just with added support for UMTS 2100 3G data.

The "v" in "8707v" indicates that this is a Vodafone device. Vodafone Germany are the first region to announce that they will have the 8707v available in the very near future (hence the QWERTZ keyboard pictured). It's likely that other operators will follow suit, but because this is a UMTS 2100 device it won't work with 3G in North America (although like the other 8700 series devices, it's a quad-band GSM phone too).

There are limitations with the 8707v though. There's no WiFi, unlike some recent messaging devices, nor is there any expandable memory (internal memory comprises of 64Mb of Flash memory plus 16Mb dynamic RAM). There's no MP3 player or camera either. Of course, many businesses actually want these limitations as it makes the device simpler to manage.

As with the other 8700 series BlackBerries, the 8707v comes with a 320x240 pixel display, a web browser, PIM functions and Bluetooth. It goes without saying that the BlackBerry 8707v supports standard internet email protocols and BlackBerry push email.. ah well, we just said it. It can also view a variety of document formats, including Microsoft Office, Corel WordPerfect and Adobe PDF files.. but now the 8707v can download these attachments much more quickly.

Of course, when paired with a notebook, the 3G BlackBerry 8707v can act as a pretty respectable modem. It's still an awkward sort of shape and format to use with a phone, but then a Bluetooth headset will help a little in this respect.

Vodafone Germany and RIM (who make the BlackBerry) say that they will have the 8707v available very soon, presumably followed by other Vodafone regions and then we expect to see variants for other carriers at a later date.

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