Jun 21, 2006 03:52 PM
5776 Views
I bought this phone off ebay last year in May. The primary reason for buying this was that my company was offering to pay for the BlackBerry data service if we buy the device. I had the choice of buying the blackberry 72XX series or the 71XX series and the 7100v won because of its smaller size and better phone functionality. I looked at the 7100t, 7100g which were available in the US but didn't like their shells and then stumbled upon 7100v. The 7100v is smaller than other 7100 series BlackBerry's and has all the same functionality. I paid 80 US dollars for mine in new condition. Now on to the review...
Display: The screen is clear and bright and the icons are well positioned. However, it is nearly impossible to see anything on the screen outdoors. At first I thought this was a problem with backlight/brightness settings on my device but all 7100 series phones have the same issue. Indoors the screen is very clear and easy to read. RIM is coming up with new 7130 series devices which will have a indoor/outdoor self-adjusting screen to address this issue and I will report the results once I get my hands on one.
Phone: The phone functionality works simply as it should. The voice quality is clear and the speaker phone is decent. At times I wished that the volume should have been a bit louder but it is not too low either. One nice phone feature is a "call history" list, you can select a number from the recent calls list and select call history which will list all the calls you made to this number including how long each call lasted. This device has bluetooth support and I use it with a motorola HS850 headset easily.
PDA: Blackberry devices are not full functioned PDA's. You can sync your calendar, tasks, notes etc from Outlook or you can create them on the phone. These are nearly not as capable as Palm Treo etc.
E-mail and Messaging: This where this phone shines through. The ease of typing, reading, and sending e-mails is unmatched by any smartphone out there. The suretype keypad is feels weird to use in the beginning but once you get used to it you will be churning out e-mails and messages faster than you can speak the message. I am hooked on to this device for messaging features as I am constantly online on yahoo messenger with this device and happily chatting away. This beats any Nokia or SE out there that claims to be "messaging" devices.
Overall Impression: The device is well put together and should broaden the market of Blackberry devices to the consumer market. This phone lacks a camera, cannot play mp3's, has no expandible memory support so it is lagging behind in the consumer market. If you can live without these things and primarily use this for e-mail/messaging/calling then you will be satisfied with this device. If you are looking for a multimedia device, than you shouldn't consider this phone and look at Nokia N80 (which I also own and written a review on).
