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bostonnerd · 10-09-2005, 02:09 PM

Waiting to get seated for some Sushi last night with my wife. Standing next to us was a couple with their son flipping between speaking in French and English. Turns out they are Swiss and their son is attending college in Boston. Not an unusual site around here until the father pulls out his Blackberry to check email and show his son some images he had on it. Lo and behold, it was longer and a little wider then the 7290 so I got a lot more curious.

They keys were squared as opposed to rounded and the screen looked about 30-40 percent longer then the 7290. The enter key was a completely different shape. Keys were white but very translucent.

The unit was badged as Swisscom. The owner was not very talkative and although he quickly showed it me me when I asked about it, I didn't feel it was appropriate to push the issue. The family was obviously extremely well travelled and had lived in NYC as well as the Continent. Perhaps an exec from Swisscom with a pre-GA unit.

BTW....for the little I saw of it, the screen was amazing.

Mark Rejhon · 10-09-2005, 02:28 PM

Your description reminds me of an Audiovox PocketPC phone -- are you sure you did not see a non-BlackBerry phone?

bostonnerd · 10-09-2005, 02:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon

Your description reminds me of an Audiovox PocketPC phone -- are you sure you did not see a non-BlackBerry phone?

Definately not the Audiovox unit. I've been a handheld/PDA user since the HP95LX and have had numerous PocketPCs (along with Palms, Newtons, Psions, etc). Also, the word "Blackberry" on the front was a dead giveaway

mrogers · 10-09-2005, 04:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bostonnerd

Lo and behold, it was longer and a little wider then the 7290 so I got a lot more curious.

They keys were squared as opposed to rounded and the screen looked about 30-40 percent longer then the 7290. The enter key was a completely different shape. Keys were white but very translucent.

That doesn't make any sense...the 8700 is supposedly narrower than the 7290, and although the screen is larger I'm pretty sure it's not 40% larger. Also, in all the pictures we've seen the enter key looks to be the same shape as the rest of the keys. If your description is accurate, then that wasn't an 8700.

bostonnerd · 10-09-2005, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mrogers

That doesn't make any sense...the 8700 is supposedly narrower than the 7290, and although the screen is larger I'm pretty sure it's not 40% larger. Also, in all the pictures we've seen the enter key looks to be the same shape as the rest of the keys. If your description is accurate, then that wasn't an 8700.

Exactly, that's why I was very curious. It seemed to be more of a 77XX form factor, but with a much better screen and a very different keyboard. The 40% larger screen comment was a very rough guess. It could have been because the resolution was so much better and the screen size my not have been that large. I went over to the RIM site to make sure I wasn't over reacting and it is without question, not a current GA model.

Oh...almost forgot. There was an additional button on the side above the wheel.

decepticon · 10-11-2005, 06:49 AM

I had the pleasure of playing with a few this weekend. (friends in high places ;) )

Man is this thing FAST!!! And dead sexy as well. Cant wait for mine.

MrH · 10-12-2005, 03:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bostonnerd

...Lo and behold, it was longer and a little wider then the 7290 so I got a lot more curious.

They keys were squared as opposed to rounded and the screen looked about 30-40 percent longer then the 7290. The enter key was a completely different shape. Keys were white but very translucent.

The unit was badged as Swisscom. The owner was not very talkative and although he quickly showed it me me when I asked about it, I didn't feel it was appropriate to push the issue....

BTW....for the little I saw of it, the screen was amazing.

I've had the fortune of having friends at RIM that have been testing the device (Cingular branded) and have actually used it momentarily and had a chance for a good look at one so I can assure you that when holding the 8700 up next to my 7290 that it was definately not wider, nor longer than a 7290. If anything it was the same width/length and thinner. Sounds to me like you're describing a 7700 series device as it is longer/wider with a 30-40% longer screen and a very bright backlight. If you remember when the 7280/7780's first came out the 7280 had a very poor backlight (barely useable unless really dark) and the 7780 had a very VERY bright backlight (comparable to the 7290 now) as well as a higher resolution display.

From looking at the Swisscom site it doesn't appear as if they have Blackberry as a product available for general consumption (remember Blackberry hasn't got the same market penetration in Europe that they do in North America) so it wouldn't surprise me if what you saw was a 7700 series device that was being tested on their network or for Swisscom employee use.

At one time RIM used Fido as their mobile carrier for their employees so you would see Blackberry devices hooked up on Fido with Blackberry APNs. But as a member of the general public you would never have access to a Blackberry APN on your Fido account even if you had an unlocked Blackberry you would never be able to use the push-email/data portion...(again seen first hand from my employee friends at RIM).

I hope that clears things up...

bostonnerd · 10-12-2005, 06:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrH

RIM).
I hope that clears things up...

Thanks...guess I had one too many glasses of Sake prior to sitting down for Sushi.

decepticon · 10-12-2005, 07:54 AM

When comparing it with my charm side by side, the dimentions arent far off from eachother. The electron actually fit into my charm leather OEM holster, with little room to spare side to side from the slightly stretched elastic, but it still fit.

BJNY · 10-12-2005, 08:59 AM

Check out Nokia's new business offerings detailed at www.phonescoop.com

barjohn · 10-12-2005, 10:42 AM

Here is a link to the detailed specs on this new Nokia. It has Blackberry Connect support and many new features.

http://europe.nokia.com/BaseProject/..._techspecs.pdf

kwilkins · 10-12-2005, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by decepticon

When comparing it with my charm side by side, the dimentions arent far off from eachother. The electron actually fit into my charm leather OEM holster, with little room to spare side to side from the slightly stretched elastic, but it still fit.

If size-wise the 8700 is somewhere between the 72XX series and the charm what does that mean for keyboard usability? In looking at the 8700 pictures the keyboard does look smaller and more cramped than the traditional BB’s. Is the 8700 going to give up the great keyboards RIM is famous for in order to reduce the units size?

decepticon · 10-12-2005, 12:08 PM

^^^^^ The keyboard is just a tad more spread out than the 7100g style with the separated keys, yet it uses a full key board, its basicly a cross between a 7100 and the other berrys. I like my charm keyboard. Im almost as fast as some of my frineds that use the 72xx styles. So with this new electron, When holding it, it seemed no different in feel than my charm, but had a full keyboard.

kwilkins · 10-12-2005, 12:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by decepticon

^^^^^ The keyboard is just a tad more spread out than the 7100g style with the separated keys, yet it uses a full key board, its basicly a cross between a 7100 and the other berrys. I like my charm keyboard. Im almost as fast as some of my frineds that use the 72xx styles. So with this new electron, When holding it, it seemed no different in feel than my charm, but had a full keyboard.

My experience with the charms keyboard was quite the opposite of yours. I found I was much slower typing on the 7100 than on any of the previous BB’s. I currently use a Treo 650 and one of my main complaints is the cramped keyboard. I hope RIM has some magic up their sleeve to keep the 8700 keyboard as friendly and fast as traditional BB’s, and at the same time slim down the size to make it a better phone. However, I’m not sure this is possible and I’m thinking more and more that the 8700 keyboard is going to be a big compromise from what we are accustomed to with BB’s.

decepticon · 10-12-2005, 12:27 PM

Different strokes I guess. I had no issues typing on the electron. In my case it took a few seconds for it to clue in it was now a full keyboard. I found myself hitting the same key twice a few times :P

Dont let pictures make up your mind. When they are released, go to your provider store and play with one. I promiss no one should be dissapointed.

codyman · 10-13-2005, 08:36 AM

I was at the Toronto airport last night (I live in NH but our company HQ is in Toronto) waiting for a limo. There was another guy there waiting and he had what looked like an 8700 in a plastic belt holster. I asked him what model of BB he had - he replied that it was a model that doesn't exist yet - so I said, oh that must be the 8700, the electron. He smiled and while he did not confirm that it was an 8700 I did get a quick look from about 5 feet - and sure enough it looked just like the pictures that have been posted here.

I told him to hurry up and get them released!

His limo arrived and he left so I did not get any more time to talk him into letting me get a better look. The screen on it did look very bright and clear from what I did see.

Steve

bperkins · 10-13-2005, 09:22 AM

Steve
Was it black or gray?

codyman · 10-13-2005, 10:00 AM

it looked like the face area was black but the sides looked silver or gray. When I saw him use it to make a call I knew it was the 8700 from the way the number keys were laid out - you could see the white keys quite brightly lit up.

I initially thought the sides looked almost a silver color but I think it was grey.

codyman · 10-13-2005, 10:02 AM

when I asked him what model it was he said a model that doesn't exist yet and smiled. That's when I said oh - it must be the 8700 / electron then - that is when he smiled at me and chuckled.

codyman · 10-13-2005, 10:21 AM

also, the back was definitely gray. That is when I first saw it, in the holster on his belt (now, I don't usually go around looking at guys at the belt level but it was kind of distinctive to see and I figured it must be a bb).

Also, on the back it looked like it had a speaker, somewhat similar to the speaker on the back of a 7100.

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8700 sighting(?)