Quick Review: BlackBerry 7100t

The 7100t comes with a very nice group of accessories, including two USB Charging/Sync cables, an international travel charger, a nylon holster and a hands-free wired headset. The pair of sync cables makes it easy to take one with you on the road while the other stays connected to your PC at the office. Another nice feature of the 7100t is its ability to determine when it is in the holster and change the ringer profile accordingly, so you can set the ringer to vibrate when it's in the holster and have an audio ring when it's on your desk. One thing I did notice about the holster is that the phone fits very loosely and falls out if turned upside down. I would have preferred a flap or a latch over the top to keep the device in place.

An E-mail Alter Ego

I tested the 7100t by connecting to our BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) and Exchange 2003. Almost immediately, I started receiving e-mail on the device. Certain attachments (Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, text files) can be viewed just by selecting them with the trackwheel. Through the BES, I also had secure access to the company directory as well as to our intranet Web site.

The BlackBerry 7100t synchronizes addresses, calendar items and to-do lists through the BlackBerry Desktop software. It uses software from Intellisync to connect the device to PIM (personal information management) data from a number of sources, including Outlook, ACT! and GroupWise. Setting up the sync with Outlook was initially painless, but the sync process itself only ran when the device was connected to the PC or when I manually activated the device. To make sure you have the most current data, you have to disconnect and then reconnect the USB cable.Thankfully, the 7100t is among the first generation of BlackBerries to include Bluetooth support. While testing, I was able to utilize my Bluetooth headset with no problems. Unfortunately, the Bluetooth implementation is inadequate at worst and limited at best. Headsets or hands-free (speakerphone) devices are the only Bluetooth devices allowed to connect to the phone. With a full Bluetooth implementation, a user could sync with his PC wirelessly, exchange addresses with another Bluetooth phone or use one of the Bluetooth keyboards now on the market.

Form and Function

After reading a few messages and visiting a couple of Web sites, I composed a new e-mail to try out the newly designed keyboard. In 1999, RIM changed the way people look at entering text on a mobile device with a thumb-driven keyboard, and the company hopes to do it again with its SureType solution. To make a device with the form factor of a phone, the number of keys had to be substantially reduced.

The standard 3X4 button number pad has been replaced with a 5X4 layout, plus Send and End keys. Each key contains multiple letters and numbers or symbols, giving the user a QWERTY keyboard, with a number pad, on 20 keys. When you're at the Home screen or in Phone mode, the center keys become a standard numeric keypad and the buttons around them become shortcut keys. The "OP" key enables the speakerphone function during a call, for example. The test voice calls I made on the device were clear and loud enough for both parties.

There are two modes of text entry: Multi-tap and the new SureType. Multi-tap is the mode that most cell phone users are used to, tapping multiple times until the desired letter comes up. SureType is similar to a predictive text entry system. When you begin typing a message, you simply hit the key once. SureType determines which letter on the key you intended by determining what words are created from the resulting combination of letters. For example, to type the word "right" you would hit the "ER," "UI," "GH," "GH" and "TY" keys. This worked well for most common words. However, the system does have a problem with some proper and business names. I had to help it along with the word "Cisco," but I had no trouble with "BlackBerry" and "Microsoft," including proper case. The bright side is that the dictionary does expand itself and will look at the words you type and include them in its dictionary. Names, cities, and street names from your address book are also rolled into the SureType dictionary.In the end, the 7100t gives BlackBerry users an intriguing choice. If you are interested in mainly e-mail with phone capabilities, you should look at one of the traditional BlackBerry devices. But if you are looking for a phone with e-mail capabilities, consider the 7100t. Just be prepared to learn a few new SureType tapping techniques and don't be disappointed by limited Bluetooth capabilities and quirky synchronization routines. For every leap forward you have to take a few steps backward.

Michael Brandenburg is a systems administrator for a machine manufacturer in Neehah, Wis. Write to him at [email protected].