Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Research in Motion's BES 4.0: Page 3 of 4

Users with older devices will have to upgrade the handheld software to take advantage of new features like enterprise activation and enhanced attachment viewing.

Although I am partial to the form factor of devices like PalmOne's Treo 600, the Blackberry 7780 is a capable smartphone with all the features one would expect. Its adequate call quality improves with the included headset. The 7780, like its siblings, has a great color screen that is easy to view without the backlight even in dim environments.

The 7780 offers e-mail, calendaring, address book and Web browsing. Two browsers--a conventional WAP browser and the BlackBerry browser--are included. The full-featured BlackBerry browser is intended to drive Web-based mobile apps in conjunction with BlackBerry's Mobile Data Service. Although I didn't test these features extensively, I found the Blackberry browser worked well.

Overall Impressions

BES 4.0 offers simplified configuration and management. Using BlackBerry Manager 4.0's unified interface, you can deploy new applications, manage handheld policies and even wipe the handheld if the device is ever lost or stolen. The only drawback is that full management functionality is limited to BlackBerry devices.