jetspeedz, I have a question:
Since I only tried a 7290 and have not owned one, is the screen dim as I have seen a few reports about being dim?

The only reason I'm not going back to a 7290 is the lack of edge, however I'm thinking hard about that. Perhaps I could give up edge as the keyboard is so important to me. I think the 7290 is by far the best BB when it comes to the keyboard and handling email as well as having a phone.

I am going to try and wait until the 8800 is here to see if that will work for me. However that said, the intial reports that I have seen indicate that the overall width is even less than the 8700c, so the prospects of a comfortable keyboard seem rather distant, and keyshape will play a huge roll in the useability of the keyboard.

Time will tell if
A) I can be patient, not buy a 7290 and just wait
B) The 8800 does indeed have a decent useable keyboard.

Cheers...