Reality check on 8700 as a phone!! [Archive] - BlackBerry Forums Support Community

kwilkins

11-23-2005, 09:34 PM

I am one of those who want the 8700 to function as my primary phone. After testing it for a few hours today I have some good news and bad news.

The Good News:

The speaker phone is the best I have ever heard on a cellular phone. It can be heard from across the room and is very clear and loud. It’s exceptional.

The ergonomics of the phone are going to work for me. It is slightly smaller and thinner than the 7290, but that makes a real difference. Obliviously it’s not as comfortable as a regular cell phone, and ergonomically when held to your ear it’s not quite as nice as the Treo 650. However, I would feel comfortable having extended conversations without feeling the “I’m holding a wallet to my head” sensation that I had with the 7290.

The Bad News, and for me it’s really bad.

The volume of the phone (when held to your ear in normal mode) is only slightly better than the 7290. I am surprised to read posts with people saying it is acceptable and works fine. If I’m in a quite room with the volume nearly at full volume I have no problems. However, I am not going to be able to hear well, even at full volume, in a noisy or even slightly noisy environment.

Has anyone that is posting positive news on the phone volume actually used it in an environment that wasn’t quite? I am desperately hoping I have a defective unit that can be replaced.

Now I’m sorry to say there is more bad news. The sound quality is poor! I read one review a week ago where the reviewer complained that the sound was tinny and words were a bit clipped. This is exactly my experience and it’s really disappointing. The people I’m speaking to seem to have their words shortened by a millisecond and the sound is a bit synthetic and pitched in a way that makes it slightly difficult to hear. The louder I set the volume (which is required in all settings except very quite ones) the worse this problem becomes.

I have my fingers and toes crossed that I have a bad unit. For those who have spent some time using the phone please chime in with your experiences. I’m especially interested to know if you have used the phone in a noisy environment, and what your experience was. Also, are others having the same sound quality issues I’ve described?

I really wish I had better news to report on the 8700 as a primary phone. I can’t wait to dump my Treo 650 for numerous reasons and was hoping the 8700 was going to be the answer.

johnsonk2

11-23-2005, 09:46 PM

does anyone know that if used with a bluetooth earpiece, does the sound quality improve at all? I too would be using it as my primary business phone but also plan on acquiring an earpiece as well for hands free.

bperkins

11-23-2005, 10:23 PM

When using with by Bluespoon digital the earpiece sound is much louder than when I use it without the headset.

Zoinks

11-23-2005, 10:23 PM

Have you tried the wired earpiece that is included? I'm interested to know if the quality problems you are speaking about are with the integrated speaker or the phone itself.

Having used my 7100g for about a year, I've become accustomed to using a bluetooth headset when I'm in a noisy environment. I sometimes work in a computer data center with thousands of wizzing fans and found that the newish Plantronics 640 works very well. I generally have to turn it down.

I was hoping BB fixed this issue. Wired and bluetooth headsets are fine and all, but you still need to put it up to you noggin from time to time.

bperkins

11-23-2005, 10:26 PM

It could be my device. Many here have stated that the phone is plenty loud. As compared to my 7250 I feel is not as loud. Could be I have a defective device. I will try the headset tomorrow and let you know.

Jase88

11-24-2005, 01:28 AM

I've generally noticed CDMA phones to be louder than GSM--and I'm not just talking about Blackberries....to some extent I'm sure the type of network you're using factors into the audio characteristics....

What you're reporting regarding sound quality (or lack thereof) sounds to me like a DSP (digital sound processing) effect. DSP on the 8700 is dynamic--meaning it goes into effect when the device detects significant background noise, etc. Do you notice this effect change depending on where you're using the device?

Boy Genius

11-24-2005, 02:32 AM

Have the exact same problems when using it as a phone, will drop calls, lot of static sometimes even when I have full service...

fourpmdaily

11-24-2005, 09:08 AM

Not sure why you are not so happy. I have been using the 8700 for only a day but have found that the phone is fairly good. Of course i am comparing it to the 7100r. It got to the point on the 7100 that I would not even answer the phone if i did not have an earpiece handy because the persion on the other end could only hear me if I was yelling really slow.. Even after many rogers replacements the problem persisted so i just gave up and waited.

simkin9999

11-24-2005, 09:21 AM

I got my 8700c yesterday, just finished posting about it.

To be honest, I haven't tried using it much as a phone withOUT my jabra250 bluetooth. Come to think of it, I haven't tried it at all.

However, with the jabra250, I was just posting it was nearly perfect audio. It's hard to be sure I'm judging something "real", and not just giddy with new device happiness, though.

On my 7100 with the bluetooth, a few of my friends would tell me the connection didn't sound all that hot. I called all of my them with the 8700c and the jabra, and they said it sounded like a remarkable improvement. I did these test calls from my call, doing about 60, with both the windows closed/radio off .. and the radio up and window down :)

I'll try it out today with the "calculator the face" method.

Now .. how about ringtones? ;)

Stinsonddog

11-24-2005, 09:34 AM

I just got done posting this too.

http://www.mptrim.com/

Make your own. Is my suggestion

I
Now .. how about ringtones? ;)

simkin9999

11-24-2005, 09:56 AM

http://www.mptrim.com/

Service Temporarily Unavailable
The server is temporarily unable to service your request due to maintenance downtime or capacity problems. Please try again later.

--------- Wow, talk about temporary, it's up now :) I'll try using mpedit to email myself some self-cut clips. If that fails, I'll host them on my website. I'll let you know how it goes.

gages

11-25-2005, 11:50 AM

Phone is definitely not as good as 7290. Louder yes, but quality is worse, even with a hard wired headset.

barjohn

11-25-2005, 12:28 PM

I am not having the same experience. I am making test recordings for future posting on my web site and hope to have a preliminary review up this weekend.

XDS

11-25-2005, 12:31 PM

Wirelessly posted (7290: Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) BlackBerry7290/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

The problem is not the hardware the problem is that ¤. is "Deep Space One-ing" there aproach to wireless , more to come ....

barjohn

11-25-2005, 12:35 PM

XDS, I have no clue what you are talking about. Can you explain?

Here is a sound clip of the 8700c recoding my voice on a call to my voice mail:

http://www.barjohn.com/Public_downloads/8700c Baseline.wav

motorsport96

11-25-2005, 01:50 PM

Maybe it is just mine but the phone is just fine. This has really been the best device i have ever owned. Ive had the treo 650, samsung i600 and the kyrocera pda. This is the best!

XDS

11-25-2005, 02:32 PM

Wirelessly posted (7290: Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) BlackBerry7290/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

There doing what Nasa has done with the DS1 comet probe , Well build it then EDM the software later , This is good on some respects but usualy breaks down if they hit any glitches , ¤ (Cingular) (And other child owned apendincies of them) are taking A huge risk .

Now that's all well and nice but there doing it with our money.

Now here is your bottle neck, new server side AMR codecs can't keep up with the ciphers on the client side.

Regards,
~

The wireless industry is so messed up they don't know if they are coming or going.

I'll tell you one thing tho , the positives outway the negitives if you have A 8700x at this point in time.

barjohn

11-25-2005, 02:38 PM

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that Cingular is changing or has changed their CODECS on the receiving equipment and that these new CODECS can't keep up with the 8700c's client side encipher/decipher software. Is this correct? Might it have to do with the upgrade to UMTS/HSDPA taking place?

XDS

11-25-2005, 02:42 PM

Wirelessly posted (7290: Mozilla/2.0 (compatible; MSIE 3.02; Windows CE; PPC; 240x320) BlackBerry7290/4.0.2 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1)

... What we all need to do is get someone who is good in PR to talk to RiM about launching A developers version of the 4.0 software early to people who want to beta test .

We need someone neautral , someone who has been around A while and can speak for every soul on this BBS and other BlackBerry BBS's .

I apreciate what Mark R... has been doing lately. But we need someone complately neautral who knows there shit.

I'm no good with PR that rules me out.

And for pete sakes when is BlackBerryForums.com / BBClub going to allow WAP users to start topics ?

Regards,
~

Stinsonddog

11-25-2005, 07:58 PM

Disregard my last PM. I am really impressed with the sound of that recording. Sounds really clean without clipping. If the phone is that good, I am all set here if it ever comes.

luckiweeman

11-25-2005, 09:05 PM

John, I played your recording over my computer speakers and my kids came out of the room wanting to know who I was talking too. Incredibly clear with no sign of distortion. Thanks for the test. I can't wait till Monday to get my hands on my unit. By the way, has anyone tried the 8700 with the top of the line Plantronics Discovery 640 BT headset?

jbsooner

11-25-2005, 09:19 PM

Well I hope this call sound is not a big deal, I know what it is like, the Treo 650 sucks, it can't be used without a headset. I am ordering a 8700, I hope it is better.

SDCABBFAN

11-25-2005, 10:33 PM

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

I personally have to say I think it is superb as a phone. I just called home to test the voice quality and I was told I sounded better than on the 7100 and even on speaker. Overall this is the best voice I have used on a pda phone.

barjohn

11-26-2005, 12:19 AM

So far, I am very impressed with the sound quality on the phone. With the Flamingo headset it is very clear and I only need about half volume. I will be recording smaples with various headsets and the in car unit for you all to hear.

Jase88

11-26-2005, 12:22 AM

John,
How would compare the audio on the 8700 with other models? Both with or without a bluetooth headset? Does this model do a better job filtering out background noise?

MobileRC

11-26-2005, 12:34 AM

I am very impressed with the phone quality on it (on rogers). I have used it with the wired headset, bt wireless, speaker and regular. In a bar environment and driving on the highway.

ckeck

11-26-2005, 12:40 AM

The phone quality on my 8700 is VERY good. Crystal clear and no problems with the volume at all, especially with my Motorola HS850 headset...VERY loud and clear. This is with Cingular service.

barjohn

11-26-2005, 12:48 AM

It is far and away the best Blackberry phone I have tested thus far. Clarity, noise cancellation and volume. The earpiece volume could be increased slightly; however, speakerphone is just plain awsome and those of you who have followed me know I don't make such a statement lightly. The only weakness I have seen is that Bluetooth is sensitive to body placement with the Flamingo (needs to be on the right side since the Flamingo is a right ear only headset). I will report once I test with other headsets. With the car (my BMW), I couldn't ask for more though I have not yet tested on my Lexus. In all fairness, the Lexus system is kind of lousy anyway so I wouldn't hold it against the unit if it didn't perform well in the Lexus.

gages

11-28-2005, 09:11 PM

John,

We can not be talking about the same phone. The quality is just terrible when compared to the 7290. I am using the unit with no speaker or bluetooth.

I am based in NY. Could location have something to do with it?

Steve

barjohn

11-28-2005, 09:21 PM

Many factors come into play. Try calling your voicemail and leaving a message and see how it sounds. You might have a deffective unit. You can listen to my call quality on my web site so it shouldn't be hard to tell if yours is different. Signal strength, carrier and how many users they try and cram into the pipe can all affect call quality. I am in the greater LA area and Cingular/at&t used to be horrible here. They have dramatically improved call quality after we all b*tched about it.

pavirginia

11-28-2005, 09:22 PM

I agree with barjohn. I've had the 8700 since Friday and the difference in the voice quality between it and the 7290 is staggering. I'm in northern virginia and I've had two 7290's. It must have something to do with network as my 7250 with sprint sounded much better than my 7290's w/ cingular. However the 8700 thus far has been far superior to both units. I find it to have plenty of volume for most environments and the speaker is better than any handset or smart phone i've used.

luckiweeman

11-28-2005, 09:25 PM

Gages, I'm in New York, spending my time in Midtown Manhattan and Queens and the phone quality has been, in my opinion, much better than the 7290. I called my wife and she thought I was calling from a land line. She used to complain when I called in the 7290.

gages

11-28-2005, 09:26 PM

I never had this issue with my 7290. Could it really be a bad unit?

luckiweeman

11-28-2005, 09:29 PM

Gages, try running a couple of tests. Barjohn has a recording he made of a voicemail message on his phone which is very clear. Compare your recording with his. John, could you provide the link to that recording?

gages

11-28-2005, 09:30 PM

I notice that Boy Genius is also NYC based. Again, could this be a location thing?

Anyone in NY getting high quality phone results?

luckiweeman

11-28-2005, 09:30 PM

Gages, recording is further up on this thread..

John-Fox

11-28-2005, 09:31 PM

I have zero complaints with this device acting as a phone. The volume is much better than my 7100g was.

pavirginia

11-28-2005, 09:31 PM

http://www.barjohn.com/Public_downloads/8700c%20Baseline.wav

luckiweeman

11-28-2005, 09:32 PM

Another co-worker got his 8700 today as well and has had consistently good results on phone calls. Again we're in Manhattan so that could be a factor.

ChrisBenson

11-28-2005, 09:34 PM

I find the 8700r's voice quality to so much better than my previous blackberries. It is loud and crisp and everyone I have spoken to have said it sounds like I am on a landline. I am extremely pleased with its voice quality.

Jase88

11-28-2005, 09:35 PM

Barjohn,
Regarding the 8700 speakerphone in the car: I was quite impressed with its performance, based on the recording I heard on your website.

gages

11-28-2005, 09:39 PM

The main issue I have is listening to the other party, my voice quality is fine. Something is definitely not right.

gages

11-28-2005, 09:40 PM

I bought mine at a Cingular store. Do they have to swap it if I claim defective?

pavirginia

11-28-2005, 09:42 PM

I bought mine at a Cingular store. Do they have to swap it if I claim defective?
you shouldn't have a problem as you are within 30 days of purchase.

Rick7520

11-28-2005, 11:37 PM

I have found that Cingular phones- in general- have very low earpiece volume. I know this is a very general statement. However, my hearing is not the best and I'm always in a noisy environment. I like to be able to have the window open while driving and still hear while I am on the phone. I have a habit of trying all the live phones when I go into a cell phone shop and play with all the volume levels on all the phones that are live- I have noticed that CDMA (especially Sprint phones) offer the loudest earpiece volume- not all of them but most of them. From what I am reading here I should not even consider the 8700. I just don't understand why manufactures / carriers don't boost the volume so it suits everyone- it's that why they have adjustments!

gregg

11-29-2005, 08:59 AM

I agree with BarJohn, this BB has, by far, the best voice quality. I have had many BB's, most recently the 7100g. There is no comparison, the 8700 rocks.

Also, as a side note, it doesn't have the dreaded bluetooth volume issues of past......

rpfeffer

11-29-2005, 09:29 AM

Cingular has these devices in store? I haven't been to a store since the 28th, so I don't know.

14pups

11-29-2005, 09:56 AM

Cingular has these devices in store? I haven't been to a store since the 28th, so I don't know.

Well in St. Louis there are ZERO 8700s in the Cingular retail stores.

"By Dec. 1st" is the latest line.
This replaced "By Nov. 25".

I will patiently wait for TMobile's version myself.

knissen

11-29-2005, 01:48 PM

Gages, I have a similar problem. The sound quality on both ends using the normal microphone (no speakerphone, no earpiece) is significantly worse than my old 7280.

Here's a stupid question, I have been using my old Blue Sim card, since Cingular is having trouble activating my Orange card. Can the Sim card have an impact on the Network quality? It says I'm on the Edge network.

richard371

11-29-2005, 09:20 PM

Please state if you are using ATT sim or Cing sim and if your phone quality is good or bad. I am getting the clipping of words from time to time.

gages

11-29-2005, 09:43 PM

Cingular Sim

Brad00111

11-29-2005, 10:00 PM

Please state if you are using ATT sim or Cing sim and if your phone quality is good or bad. I am getting the clipping of words from time to time.

I thought the 8700c was locked to Cingular Orange? Or am I incorrect?

richard371

11-29-2005, 10:30 PM

No it works with ATT to just not tmobile etc

barjohn

11-29-2005, 11:11 PM

The only time I have seen any sign of the clipping is in a high noise environment and that is due to the noise cancelling algorithm. I am using an Orange SIM on a Blue account.

gadgetman

11-30-2005, 01:01 AM

Not good sound. Lot of hissing and cutting out. My 7100t with OS 3.8 is better.

wallyn

11-30-2005, 01:10 AM

No problems at all way better than the 7100g. AT&T sim

barjohn

11-30-2005, 01:17 AM

No comparison to the 7100t. It was awful compared to the 8700.

richard371

11-30-2005, 11:57 PM

I do get choppyness etc often and have 5 bars inside. I made tests to 611, My bofa account etc. Still does not compare to my RAZR at all but I still think it's doable. Otherwise it's a great device. I don't think it is deffective but I will compare it to the free one I am supposed to get sometime next year for going to the 8700c launch party.

gadgetman

12-01-2005, 12:36 AM

I find it choppy too. Firmware update might fix it.

romerom

12-01-2005, 01:34 AM

speakerphone performance is awesome.. tested in a busy restaurant and also in the car while driving. not so much trying to talk on speakerphone, but listenening to the speakerphone on MUTE like I would do if I were sitting in on a conference call.

as for regular phone use - i notice it IS DEFINATELY louder than the 7290 and actually seems more like a regular cellphone now.

i read someone said earlier that this device doesn't seem as sturdy as the 7290 did.. like it was more fragile. the only thing to me that looks more fragile is the screen - it's too pretty to stay that way for long :) on the 7290, the screen was recessed with a small border that put it just underneath of flush with the rest of the face of the device. on the 8700, the screen is completely flush with the front of the device.

outside of that, it seems completely sturdy to me.

barjohn

12-01-2005, 01:44 AM

gages

12-01-2005, 07:06 AM

Swapped my unit at a Cingular store last night. Big difference, I definitely had a defective unit.

unclemurray

12-01-2005, 08:22 AM

I can hear people fine when i have good reception. Loud and clear. But they complain that i sound bad and that the background noise is pretty bad> i don't hear this; they do. This is when using the phone as a handset without a headset or clip on mic.

jbsooner

12-01-2005, 11:07 AM

I haven't had any problems with this phone, I can hear great and people can hear me great. Nothing like the Treo 650 it really had bad earpiece volume, to the point I couldn't really even use it as a phone. I love the 8700c it is my first blackberry.

richard371

12-01-2005, 11:10 AM

The voice chip must be like uncut diamonds they all have different clarity depending on the one you get lol.

schlepers

12-01-2005, 11:11 AM

Being the 7100g was crap, how is the mic on he 8700? Does it actually work in loud areas? And no I'm not into wearing ear pieces either.

jbsooner

12-01-2005, 11:17 AM

I think it works great, but I am compairing it to the Treo 650.

gkolleng

12-01-2005, 11:48 AM

Isn't holding the 8700 up to your dome still a little cumbersome? It's still pretty wide, no?

Stinsonddog

12-01-2005, 11:56 AM

Only slightly wider than the 7100. Much better than the old ones.

Isn't holding the 8700 up to your dome still a little cumbersome? It's still pretty wide, no?

knissen

12-02-2005, 01:19 AM

Those of you getting chopiness are you getting it on your end or the other parties end? What is your environment when this is happening. I am not getting that on my end and based on my converstations with people and my recording not on the other end either.

I'm getting choppiness when I listen to others. It clips some words and pops occasionally. I'm wondering if, like Gages, I have a defective unit. My environment is quiet, indoors.

Strangely, I also get it when I use my bluetooth headset.

caggie01

12-02-2005, 03:21 AM

I received my 8700c last Friday. I use the Plantronics Discovery 640 BT headset. Both have worked flawlessly all week. Sound volume through the 640 is exceptional, I rarely have to go above the 50% volume in noisy conditions. No complaints on sound quality, it's been comparable to my Nokia 6230. For the first time I have put my cell phone away and gone completely 8700.

barjohn

12-02-2005, 05:52 AM

I'm getting choppiness when I listen to others. It clips some words and pops occasionally. I'm wondering if, like Gages, I have a defective unit. My environment is quiet, indoors.

Strangely, I also get it when I use my bluetooth headset.

I would guess you have a defective unit because the vast majority of us have no problems with sound quality. I have been on travel and mine has been excellent. Even when using the speakerphone in my hotel room for a mini conference I did not need volume above 2 little bars.

unclemurray

12-02-2005, 10:31 AM

The main problem i'm experienceing is with the built in mic. There seems to be no background noise reduction. antyime I make a call from the street, even when it's not noisy, there is a loud wooshing white noise that gets picked up> i left myself messages from various locations and loudness levels outiside, in a bar, etc, and they all had terrible background noise. The weird thing is< i don't hear it on my end. It's nice and clean. Only on the receiving end does it sound bad. Do I have a bad noise reduction circuit or something?

Dubdub

12-02-2005, 10:41 AM

I use the 8700c as my primary cell phone and have no problems with it at all. My ears are not what they used to be after 15+ years of flying and listening to all sorts ot terriible radios. I think it is bettter than my Verizon Motorola E815.

I use a the Jabra 250v and Motorola HS850 BT headsets though. These have separate volume adjustments as well and both work well. I can even hear the person on the other end of the call!

knissen

12-02-2005, 05:07 PM

Well folks, I swapped my unit and things are sounding better. Not sure what the problem was, but I have less clipping now. Better tones.

Thanks for the advice.

barjohn

12-02-2005, 07:37 PM

Here is another test recording I made today at Dallas International AIrport. It is a 3 way test in one starting with the Flamingo Bluetooth, followed by switching to the handset, followed by switching to the speakerphone. You can then compare all three modes for yourself.

It is a very noisy environment as are most big airports.

http://www.barjohn.com/Public_downloads/8700-3mode-test.wav

tori888

12-03-2005, 11:28 PM

all i can say is that it's MUCH better than my Treo 650 and i haven't had any complaints from my callers, of backround noise as i did with the Treo. I'm not sure if any handheld would compare to a top noch cell phone, but i guess thats the trade off.

unclemurray

12-06-2005, 08:46 PM

I think I have a defective unit. If i ordered it online, can I swap it at the store?

jmkissel

12-07-2005, 05:34 PM

I too am having trouble with my 8700c. I have an Orange SIM card, and have had the phone for almost two weeks. I keep getting choppiness when listening to other people on the phone (no Bluetooth or speakerphone). Sometimes the conversation cuts out completely. It is like every third word of a conversation is cut out. After reading this thread I called a landline at my office and put the phone next to a radio playing a talk radio program. I walked around the office to see if it cut in and out and, yes, every three or four words was cut out. And I had full bars. Needless to say, I am taking it back while I can because this must be a defective unit.

ctdw

12-07-2005, 07:44 PM

We have two 8700's so far...voice quality is much better then our Treo 650's. Also better then the 7290 I have used.

richard371

12-07-2005, 08:06 PM

I've tried 3 of them and my RAZR and Treo sound better. The words tend to clip and get choppy on the 8700 but it is better then the 7100.

unclemurray

12-08-2005, 08:59 AM

jmkissel, let me know if your replacement is better. I am considering replacing mine. Just wondering if mine is really messed up, or i'm just used to having a CDMA flip phone that sounded like a landline...

pavirginia

12-08-2005, 08:24 PM

I've tried 3 of them and my RAZR and Treo sound better. The words tend to clip and get choppy on the 8700 but it is better then the 7100.
this is entirely area related... my razr and treo were worese than the 8700

richard371

12-08-2005, 08:30 PM

It could also depend on the FW and software on the treo and RAZR. I have mine with the latest and greatest.

Stinsonddog

12-09-2005, 11:38 PM

Therefore it passes. I was walking in Manhatten last night at 5pm for about 10 blocks talking to my wife who is not patient with cell phones that you can't hear on. I kept asking her if it was ok and did she want to continue later. She said it was fine and we had a great chat. That passes my test. I was using a Plantronics v510 BT with it.

barjohn

12-09-2005, 11:45 PM

That is the same tough test I employ. My wife has zero tolerance for a poor cellphone sound. She will hang up on me if it gives her the slightest trouble hearing it. Mine has also passed this most difficult of tests. No prior BB could pass that test and she would refuse to talk to me unless I called her on one of my other cell phones.

unclemurray

12-10-2005, 02:33 PM

That's my prolem. My wife said the phone needs to go if i want to talk to her from outside... I'm gonna switch it and see. I tried it with a headset and all the whooshing goes away so i'm hoping i have a defective handset...

sfla99

12-10-2005, 02:44 PM

Only have had my 8700 1 day now, but I can say for sure that the call quality is a tremendous leap from the 7100 series, I used to own a 7100g and got rid of it because if you were any where that had the slightest bit of noise you could not hear a single thing, the other reason was in the noisy environments you had to place the volume at full which caused awefull hissing.

The 8700 (atleast the one I am using) does none of the sort, its loud, crisp and very clean sounding, wife says it sounds like I am on a landline, and best of all! it pairs perfectly with my 05 BMW X5, which the 7100 nor the Treo 650 would do, so its win win, true push mail, good call quality and BT pairing, now I just need to hope for no dust.

Cheers!

gadgetman

12-10-2005, 02:46 PM

I've had two. Both used in the same location.

Number 1 had strong reception and choppy sound. Not great. I replaced it as the bluetooth wasn't working.

Number 2 has less strong reception (less bars), and not as loud through the earpiece, but higher quality sound. Prefable to number 1.

gadgetman

12-29-2005, 10:34 PM

Phone still sounds a bit choppy. Many people seem to have the problem. Is this the kind of thing a firmware update can fix?

barjohn

12-29-2005, 11:57 PM

Not sure what to suggest. If you haven't loaded the latest firmware (the Rogers firmware works very well in my Cingular unit) you might give it a try.

AlbertoM

12-30-2005, 02:12 AM

Not sure what to suggest. If you haven't loaded the latest firmware (the Rogers firmware works very well in my Cingular unit) you might give it a try.
John
What are the differences and where do you get it?

barjohn

12-30-2005, 02:17 AM

AlbertoM

12-30-2005, 02:32 AM

The differences are minor and a search of the 8700 section should give you the link to the ROgers download site.

Saved you the trouble here is the link:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/showthread.php?t=22079&highlight=8700r+download
Yeah, lazy of me - my apologies....I'm still looking for a more robust BT connection...is it the same BT version?

kurichan

12-30-2005, 02:36 AM

I've generally noticed CDMA phones to be louder than GSM--and I'm not just talking about Blackberries....to some extent I'm sure the type of network you're using factors into the audio characteristics...I wish I could put it so kindly. To be blunt (I'm really not trying to start a flame war!), I've found after trying three GSM carriers now, that GSM audio quality generally sucks in just about every way, while CDMA is much clearer, drops less, and at least in the case of my 7250 is more than loud enough in any situation.

saldous

12-30-2005, 04:48 AM

I use this as my only mobile phone now, and it is perfect. Sound quality is great, loud (actually it is too loud, I have to turn it down), and people the other end hear me fine.

barjohn

12-30-2005, 11:23 AM

Alberto, there is a slight difference in BT versions, not sure what they are.

Kurichan, You live in the home of CDMA (QUALCOM HQ) so your CDMA experience may be different than mine. In the LA area where they try and squeeze as many callers on the circuit as they can the voice quality goes down. I travel around 80K miles a year and test in many locations and in general GSM voice service is clearer than CDMA. In Europe it is so good you would swear you are on a land line most of the time. One of the advantages to a carrier for using CDMA is that he can get more customers on a given line and that can be varied. Good for the carrier, not so good for the customer when they start squeezing the upper limits.

justelise

12-30-2005, 11:50 AM

A good friend of mine is a Verizon customer in the Philly area and has been for a while. No matter what phone he has or what kind of background noise is present he sounds like a cat in a swimming pool. I had Splint down here in FL for a while and I was told I sounded about the same as my friend on Verizon. My experiences with CDMA sound quality have been quite bad so far. It actually made me miss TDMA.

Lex Luthor

12-30-2005, 01:19 PM

I never had choppy calls or what not but earlier this morning I updated my 8700r to handheld code 4.1.0.206 and everyone I have spoken to since has said the voice quality sounds much better especially over the speakerphone. I'm not sure if that's due to the upgrade or not. I would imagine it is. Having said that I should also state that my 8700r had started to throw many tantrums over the past couple weeks but since the upgrade it's working perfectly again so I am quite content.

snowpilot

12-30-2005, 02:31 PM

My wife must have a defective one.

She says the calls are very unclear and she is having trouble hearing me. Also any calls from one cingular customer to her get a very annoying echo. I've tried calling her with two different cingular phones and i got an echo both times.

I'm going to have her replace it next week. I really think it's a great phone. I agonized back and forth for a long time trying to decide if I was going to get her a treo 650 or a bb8700. I went with the 8700 because i know it's reliable and i know she won't have any real problems with operating it around the world. 60 bucks international unlimted data is a steal.

Anybody ever hear of these echo problems?

estabulla

12-30-2005, 03:05 PM

saldous

12-30-2005, 03:12 PM

http://downloads.rogers.com/wireless/products/blackberry/8700M_PBr4.1.1.0_rel183_PL2.0.0.97_A4.1.0.206_Rogers.exe

joec

01-04-2006, 04:27 PM

Has anyone else compared the 7100i (Nextel) with the 8700c audio levels ?? My 7100i blows away the 8700c in receive audio volume. I only switched from Nextel to Cingular because Nextel cell service does not cover well in my area compared to Cingular..

torifile

01-04-2006, 06:42 PM

I haven't got any complaints about the phone quality. No dropped calls, no volume issues. BT works very well with my D640. It's a very good phone (far superior to the Treo 650) and doesn't feel too cumbersome when used without a headset.

snowpilot

01-04-2006, 10:44 PM

I can't get it .206 on my cingular bb. Any tips?

I run though the setup wizard but when i check the phone nothing.

cellhead

01-05-2006, 02:37 AM