Seems Boy Genius (The Great!) has posted his thoughts on engadgetmobile, and they aren't as stellar as I expected. I may have only played with the phone for about an hour total, but I love it!

I think a group of people BG missed that will buy this phone is the group like me that never gave the BB a chance because of its size. Once I saw that the 8100 was coming, and saw how small it looked in a hand, I ran out and purchased a 7105t to try the suretype and OS. I can honestly say - this phone is everything a smartphone junkie(sp?) like me has been looking for.

He's probably just bored with it , but, I think that people want the features with stability

it was not meant to be negative, those were my opinions after using the device for a long time, the market they are trying to reach is very hard seeing as how they are not doing consumer based marketing. How can you convert a 16 yr old girl who uses a sidekick to buying a blackberry with no direct marketing towards that age group? She saw snoop dogg and paris hilton in a commercial and then was like hmm, its cool, its cute I want it. What is she going to say about the 8100? It doesn't have AIM (good AIM) and a BlackBerry is for business people...the actual device is fine, but back to my main point people that have an 8700 on T-Mobile just got it few months back, there is a limited # of them that will go out and now buy a brand new device. The people that can afford to buy one at full retail might not because of SureType, people that have a SureType device already will be the main people buying the device, and the rest of the world is still thinking. Am I wrong?

I'm glad you replied. I never meant to imply that your review was negative...actually, I agree with it. I just think you may have missed who this phone might be targeted after. Now, I'm positive you know more about this release than I do, so maybe you DO know that this is meant for the teen generation, but like you said, they would have HAD to do a media blitz. Even the Q made an attempt. I think there is a large number of 30 somethings that will love this phone, and be waiting at tmob's door on the 12th. Just my opinion that RIM is going after us instead of the sidekick generation.

I agree I am one of those 30 something year olds that will be waiting at the door. I almost got a SK3 but my wife convinced me to go back to a BB because she was using a 8700g at work. Not too convinced I decided to get the 7290 (not that I wasn't happy w/BB) but I wanted the camera and the other features too (email, etc) I'm glad I stayed w/BB and that the 8100 will be out soon!

BG, I think you're dead-on. For those who *are* familiar with the device, and are willing to consider it, SureType is going to make or break the deal. I've got an 8700 now, and have heard good and bad about SureType, so I'd *like* to grab an 8100, but I'm not sure yet whether or not I will. I think most folks in the 25 and under age group would be best off with the LG F9100

http://www.mobiledia.com/phones/lg/f9100.html

but then they probably haven't done the best job of distributing/marketing their device either.

I have owned 9 different BlackBerry devices (7290, 7105t, 7730, 6230, 8700c, 8700g, 7130e, 7250, 7230)in the last year. Both QWERTY and SureType. I'm pretty good on both. I like both. I usually have one of each type at a given time just in case I have a desire to use one or the other. That said, I will be purchasing an 8100 on the 12th.

Being new to BB, I have to say I love the suretype. I came from so many other qwerty phones, and none of them had exactly what I was looking for. The closest was the Nokia E61, but I hate the size. Yes, it's thin (ish), but it's a damn pop tart. I love the size of the 8100, and haven't had enough experience with the trackwheel to really miss it (although it's one of my fav things about the 7105t).

For the guy that considered the SK3, you made the right choice. I'm 30, and everytime I pulled out my SK2, I felt like an idiot.

exactly! that's what I wanted to avoid. I'm new to BB also but my first was a 7100i and the suretype didn't bother me one bit.

BG!

At least someone thought of "Target Marketing". Lets hope this small time limited exclusive deal with Tmobile will do this.

Me .... I'm still getting an SE w810i but I will also have an 8100.

Damn you RIM ... you've put off my plans for a Mac yet again!

I'm 37, currently use a 7130e, have used. Cingular, Nextel, and Verizon BB of other models over the years. I am cursing the fact that the 8100 won't be with Verizon until 2008, if I am lucky. I find it hard to discuss what markets RIM is and isn't marketing to with the 8100 when they haven't released the thing yet. I am willing to bet AIM shows up for the 8100 fairly quickly, I also bet that RIM needs to get units made and shipped to meet the demand before this can happen.

I, for one, am happy RIM isn't advertising for the teen audience. I will use this as a business device, as an upgrade from the 7100t which is two years old and it is past time to move on. I have conisdered the E61 and the Motorola Q because I wanted more from my device. Voice dialing and GPS are functions the business user wants and will use and are enough reason to buy the 8100. I am thrilled I do not have to leave the stability of Blackberry to gain these functions. And music doesn't know an age (I am well past 30 something) so MP3 is a welcome feature. I personally could do without the camera, but I am sure occasionally I will enjoy this feature too. Wifi is high on my list, but I don't want to wait on the 8800. I will probably consider the 8800 anyway when it is released, but I have some functioning problems after the last software upgrade that are really difficult to live with, so I need something now.

My point is some of the new features are very business like and given my "ancient" age status, I can atest that many of my friends, as well as myself, want the features of the 8100 in a phone. The market for this is not necessarily JUST the young.

I do agree the general public has a valid mindset of a BB device and to change that perception, now that there device unlike any other BB, will require a really good marketing campaign. The general public does not read these forums and knows nothing of the changes on the horizon. Only by education will RIM significantly increase sales. I just hope that campaign is not aimed SPECIFICALLY at the teenage market.

I feel your pain, but look at the bright side, Apple's is rumored to update the specs of current machines.

As for the Pearl, I played with it a while back on the 22nd of August, I was blown away at the form factor, I thought that the 7130 was as good as it was going to get. I definetly agree with BG that this device will attract a smaller than expected market, unless RIM can do something about changing the Blackberry name to mean ultra-cool-sexy-slim device,it's worth a shot if they want to target youngsters and women.

I'm on vacation on the 12th so you know where I'll be. I wonder what the sunrise looks like from the parking lot of the local T-Mobile store? I guess I'll find out!

LOVE IT!!!!

You sure make me feel better about myself. lol

I have to disagree a bit with the resident BG, because much like the sidekick was hot and carried by all the celebs, it's now the Blackberry that's now the celebrity favorite, so the marketing takes care of itself. The 8100 is smaller than the Sidekick, isn't it? That helps too.

The only wild card is Suretype...and...

RIM must get a native version of AIM out like has been done with Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger. It has been discussed before, but RIM has got to address this. I hope they are reading this very post.

I bet aim is on it at launch if not its on the download page.

On my retail device when i got to the blackberry bookmark page it says downloads. ANd it says this phone is currently not supported. reason being is that the phone is not fully set up with tmobile just yet. on sept 12th i bet that page has some interesting apps to download, like 1 being the AIM app ;)

I've never understood the negatives with Suretype, I think people either are too dumb to use it, don't take the time to understand how it works, or are too used to full QWERTY.

At first I too was like wtf this is stupid how do you type on this thing? But after figuring out exactly how it works I'm just as fast if not faster than on the full QWERTY.

AIM is on the retail devices, except its OZ which is SMS based and is the most pathetic atempt at "instant" messaging. Like a lot of us have discussed before if it had the RIM AIM client it would make a huge difference. Then I could see more people transitioning from a sidekick

Since when is AIM a business app? I can't see telling my clients to "Hit me up at my AIM!" I love that BBs are business devices, and hope they keep it that way.

I'd much rather have a niche business phone, than walking over and trying to figure out if the BB on the counter is mine or my 11 yr old neice's.