According to my rep the 8700c is to be released on 11/21. I have attached the ad slick from their internal marketing team.

The 11/21 date sounds wrong if Rogers is going to release it on 11/15. Just my guess.

The color in that promo shot does not look all that bad. Looks more blueish than gray......similar to TMobile's 7290

hope lauren and stacey dont get introuble...ha

looks good, im in and 299 sounds better then 450

i wish every wireless provider would stop claiming to have the largest wireless high-speed data network... its getting ridiculous.

yeah maybe its upgradable

Why do you think ROgers will release it on the 15'th..

this is more proof than any other carrier has provided yet..

I agree. This is probably the best looking picture I've seen of Cingular's 8700, though it still is not as sleek as the black housing.

I still hate the theme though.

Because that is the date corey@12mile gave and he seems to have an inside track.

The price listed on the "slick" gives hope...BUT I would be surprised it opens at only $299.

The Rogers release date has been pushed back toward the end of November.

Nov 9 is gonna be an interesting day though... watch the big newspapers for an announcement.

cd.

cd, don't leave us hanging man. Can you give us a hint? Is it good or bad?

www.fireurbanmeyer.com
that will give u all of UiF's answers!

Ok guys, at the risk of getting flamed -- What is it about EDGE, that makes the 8700 a better product than my 7290? Faster surfing (I hope)? What else about this phone, besides the speaker, makes it a better unit than the 7290?

EDGE is a heck of a lot faster than standard GPRS. TONS faster. I might actually use my browser more than once or twice a month if I can get EDGE.

Since no one has it yet, it's pretty hard for anyone to say what makes it a better phone than the 7290, but I'm willing to bet the earpiece is louder.

Damn, I'd switch over in a heartbeat if only to get a louder earpiece. Thanks m.

You my be expecting too much. I think EDGE is approx 3x faster than GPRS. Since GPRS is slower than dialup, we are theoretically talking about approx ISDN speed. If you've ever used ISDN then you know it is twice as fast as dialup but still SLOW by modern expectations.

Realistically, I believe EDGE will be more of a benefit to those forced to teather. If you never have to teather or not getting an outstanding deal (like Corey that lucky duck) then you may want to wait for your next regular upgrade. My $00.02

how does the 1x Telus network comapare to the EDGE network ? i have always wondered this. Telus seems to say that there 1x is the next genereation network. What are your thoughts on this ?

With first hand experience using both GPRS and EDGE and EV-DO for that matter, I can tell you that EDGE makes browsing when needed acceptable but not something you want to do a lot of. EV-DO takes it to really easy and soemthing you can live with from a performance standpoint. Of course, having to scroll screens or view them in ways that can appear jumbled makes even fast EV-DO less usable than a real PC. I see the big advantage of the speed increases when you tether a laptop to your phone as a modem. Then the extra speed is critical and EDGE makes it usable and EV-Do makes it a pleasure.

Well put John, I have a coworker with an EDGE phone and I teathered my laptop with it while traveling. I used the SIM from my BB. It was better than my 7290 which I have yet to see a full page load (yes, i'm that impatient) but it was nothing to upgrade my 7290 for either.

John,
So I take it that the 8700 will have EDGE, but not EV-DO, and that you don't recommend swapping a 7290 for an 8700 just for the EDGE advantage, unless you tether.

I don't believe that is what I said. I wouldn't swap a 7290 for an 8700 if EDGE was the ONLY difference and I didn't plan on tethering a laptop; however, the OTHER differences may well be enough to warrant switching such as the speakerphone, better screen with higher resolution, expanded Bluetooth and BT 1.2, slimmer form factor, and I hope (fingers crossed) a louder and better phone.

????? speakerpone maybe but how often would you use it if you have a good BT headset? Maybe while driving if you have AC and a fairly quite car.

The 7290 has great screen resolution so what will our eyes find different? I have my font set at 14 so I see mines well.

Will you get an advantage using BT 1.2 for a headset and serial port? Voice dialing??? What will this give us?

Slimmer, I have trouble keeping my 7290 in my ageing paws and frequently hit two keys at once then drop the device going for the backspace key. I have trouble using any of the keys on the sides plus I don't see like I once did so I would like larger letters or longer arms. Now a flip device???

Better phone is really needed so I will cross me fingers and toes with you. I also think more memory and faster processor may also be worth considering.