Anybody there yet? How's the food, drinks? (Got stuck at work and running late.)

We are all curious as to what the free gift is Could someone please post when you find out.

Thanks

anyone go to Toronto launch this morning?

will be there shortly..

Just announced. We're all going home with a new 8800!

Wonderful news.

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.0) BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

830pm now and the 8800s are fabulous...

Standing on line to get it.

Sweet! Hope they do the same in San Fran!!

Just 2 days away.....

Got it!

Comes in a shiny laquered black box, with a black ribbon. Inside the box the 8800 is in a leather holster. The battery is outsid of the unit, of course. Other accessories are the folding wall charger, a usb cable, the regular ear piece (not stereo), the manual, a cd, and a "you're a valuable customer" notice.

and they are just giving this away? No purchase necessary?

Wirelessly posted (Ooga Booga 8700: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I wish I would have gotten invited to this. Seems like it would be cool to attend. How did you get an invite.

Enjoy your new 8800s and don't play with them too much.

Right. On the way in, a business card is sufficient ID to check in. When it's time to get the precious, they punch a hole in your name tag and give you the box.

pretty classy gesture!

They only asked me for my name, they went through the alphabetically ordered bunches of envelopes, and handed my nametag, which also served as the "special gift" redemption card. I don't know if there was a section for walk-up registration, although I didn't see any set-up for that. . . . there's still time to register online for the SFO launch. . .

Is the BB cingular branded or the black unbranded model? I am very jelous either way!

It's Cingular branded, (i'm surprised it didn't got slapped with the New AT&T brand), really dark blue in color...

Major bummer, dudes!

The device is great, but I'm getting "Invalid SIM Card" message. I have one of the legacy AT&T cards that I thought was causing the problem, so I tried a newer SIM (not 64k), but I still get the same error. Both SIMs work in my 8700. Any ideas? Do I need a 64K SIM, or did I get a lemon?

I got mine too and I put my SIM, the 64k orange one and all worked (voice wise). I can honestly say, this I would have not bought if I was to lay the money out if I was going from the 8700. Howeve, now with both the pearl and the 8800 it gives the best of both worlds (time with out a bulky one and time for serious times).

I got to say I was shocked with the amount of people attending the event. There was over 500 people in there and every one got one even Tiki barber ( well at least he got into his Cady Limo with his the balck box in his hand).

I also have the same message . . . and I have a 64Ksmartchip . . . what's the deal? dbl major bummer!!!

[quote=hf1khal]I got mine too and I put my SIM, the 64k orange one and all worked (voice wise). ...QUOTE]

did you went through the 10-minute set-up wizard?

I'm thinking that both of my SIMs are AT&T (even though the newer one has no label except a serial number) and may not work in a Cingular-locked device. Is yours branded Cingular?

yup, my 64ksmartchip is Cingular Orange . . . works on other devices, even in unlocked GSM phones (Tmo/AT&T/Vodafone). . .

<rant> When they announced the special gift and when I saw the line moving so quickly, I thought that they learned from last year's mess </rant>

on the bright side, if the device is truly defective, we can call it in and ask for a replacement, then that replacement phone would have to come from the general stock which has the potential of becoming unlocked . . .

On hold with CS. I'm not letting this go so easy

Did they give me a run-around! So they're claiming that the phone is locked to Cingular and both my SIMs are AT&T so it won't work. Plus, they're claiming that BB8800 is UMTS (is it?) so I need to purchase a 3G SIM for $25. And they won't unlock it because my account is AT&T.


One useful thing I learned from this:
8931 - first four digits of AT&T SIM number.
8901 - first four digits of Cingular SIM number.

[quote=crisambo]That did not even start up when I put my sim in it. I was on the train back when I poped the SIM in there from my pearl.

Interesting because when I put my Blue Sim in my launch 8700 it worked. Wont' surprise me if that's the case now that it won't work on ATT so I guess I better be prepared to get mine unlocked too. I don't think its UMTS.

anyone have a good headcount (besides >500)? i wanted to do a quick calculation of # of people * $400. just curious.

My Blue SIM works in my launch 8700 too; that's why I was so surprised that it concked out here.

So what was the resolution on unlocking.?

I'll buy someone's here that did not like theirs.

Seriously.

Stintsonddog, They won't unlock because it's an AT&T accout. My best bet may be to unlock using somebody else's acct. The problem is that everyone at work is probably on ATT accounts too.

Crisambo, what are the first four digits of your SIM's serial number?

I'm out for tonight; it's bed time on the east coast ;)

post pics of the event, box, whatever!

I had the same problem with a locked Pearl with my AT&T account. The first I tried to have unlocked from the guy on this forum and it couldn't be so I had to get a second one that was already unlocked!

So do you have some legacy deal that you don't want to give up. My works plans are basically the same so I am thinking of going into a Cing store and switching on Thurs. What I give up best I can tell is the inability to switch networks - no manual on Cig SIMs but I think I can change the preferred network order. Can't think of anything else at the moment.

Has anyone gotten theres unlocked to work with blue sims etc?

Something has changed where the latest 8700s, Pearls, and 8800s will not take Blue Sims. Also the older att Blackberrys used to take Orange sims but something changed in the sims lately. I really wish there was a law making it illegal to lock phones. I refuse to own a phone that is locked.

I just purchased an unlock code on ebay for $30 for mine that I got last night... I'll let you know what happens.

Where do you sign up for future events?

TIA