Hi I'm a newbie but could not find the exact answer to my questions after searching.

Can I use the same SIM card in two different blackberry devices provided they are unlocked and still receive emails?

Alternately is the email capability tied to the SIM or the IMEI number of the phone?

I wanted to know if I would still get my email and cellphone access using either phone. Phones in question would be 8700 and the 8800.

No. You can move the sim card between devices, and your BB data plan will follow, but your emails will not. They are tied to the PIN number on your device, and not the sim card. If you switch your PIN number on your BIS/BES account, then they will go to the new device.

...and with BIS you need to transfer the BIS account to the PIN/IMEI of the other Blackberry. On BES you'd need to do an Enterprise Activation each time you switched. It's not something you really want to do frequently in most cases due to the hassle and loss of historic email with each switch.

Thank you, can I update the pin on the 8800 to have the same pin as on the 8700 or is this not possible because the pin is tied to the IMEI?

PIN is tied to the IMEI / Hardware

or run switch device wizzard on Desktop Manager 4.2 which resolves a lot of the 'lost email/calendar' when switching devices issue.