I'm on the fence with the 8800. I had a 8700c and i thought the voice quality was way below average. VQ was the main reason i switched to the pearl, which is a big improvement (IMO).

Any feedback?

Thank you!

Only had mine for about 12 hours but the earpiece quality is better with more volume if required than my 8700. The speaker phone quality is FAR better. In fact the entire device has better build quality than my 8700c. No creaking when you are typing, simply a solid device.

Good to know! The audio and call quality on my Pearl has been great but my 8700 was sub par. I was curious about the 8800, thanks for the info.

Thank you Greg.

I think i'm going to try the 8800 out. I picked up a treo 750 off of ebay to try it out and the VQ is about the best i've experienced in a cell phone. I prefer the BB's over WM, but for me voice is as important as email.

I never figured out what was going on but the first few seconds of my answered calls with my 8700c were garbled at times. I am glad that it is crisp and clear from the very beginning on the 8800. I do not think you will be dissapointed.

I have a feeling that this will be my favorite Blackberry. My favorite was the Nextel 7520. The 8700c worked very well but had a few problems and I never liked the way the keyboard or whole device felt while in use. The 8800 is solid with a good feel on the keyboard. You will get used to it very quickly

Could not possibly agree more.

It'll be hard to beat my old-fashioned 7290. Best keypad layout, rugged, rugged, rugged, best form factor...

In my opinion of course, although the speed and voice quality of the 7290 left a lot to be desired.

What is your impression of the outgoing VQ compared to the 8700? Have you left yourself a test email or had any coments from others?

I noticed that unless I have my ear right in the right place (at the speaker) that I can barely hear the person talking. That was kinda weird to me. On all my Treos and my Pearl, I could hear very well. Not sure why this one seems to be this way.

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

I am also very happy with the phone. It's significantly better than my 8700c.

I am very happy with the keyboard. The one on my 8700 was dreadful. This proves once again that if RIM focuses on improving a certain area, they do a great job of fixing the old area's that neede improvement.

I have asked others if I sound good and they say as good as always. Guess only way to really know is leave a test message on the recorder with both devices but I am not pulling the sim

Thats another thing! The SIM is easy to remove and replace. In fact it seemed like it would not stay in place! Nice improvement as it was hard to remove my SIM in the 8700!

Verdict is still out but i really feel the 8800 is a step down in call quality compared to the 8100c....IMO!! The pearl just sounds more natural with less gsm type earpiece sounds.

For those coming from the 8700 (which i had before the pearl) and the 8800 is a slight improvement. Also, I agree with most that is is a very solid, well built, and great looking device.

If i did 50+ emails a day the the full keyboard would be be nice but I need a pda to be as phone first, contact/organizer 2nd, then email/messaging 3rd......i didn't even mention no 3g???

Does 3g make the phone, pda or email better?

Voice over GSM is always going to seem more digitized in comparison to CDMA. No getting past that if comparing otherwise identical handsets. This is the primary reason why my BB is data-only (currently).

The voice quality (not to mention overall quality) on the 8800 FAR exceeds the 8700.

Straight email, no better.

However, while trialling cingular 3G phones like the BJ, Treo 750, my computer speakers didn't spazz out from the 850 gsm while making phone calls or transfering data & downloading email attachments are noticeably quicker. So yes, 3g would make it better. That's not even a debate. Tell me who would say they would take edge over umts/hsdpa on the 8800?

I've played with a colleague's sprint evdo 8700 and the web browsing is much faster than edge.

Again, the 8800 is a slick/solid device and a step up from the 8700. The VQ and 3g thing is just my observation.

not gonna lie.....i think the earphone quality during a call is too quite....there, I said it.

Occasionally I will hve a call that is completely fuzzy or static filled. If I hang up and call back it is gone..anyone else have this issue? I am thinking it may be local tower issue. 3g phones in my house do not do this..just my 8800. I have noticed it outside my house..several miles.