Is it as good as the 8700?
I need loud speaker to hear my ringtones as I am always in noisy environments

Its just as loud, if not louder than the 8700.

great!!
Is that trackball problem fixed when it rings?

The 8800 is WAY better than the 8700. Not only louder but clearer!

great!
One more thing
When I had the 8100 before got rid of it It kept failing to read the microsd card.
I think the flip slot to hold it was loose.
Anyone experiencing problems with the memory card?

None from my side.

the speaker is great

The 8800 is very loud! The one gripe I had w/ my Pearl was that the volume was very low. I had to drill holes at the back of the battery door on one of the 8100's I owned. The 8800 however is extremely loud, I find it just as loud if not louder than my 8700.

I basically entered my profile setting from my 8700 to my 8800 and found I had to go back and decrease the volume on most of the settings. There are some really nice new ringtone/alert sounds. I do not want my BB to start playing a song and the board room table, just a nice sound would be nice. No RAP for me!

I had to do teh same. I did a comparison of the the 3 (8800, 8700 and the pearl and I have to say at the same setting the 8800 was way too loud with the same tone on all 3. Since i am using several GPS solutions (in evaluation) the sound on the 8800 is so loud that i don't even have to worry about lower the sound on the car radio. I even decreased the volume on it and it is still perfect (with the medium setting on telenav is even higher than the loud setting on the 8700 or the pearl.