I realize that . My original post was a little vague.

I just mean (and sort of to make myself feel better) that the 8707 will have no personal advantage in my usage of the phone over the 8700. I'm not techno-savvy enough to know all the specifics, but you only reconfirmed to me that the US doesn't support the technology that the 8707 is being marketed for.

And also considering that no phone, essentially, is really off limits to purchase once it's unlocked! Haha.

Most UMTS phones do not support EDGE (like the WM5 JASJAR). EDGE is not an evolution technically between GPRS and UMTS, it needs to be separately deployed on top of the GSM system, and relatively few operators around the world have deployed it -- they went straight from GPRS to UMTS. Or maybe they had the other short lived 2.5G technology, I forget the name.

Right that's it I've got to have one!

BBAdmin - let me know when you have availability!

I really like the look of the 'today' screen. Having one that's not a 3rd party app would be really nice.

My question would be is that just a software upgrade away? Meaning could RIM release that software for the 8700 or maybe even the 7100 series?

OK I've since realized that most of you posters know a LOT more about BB's than I do; I'm learning at an exponential rate ... BUT one major thing to consider is where their headquarters are .... North America ... thats close try a lil harder ..... CANADA sweet Jesus!!! And they have an INCREDIBLY TIGHT relationship with Rogers Wireless; whom got them started on the map since day 1. Remember Cingular's exclusive contract with the 8700c which was delayed almost 30days .... Rogers shipped in bulk to EVERY major city in Canada within 14days after Cingular shipped theirs.

So I'm willing to BET that RIM will have a EDGE class 10 with quadband & UMTS for BOTH 1900/850mhz for North America (Cingular is insisting on this hence why Nokia's N80 is out of the picture). Remember Rogers is already testing 3G in major cities here and has announced in February that'll launch NATIONWIDE this Fall.

For some reason, I recall someone stating that RIM and Roger's relationship wasn't all that peachy these days. If they show it off at WES, then perhaps. Otherwise, I doubt we'll see it in North America anytime soon.

Jibi, another new avitar - I didn't know BlackBerrys came in yellow?!?!?!

Its like Stewie from family guy with an afro!

Don't forget the new spectrum which is going to be autioned out by the US FCC will be 1700/1900 while Cingular is currently deploying UMTS in 4-6 cities in 1900. Real complex situation!!!

1700????

Do you have a source for that info?

The new spectrums auctioned off by the FCC on June 29 are 1700/2100. dc/dc, just look up the date and the spectrums on Google and you'll find quite a few articles.

I am a little confused here. Because, according to the official specs:

Networks

* Quad-band Operation - North America, Europe and Asia
* 850/900/1800/1900 MHz

No mention of a 2100 band.

Well, they pulled the specs and stuff from that web site, but, don't worry, WCDMA 2100 is included !

That is likely the specs for the 8700. The 8707 is a different device, and will have different specs.

WCDMA 2100 will not be needed in the US. I hope that 8707 is for real!!

Would love to see a UTMS Blackberry soon.

Hey, i'm jumping on an old thread here, but wanted to clear something up. You guys were talking about how the FCC is auctioning 1700 and 1900 spectrum... this is because UMTS *usually* needs two different frequencies (an upload and a download) to work. Currently, Cingular is deploying theirs with a 1900 down (which is what everyone refers to when saying UMTS 1900) and *I believe* also a 1900 uplink. This is a really inefficient way to do it, because they end up constraining their deployment possibiliities in the long run. What T-Mobile has talked about doing (and I hope does do) is something along time lines of 1700mhz for the uplink and 1900mhz for the downlink, which would mean that we would have *yet another* set of phones... so a T-mobile UMTS phone wouldn't be compatible with a Cingular UMTS phone. While this phone incompatibility would suck, it would mean that T-Mobile's 3G solution would be much more efficient in the long run, and would lead to 4G and 5G solutions much easier down the road.

Anyone starting to think that North American cellular deployment is a total cluster****? Ya, me too.

-olly

The link doesn't work.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry7100/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

I'm gonna be anxiosly awaiting the results of the FCC auction at the end of June. Might even break out a cooler of beer and cheer on my favorite team (tmo of course).

Does this make me a geek?

lol. Maybe just a little.

It always has been. The only time that the whole world was compatible was with 800 MHz AMPS.

I regularly get quite pissed about the US mobile telephone system, and why we can't be compatible with most of the world. GSM/GPRS 900/1800 and UMTS 2100. Three bands, and we're all done. No CDMA 1x required.