as long as it is as fast as the 7250 im OK

And there's no way that the release is tomarrow(friday), unless it just shows up out of nowhere, i see there site has a little update with september savings, but they would at least email the people who are on the email list if it was going to come out. Uhhh more wait

BG was wrong for the second time this week, so it seems... as of 7am today, nothing on Verizons site - no word anywhere...

BoyG, I think you need to punch your source in the mouth and tell him to never, ever do that again ;)

BG never gave a solid date, in his defense...

i am still sipping my bourbon in the lounge. the band is playing a smooth jazzy version of "that'll be the day". the bartender is wiping down the bar, and the waitress is being illuminated by the soft blue neon hue from stage lights and is checking her watch wondering is verizon is going to show up before closing time. yes, just another day in the "believe it when i see it from verizon" lounge.

lol!

Thats great!

Why would VZW release a product on a Friday before a Major Holiday where everyone has taken the day off?

Most product launches are on a Tuesday or Wednesday in Technology.

We are in a holding pattern I guess. At least we know that it is coming soon.

Other than the qwerty keyboard and (I guess) a slightly larger screen, what is the advantage of this phone over a 7130e? What does it give you that the 7130e doesn't?

I think you said it all. QWERTY Keyboard, larger screen...good enough for me!

Never really liked the look of the 7130e either but that's just me.

That is about it on the 7130. It also handles memory differently. I also noticed that the battery life is much better on the 8200 line. You can do a product comparison on BlackBerry

You now have my interest sirred up. I just did not like suretype much when tested in the store. Is it that bad? I do allot of typing and the QWERTY keyboard is something that I'm used to. However, my right thumb kills me when typing. Will sure type cut down the amount of hits of the keyboard?

Here's the latest my inside VZW contact:

Pre-release units received last week. Initial inventory of 1000 units hitting distribution centers today for select customers who ordered by 8/31/06. General availability will be in 2 to 3 weeks.

I have a friend with a 7100 (NexTel) - he moved from a qwerty to it a while back, and he says that he is faster with suretype than he was with the qwerty, after a little practice. I'm sure it is less keystrokes, because if you type bla it gives blackberry as an option, then it's just a click on the thumbwheel to finish typing the word (as an example).

I played with it for a very short time last weekend, and I see it taking a lot of getting used to.

My plan is to go to a Cingular store and play with the qwerty version, then go to the Verizon store to play with the suretype version (tomorrow) - I'll try to make my decision then, so I might not have to wait for the 8703 (except for a possible price drop on the 7100 when the new one hits?) CRAP! Guess I'll still need to wait to do the deal....

Umm had i known that you could order them at all i would have ordered before 8/31/2006...? Also, the 8703e isnt nearly as Ugly as the 71xx series IMO. dammit why can't cell phone providers like verizon just simply create a Coming Soon page on their site, would really save people like us from playing these games like guess the release date. Another 3 weeks...Blahhh

Has anybody on here pre-ordered one?

If good things really come to those who wait, this is going to be an AWESOME phone...

I believe the 8103 will have a speakerphone function as well.

So does the 7130

The 8703e will be available from Verizon on 9/18/06. No word yet on pricing.

Another 2 weeks and two days. Disappointed,,,,,sure,,,,,,frustrating,,,,,,yep,,, but it keeps me having something to look forward to.

Do you think available in Verizon stores or available to order via web on 9/18?

Not totally confirmed, but 9/18/06 is to be the general availability date.

For those that recall from another thread, I had spoken with a regional Executive for VZW. Well, I placed a call, and he noted that he couldnt tell me the date of the release, but most of the stores had their preshipment inbound as of Wednesday the 30th of August.

No news, but it obviously wasnt released on Friday as it's not in their backend sales system yet, or if it is, it's listed as not available till further notice.

On another note, the store that I use locally doesnt have the ability to order any new 7250's as of now. They noted that you can still order them online as they are in the system, but they have stopped sending salable/replacement units to the stores till further notice. They do have the 7130's readily available and in the case your phone dies and you have to have a BB from VZW. ;)

Summary, no new news overall, just more speculation/information from a POC in the DC Metro region.

Hah, my local Verizon store hasn't even had a demo of the 7250 for as long as i can remember(maybe about a year).

So luxurynick was way off about the release date being October 28th at least.

There goes his credibility.

his what?

if you type bla it will not give blackberry as an option. SureType is not a predictive text input method. It works more this way...

You type bla and it gives you the following options:
bla bls nla nls

It will not give you the options for blah, black, blackberry, blast, blaupunk, etc.

Zro

IMO Suretype SUCKS. The QWERTY is the whole thing about a blackberry to me. Like a Mini computer keyboard. If i wanted something suretype-i would just stick to a regular cell phone-I hate typing like that-takes forever. QWERTY all the way. Which is why i am waiting for this dam 8703, otherwise 7250 here i come.

rofl i was just reading through this post and just wanted to say that luxurynick homie was a moron lol. Aside from that PLAYBALL!

......... Anything new?!

c'moooooooooooooooon..............

(Roc? BG? Anyone?)

verizon= Great service & Crappy phones

God, in the end no one new Sh*t, google 8703 verizon, and you get all these pages that say it is launching on sept. 1st and aug. 28, shows how much you cannot trust anything on the net these days...

It sounds like you don't have a BlackBerry at all...so how can you say SureType sucks? It's not the same as t9 on a cell phone. There are two letters per key, but you only press the key once. SureType then kicks in and brings up the word that you wanted to type depending on your series of keys.

For example, if you wanted to type the word "example" you would press e/r z/x a/s m o/p l e/r keys and it would put in the word example. it's not like multitap where you have to do e/r z/x z/x a/s m o/p o/p l e/r keys to get it.

And if you compare the SureType on the 7100 series to the new 7130 from Cingular or Rogers, you can see that it's improved a lot.

Now, that being said, you may still not like SureType. It's not for everyone. Some people can't get it at all, some have it work, and some can fly through emails.

Zro

That's the nature of rumors...and that's why they are called "rumors"...some are true, others turn out to be wrong...that's just life...

He didn’t mean the exact T9 layout, but the predictive text that T9 phones offer. For example, on my old Samsung with T9 to type "home" you press 4 6 6 3. That series also offers "good", "goog", "hone", etc. When the 0 is pressed it cycles through the combinations, much as the scroll wheel for suretype devices (I’m assuming). Therefore they are very similar in nature.

I agree with thought about it just being rumors. I was extremely excited for a new phone at first, as I was ready to just toss my ppc out the window. However, as xxhiyanxx kindly pointed out, my impatience got me nowhere. Nobody can predict the future. BG and Roc are our best sources to help detect future occurrences by using there contacts, but in the end its a waiting game on the carrier who has the ability to alter releases.

yeah, keep the arguing over the suretype junk out of this, I hate having to scroll through that stuff to find out that we don't have the 8703 yet.

Ehh this forum is dead as far as when the 8703 is coming(because no one knows), so we had to talk about SOMEthing else to keep it goin ;)

you really can't say that he was wrong until the day that they are actually being sold. the only people proven wrong so far are the ones that said august 28th and sept 1st.

I am about to switch from a Sprint Treo650 to a blackberry for work. I have the option of Verizon or TMobile. Is there any reason for me to wait for this anticipated release or should I just get the TMobile 8700 and get on with it.

Thanks

If T-Mobile works for you go for it. You can't beat the price.

For me I would much rather have EVDO on VZW instead of EDGE.

looks like between bbhub.com and a couple of other sites the earlier rumors of 9/18 launch are becoming more factual by the minute. Instore release instore to follow a week or so later...........

499 new... damn thats pricey