I just reviewed the 7100t manual and it mentions nothing of IM in it.
Is this going to be on similar devices where you will need the BES subscription to operate it or will it be built into the device like on the SK and SK2 where it is a native client?

Any help would greatly be appreciated. Thanks

On some carriers such as Rogers, it is no longer necessary to have a BES subscription to run instant messaging.

WebMessenger and MobileSSH works on a Rogers 7280 with BlackberryOS 4.0.0.100 now. It is rumored that T-Mobile has already done the same (Still to be confirmed).

It is no longer necessary for consumers to use BES for instant messaging once you get BlackberryOS 4.x and the carrier is using BWC 4.x.

That is great news! Does anyone else know if TMo has the 4.0 OS available for the 7230 yet?

I have seen some post on beta testing it but not sure if that is for other carriers or Tmo

The GPRS beta tests works for all GPRS providers. Post 50 times, and you may get a nice suprise :D

Don't count this as one of my posts but I just found your club yesterday so I plan on being very active. I am super gadget junkie and love hearing about other people's experiences.

I still am wondering if the 7100t will have a native IM client running on it without the use of BES as its operating system is not 4.0 from what I have read.

In addition if it isn't 4.0 will it be able to be upgraded and when?

So that's what I keep hearing ;)



:P

From what I understand, the new 7100t uses OS version 3.8. Also, to get the public MDS features from providers we all require 3.7.1.41 or higher.

This definately means that 3.8 or higher will have built in tcp/ip stack capability to allow IM apps to work..

Unfortuantely on my 4.0 only HTTP browsing works, the other apps aren't working, but in due time we will all have it officially released and be free of the restrictions that have plagued us for so long.

From the TMO (USA) web site:

Instant Messaging—Stay in touch with everyone in your circle using popular Instant Messaging applications: AOL®, Yahoo!®, and ICQ®.

Thank you all for the updates but nobody has been able to answer the question yet so let me clarify?

I know that Tmo list it on their website in addition to Blackberry listing it on theirs. However, they have this little "*" before the list of features implying not all features will work on the device without additional services.

So more specifially my question is will the IM work without the BES since it is not using OS 4.0 or will it require it.

Thanks

The asterisk means that you can only use the IM through the Blackberry if you have the Blackberry data service added on to it. As mentioned in other forums, the new IM protocol is handled through our Oz gateway/software provider. When you use IM on the 7100t the IM goes from the BB, to our wap.voicestream.com gateway, then from there it hits our Oz servers. Once it hits Oz, it's then routed through the proper protocol to the proper screen name. It requires no BES, no MDS, doesn't even require a configured BWC. It requires the T-Zones service book, only available by connecting to T-Mobile's Blackberry Service. If you're still curious feel free to ask some more, it's what we're here for.

Gee iRoninTMO... Care to give any insight on why T-Mo doesn't support Microsoft Instant Messenger when Oz apparently does?

I have a couple of TMO devices if anyone wants to provide a link to the OS4 beta... I could let ya know ;)