[mdonders]

Can we see pictures of your 8800?

That would be cool!
Maybe the GPS working?

[ Donders ]

[caggarcia]

Just thought I'd throw in my confirmation. Just got off the phone with my T-Mobile rep and he also confirmed the April 23rd launch. He told me that it has built in GPS (duh) but T-Mobile might not support it (whatever that means).

He also told me that it would be available for all T-Mobile customers, not just B2B.

He also told me that it would be available for over the phone and internet upgrades starting late next week?

[Black Bart]

I dont know why. I called my new GF and she said she will explain tonight. I presume its some kind of tech issue. I'm not worried. She said she will take care of me tonight. She sounded busy.

The color is black and it says T-Mobile on it.

[nike30]

drewmk had a pictuure of his T-Mo 8800 posted in this thread last week. It's black.

[jddphd]

I was just on the phone w/ a T-mo rep (dialed 611 - connected with a Texas call center) to change my plan (we are finally getting BES at my work!) and I was telling him I was waiting for some of the new devices to come out before upgrading my handheld.

He said, "You know the 8800 will be out soon (shuffles papers) um... yes - says here the 23rd."

Seemed like there was some truth to that. But I don't know.

[NJBlackBerry]

With GPS and a Telenav trial, maybe...

[oppitronic]

Hey, Hey I just got my T-Mobile 8800 today. Yippee!
OK, I am in Germany and this device is from T-Mobile Germany.
They have been late in delivery because the 8800 was sold out.
This thing is so cool. I had a 8700 before, before that an 7290, and before that an 7230, and before that - How did I live?
I just upgraded my 8700 to 4.2.1 yesterday but you cannot compare that to the 8800 running its version of 4.2.1 - much faster, more features and functions.
The 8800 keyboard is much better for me than the 8700 one.
The trackball is something you need to get comfortable with. But it's ok.
The german "Umlauts" (äöü and ß) are easier to type as well by typing the vocal and rolling up the trackball
And all BlueTooth services now work. (Dial up, file transfer)
Bought an 1 GB microSD card right away and am astonished by the sound of this little thing as an MP3 player. Using the BlackBarry as an mass storage device is fast as well.
I really miss my "front convenience key"
The GPS works on my device together with the BlackBerry Maps.
Unfortunately not with Google Maps which I find better. Google Talk works nice as well. But not my german Klicktel phone number search and inverse search.
To me this device is the perfect reborn BlackBerry.

Michael

P.S.:
Somebody below asked for a picture of the working GPS - here they are attached. Taken while walking in the garden...

[tuanale]

Yes the 8800 will be release on the 23th but only thru business channel and thru upgrade. it will not be release to the retail channel for actvation til TBD.

[Black Bart]

To my tmobile friends that still dont have their 8800's, I have heard that most of the stores have them in stock now and that the staff will be trained on them this week. I guess you can probably buy them just about anywhere depending on the local manager. But I was also told that the stores arent supposed to release them until the 21st or 22d of April.

[bglawrence]

I couldnt wait so I went and bought the cingular 8800. I unlocked it and all works great. You can try what I did if you get the right customer service person at cingular (might have to go thru a few before you get to the nice one! LOL) I told them I was a verizon customer and they dont have International service. Told them I bought the 8800 to take internationally and was going to buy a sim card there to avoid the $1.35 a minute charges from domestic carriers. She just asked me to fax her the receipt then stayed on phone with me and got the unlock code and walked me thru it. She said you have to have a cingular sim card in it to unlock but that is actually NOT accurate. Anyway.. only issue of course with T-Mobile use is they dont support the phone and if you use MyFavs it wont work on the cingular version. If you dont get cinfular to unlock there are a few unlock companies online you buy from for $25 or so. FYI..also got Telenav for 9.99 a month...VERY good navigation software. Tmobile data plan supports it and they dont even know it! Good luck Tmo'ers!

[jpfchicago]

Is it true that some stores are selling them this week or today even? This is torture.

[Demon]

Anyway.. only issue of course with T-Mobile use is they dont support the phone and if you use MyFavs it wont work on the cingular version.

A little known secret is that any phone is MyFaves capable. All you have to do is add your MyFaves selection via customer care or mytmobile.com, or you can put your sim card into a MyFaves phone and program them in that way.

[nike30]

Originally Posted by jpfchicago

Is it true that some stores are selling them this week or today even? This is torture.

I've called a few T-Mo retail stores here in Dallas, and only 1 gave me any pertinent info. He has employees going to training on the device tomorrow, and his store will have them for sale sometime next week.

[armandov99]

Anyone get any info on price at all?

[nike30]

No, but *611 just confirmed April 23rd is the street date (and those upgrading will also be able to order via cust svc). No pricing information until 4/20 at the earliest. My prediction is same price point as Cingy's....

[IanHummel]

My contract is up and I've been waiting for a while now for a new BB. I'm thinking I'm leaning towards the 8800 over the 8320. Don't care much about WiFi and to be honest, I would rather have a thinner 8800 with GPS than a thicker 8320 with a camera and wifi. Now all I need is pricing info....

[ninja95]

I just left a T-Mo company store in Frisco Texas that stated the 8800 will be released for sale on Monday the 23rd. He stated he didn't have pricing yet but thought it would be around $399 as an upgrade.

[jpfchicago]

I just left a T-Mobile store in the western suburbs of Chicago. The assistant manager opened a heavy duty cabinet in the back. In side was 30 8800's with more to come later this week. So the good news is there are here we just have to wait.

[dreamtheater]

Hey everyone im new here. Im a RSR (retail sales rep) for T-Mobile and Im an 8100 user and AVID fan of Blackberry.

Just thought Id chime in on a few things that Ive read in this topic.

From all the research that Ive done, the 8820 will add Wi-fi to the phone. Well, if T-Mobile releases this version, expect to pay 30 a month for that service not the standard 20 for blackberry. The main difference between the Blackberry Sidekick and Hotspot internet plans is that the sidekick and blackberry dont offer wifi so theyre only 20. Phones like the Dash and the MDA which do have wifi require the 30 a month hot spot plan to take full effect of the internet. With that said, if the 8820 is released for t-mobile, I cant imagine us having full wifi available for only 20 a month. Why would you buy a dash and pay 30 then? It doesnt make sense.

Also about all this release date stuff. Like I said, Im an AVID fan and as such NEED to have every new BB that comes out. Ive been following the 8800 since its February 15th release date at Cingular. Now if the 90 day exclusivity is true then April 15th would have been fair game for bids on the phone on T's part. But Ive heard NOTHING about this. I plan on calling customer care tomorrow to see if they give me this same April 23rd date that you all are apparently getting. But like I said Ive heard NONE of this and I follow it every day at work.

At work we have this thing called T-Mobile News.com. Its an intranet site to let us know about price changes, new plans, and new phones. Now, this is where I think the April 23rd date is nonsense. Before the 8100 came out we had emails in our inboxes, and articles all over t-mobilenews WEEKS before it released. This new Sidekick ID the trimmed down version. I had to take an online training for that LAST WEEK and the phone doesnt come out til the end of the month. Now why is it do you think that not on T-mobilenews, not in my email, not even in conversations with my coworkers have I heard or seen ANYTHING about an 8800? Seems a little weird to me too. Kinda makes me think that maybe we're not getting it after all.

Dont get me wrong, Im pissed off that I think this, and I hope im wrong. But i have heard NOTHING about this phone from ANY channel at work. And if it was truly coming out in less than two weeks, i wouldve seen emails, seen stuff on our intranet, wouldve taken training already and we'd probably have them in the back room by now.

Oh and these stores that say they have 30 in the back. Take a picture cuz i dont believe you. And if you do, its probably just because youre a test market. Ask your RSM, then youll know if you are or not. My store was the only store in our region to carry the new D-Wade Sidekick and we had it a month and a half before its release. If there are stores that have the 8800 then it actually makes more sense to my argument that we're not going to see it on the 23rd. These stores have it because its a test market and it wont be out til summer.

Like I said I hope im wrong. But as someone who has "inside info" and someone who wants this phone as much if not moreso than the next guy, Ive done my research and ive seen no evidence to point out that april 23rd is anything more than an internet rumor.

[IanHummel]

No offense man, but if CSR's are telling customers over the phone a solid release date, I'm pretty confident it's coming out. The reason being is that the CSR's at the 800 number are usually for the most part completely clueless. So for all of them to just all the sudden rattle off the same release date, and with so many people going into stores and seeing the deivces, etc, I think your wrong bud.

People like you really irritate me. Take a picture? Sure man, I'll get right on that. I'll walk into my local T-Mobile store, ask to see their stock of 8800's and then start taking pictures right there. I'm sure that'll go over well. Internet rumors can usually be figured as just that, but with this much confirmation from various different people (CSR's on the 800 #, store reps, mgr's (all people that usually don't have a clue about new stuff until they see it in person and have a formal training) people seeing them, etc) I really don't picture you being correct.