New 7100T Released (almost) - Will you buy it?
 

I was wondering if anyone will be buying this "charm" when it is released.

**Updates**

I for one have ordered it:

1. Bluetooth (hoping it will be hacked to support more devices and not just headsets.)
2. Better phone design
3. Better rate plan (69.99 for 1000 minutes and unlimited email) (Not $59.99 like previously thought) - according to the MSNBC review I read this am. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5934021/)

The 7100t is $299.00 with a $100 MIR for a final price of $199.00 + TAX

The plan includes no nights, weekends or mobile to mobile minutes.

I am the ultimate gadget junkie...and this looks like a heck of a gadget. I just hope the keyboard really is as good as RIM claims.

I wouldn't mind giving it a whirl but t-mobile is horrid in my area so I'm out of luck.

Doesn't T-Mobile offer a "no long distance no roaming" type of plan? If you got the 7100t with such a plan, and simply spent the entire time roaming on whatever network works in your area, wouldn't that work for you?

The 7100 will eventually be available for other carriers as well. :D

I want it, but I think I am going to pass on it. Not only is it a GPRS device, which here in Canada, all GPRS providers have crappy plans and service, I think I will stick with my 7750 and purchase some slim and sexy Telus phone (once one comes out :P) for use @ clubs and such.

Tried it when I had my sidekick last week - I wanted to try it out so I went in and signed up for it - because of the fact I was roaming 100% of the time, I dont' see much of a point to it.

I think he meant his tmoblie coverage is bad, and if it's bad, you can guess that AT&T and Cingular probably isn't real hot either...

I am considering it.. I am a nextel user and I love my unlimited everything plan and I don't know if I could get enough minutes with T-Mo.... We'll see though, if I like it enough, I'll make it work. =)

Without a doubt. I not only want one, I NEED it :)

Actually ATT wasn't that bad and Cingular is quote good, which works out with the coming merger. I was with Verizon from 97-03 (When it was originaly PrimeCo) and the Nextel for a year and now ATTWS.

Will have to use it before knowing for sure, but i cant imagine liking the keyboard as much as i do my 7510.

I can't wait to have mine. I've typed on one and the keyboard is really cool. It seems wierd but if you just type like a regular keyborad and forget it has 2 letters per key it works great and I can type faster. I'm begging my T-Mobiel rep for it daily.

If you don't watch the screen, and just hit the keys you want, magically the correct word appears. :P

It's quite amazing how it works, very easy to use, and surprisingly accurate.

Sure, I'd like to have one. I'm just patiently waiting for ATT to get them. I assume they will, eventually.

FYI..

Just heard from RIM they will be hitting the streets through TMO Oct 1. Nextel will be the next carrier to get them.

Guress,

Do you mean crappy service by Rogers CSR (I can agree), or do you mean crappy reception? (I will disagree)

This isn't the case anymore, Southern Ontario has excellent GPRS reception now since the new deployment in November 2003.

There is excellent 850 Mhz GPRS coverage in Southern Ontario right now, provided you use an 850 MHz cellphone to take advantage of the new network Rogers deployed in November 2003 and completed over the early months of 2004.

Many places improved from 1 bar strength to 4 bars, and other places that had no reception now has 2 or so bars reception. (like 2 levels underground parking garages). This year, I got nonstop reception on a train from Ottawa-Montreal-Quebec City, and from Ontario-Toronto-Niagara Falls. So I would have to say that provided you use an 850 Mhz phone, the GPRS reception in Ontario is excellent. Sometimes I get better GPRS reception than Bell Mobility reception (however, Bell Mobility is better in other areas). Telus roms on Bell Mobility to my knowledge.

There are many shocking "Rogers reception has improved by a shocking amount" type of testimonials: Just did a search of HowardForums and came up with many ...

"...Well, being in BC with the new 850 out last year, I was blown away. Hooked..." (Former Fido!)
"...I noticed that after getting my Nokia 3595 with 850band that its working better at school in places that weren't..."
"...850 makes a big difference in residences and down near the water (I'm on Stuart St.)..."
"...850 has made a big difference at york i get reception just about everywhere now..."
"...UTM campus has superb coverage with 850! Even downstairs in the libary!..."
"...Brock is covered pretty well both in and outside...go 850!..."
"...I like the 850 mhz and called today to sign up a contract with out loosing my nice number..." (Former Bell!)
"...as long as your phone uses GSM850 band, you'll be a happy camper..."
"...but there are PLENTY of places in the city that Rogers has VERY good coverage now that they didn't have before and Fido still doesn't have..."
"...I just had a great situation happen to test GSM850. Was in Dominion in downtown Toronto (Gould and Church) and the parking garage is wel-below ground and completely concrete..."
"...GSM850 strikes gold again. It never ceases to amaze me..."
"...yep huge difference RIDICOLS 850 power..."
"...850 makes a difference. end of story!..."
"...Rogers V60g in my basement, rogers V300 in my basement. V60 0 bars, V300 3 bars. V60, wont send or receive calls, V300 NO PROBLEM..." (V300 works perfect because it has 850Mhz GSM)
"...any phone that has GSM850 in VX's place works amazing. no errors, no dropped calls..."

(All copy and pasted phrases, unedited. Let me know if you want me to include the links to the original posts too; it's a lot of work copying and pasting from dozens of posts.)

Many of these are former Telus, Bell Mobility, and Fido customers who are impressed (and SHOCKED) at Roger's massive reception improvement with the 850 Mhz GSM/GPRS network. For my BlackBerry 7280, it truly makes the vast majority of South Ontario behave like one gigantic WiFi hotspot. You do NEED a new phone to benefit from the Rogers improvements though.

I concur with my BlackBerry 7280 -- the new Rogers 850 network made an amazing improvement in reception compared to Roger's past reception!

However...

Now... If you were talking about customer service, no contest -- I'll agree with you there. Rogers customer service CAN be decidedly be in the same league as doing your taxes. Rogers customer service can be a headache at times, although fortunately, I have been able to get problems fixed eventually in less than three phone calls (like a mis-registered Rogers HDTV cable box). There are occasionally exceptions like this, but you must call Customer Relations instead of Customer Service :D

Wasn't the oct 1 mentioned it the announcement articles last week? Also, I think you must have misunderstood about nextel, they won't be next since its a gprs device, maybe they meant that the next network type to get charm would be nextel.

Since RIM usually releases multiple different devices in the same form factor (7750 CDMA versus 7780 GPRS) I'm curious if there's going to be a 7100n (Nextel version of 7100)

If the gprs versions are as popular as they hope then you'd expect cdma and iden versions to show up at some point if the networks ask for them, but you'd think they'll be too busy making all the gprs ones to do any others in the near future.

Not sure I like the form factor of the 7100. I had the Kyocera Smartphones (6035 and 7135) and while i did like them, I grew tired of the size.

Jeff