[RDSChicago]

I bought an 8700 2 days ago, after having had a 7100 on tmobile for around 1 year. Thus far, I am extremely disappointed in the phone quality on the 8700, which is worse than the 7100, which was mediocre at best. The ear volume on the 8700 is low and "flat", for want of a better term, and callers tell me they hear static in the background. I used a bluetooth earpiece, and heard the same "static" complaint from callers on the other end (although the volume was louder for me).

Why can't RIM make a decent phone? The PDA functions are fabulous, but both of my experiences thus far with the 7100 and 8700 show me the phones don't cut it.

I guess it's going back to the store tomorrow. I did try a 7130e in a Verizon store a month or so back, and the phone quality sounded much better. Maybe here in Chicago, Tmobile and Cingular have lousy reception, especially on the BB units, and I should switch to Verizon? I don't mind the Suretype at all, and actually prefer the thinner 7100 form factor.

Or maybe try the Motorola Q or Nokia e70 or e61 when they come out?

Am I nuts, or does any one else think there is validity to my at least preliminary conclusion that the phone functions on BlackBerry's are not up to par with Nokia's, or others?

Don't mean to trash BB devices; just my honest assessment and my request for more feedback and info.

Thanks.

[nickp]

I have found just the opposite up in the Milwaukee area. The 8700 has better RF and sound, especially using BT, than my 7105t. The RF isn't quite as good as my T650, but none the less, very acceptable. I am on the T-Mo network up here.

[Seattle18]

oops - double post...

[Seattle18]

Originally Posted by RDSChicago

I bought an 8700 2 days ago, after having had a 7100 on tmobile for around 1 year. Thus far, I am extremely disappointed in the phone quality on the 8700, which is worse than the 7100, which was mediocre at best. The ear volume on the 8700 is low and "flat", for want of a better term, and callers tell me they hear static in the background. I used a bluetooth earpiece, and heard the same "static" complaint from callers on the other end (although the volume was louder for me).

Why can't RIM make a decent phone? The PDA functions are fabulous, but both of my experiences thus far with the 7100 and 8700 show me the phones don't cut it.

I guess it's going back to the store tomorrow. I did try a 7130e in a Verizon store a month or so back, and the phone quality sounded much better. Maybe here in Chicago, Tmobile and Cingular have lousy reception, especially on the BB units, and I should switch to Verizon? I don't mind the Suretype at all, and actually prefer the thinner 7100 form factor.

Or maybe try the Motorola Q or Nokia e70 or e61 when they come out?

Am I nuts, or does any one else think there is validity to my at least preliminary conclusion that the phone functions on BlackBerry's are not up to par with Nokia's, or others?

Don't mean to trash BB devices; just my honest assessment and my request for more feedback and info.

Thanks.

The only thing I can say is that you MUST have a defective unit. The 8700 is equal or better than the 7100 in phone quality. Mine is SUPERB as a phone. Let me ask you something - when you first got the 8700, how soon did you try out the speakerphone feature? Probably right away, like most of us. I just ask because I wonder if you are having sound issues because you set the volume lower during speakerphone, which affects the volume of the other profiles when not in speakerphone. First try this: make a call, tell them to hold on a sec, switch to speakerphone by pressing the $ key, then turn the speakerphone volume ALL the way up, then say bye and hang up with them. Then call them back in a normal way, WITHOUT using speakerphone and see if the volume and noise problem is fixed. This is a known issue with a fix coming soon. If that doesnt change anything, then you have a bad unit. The RF reception for this device is superior to any other PDA/phone available, without question. It happens to be one of its main selling points for a lot of buyers. Just try that out, if no luck, take it back and get a replacement, then if the second one sounds the same, it's your location, not the device.

[CrackRJack]

>>Why can't RIM make a decent phone?
That goes a bit far. I have a 7100t. I love it. The phone quality is great, speaker phone too. Suretype is better than any other predictive typing I've ever tried.

I have a friend with bluetooth ear piece for their Treo 600 and it crackles like Rice Crispies so I don't think it's a Black Berry thing.