RIM Revamps BlackBerry Phone

Research in Motion has announced the BlackBerry 8700c handheld, which combines RIM's popular BlackBerry push e-mail software with an integrated Intel mobile processor and fast wireless networks.

The new BlackBerry is the latest device from RIM that integrates a phone, a PDA, and a wireless e-mail receiver in a single device. The new model debuts on a Cingular Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network, an upgrade from the widely used Global System for Mobile Communication/General Packet Radio Service (GSM/GPRS) networks around the world.

Phone Details

The 8700c will arrive in Cingular's retail stores starting November 21, the company said. It will cost $299 with a two-year contract and a mail-in rebate; several contract options are available. Unlimited data and voice service in the United States costs $50 a month, and the monthly total including unlimited international service is $65. Cingular is already running BlackBerry software on its Nokia 9300.

The 8700c features 64MB of flash memory, 16MB of static RAM, and Intel's long-awaited Hermon processor, formally known as the PXA901 processor.

RIM's BlackBerry devices are popular with traveling businesspeople and e-mail addicts. The BlackBerry software supports wireless delivery of corporate and personal e-mail to the devices, and an integrated QWERTY keyboard lets users reply to those messages on the go.

New Speeds

EDGE networks are common in the United States as a stepping stone to the faster data rates of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) networks. They allow carriers to upgrade from GPRS data services at a lower cost than would be involved in rolling out UMTS networks. Since RIM's new device also supports quad-band GSM/GPRS networks, it will workin several different parts of the world. EDGE networks permit download speeds of between 70 kilobits per second and 135 kbps, better than a dial-up connection but not as good as the promised 384-kbps data rate of UMTS.

Intel has been trying to develop a chip combining an applications processor for mobile phones with communications technology for connecting to wireless networks. Its first attempt at this market was panned by the mobile phone community, but mmO2 PLC committed to a revamped version of Intel's first product earlier this year. RIM is the first major device manufacturer to adopt Hermon, in a deal announced at the CTIA Wireless IT and Entertainment conference in September.

Hermon was designed for UMTS networks as well as for EDGE and GSM/GPRS networks, and Intel has pledged to see a Hermon-based UMTS phone from an as-yet-unnamed vendor released by the end of this year.