2. The 'Sleek And Sexy'

What the 8800 looks and feels like is important, of course, but once again, looking cool is not what the Blackberry is about. Indeed, this reviewer prefers not having to worry about scuffing up his old and clunky one bought over three years ago, with its scratched screen and dirt and sand that have permeated the case and battery compartment. The 8800 is pretty, though: its gloss-painted casing - which is only 0.2" thinner than its predecessor, the 8700c - is very shiny and elegant, with fewer edges. The problem with all this elegance is that the glossy paint coating scratches and smudges easily. During just a few days of use, while putting it in my pocket or in my brief case, some of the paint on the keyboard chipped away. The blemishes became more apparent when the keyboard glowed in the dark. The glass-like display, too, was prone to scratch more than the polymer-based panels of the older Blackberry models.

The 2.5", 65,000-color display has an amazing resolution of 320x240 pixels. Its backlight automatically adjusts itself according to ambient light conditions, shining brighter in a dark room or more dimly in sunlight.

Much fuss has been made about how the 8800 packs a full QWERTY keyboard in such as narrow form factor. RIM has probably done this to make it more appealing compared to Pocket PCs, Treos or smart phones from the likes of Samsung and Nokia. But was it really necessary? To save just a few inches in width, the 8800's keys are smaller than those of the older Blackberry 8700c. For those with fat and large thumbs, like this writer, the size difference is noticeable.

Like more-recent versions of the device, the 8800 has a small trackball. It does the job, though, and is fairly intuitive for navigating between applications or scrolling through email messages. You can also alter its sensitivity if you find that it is too fast and you race past the selections you want. However, the escape button of older Blackberries is wanting. For those who are used to older Blackberry models, you might find yourself, as a reflex, seeking to exit or close an application with the side button that is no longer there. You must press the button to the right of the trackball instead.

Amazingly, neither the track ball nor one of the buttons adjacent to it lets you end a phone connection. With older Blackberries, all you had to do was press the side button to disconnect; now, instead, you must push the button next to the 8800 trackball and then scroll down a menu to select "End Call." The first menu choice is "Mute," which I pressed several times before realizing it was not the selection I wanted. It is out of the question to consider needing to scroll through a menu like this to end a call while driving.