3. Hot Apps

Again, email is what the Blackberry is really about, and the 8800 continues to do a remarkable job of letting you receive and send messages with up to ten accounts. Unlike the often ridiculously convoluted set-up steps involved with cell phone or other smart phone push email, the 8800 is the antithesis of complicated. Activating email from other accounts only involves accessing your Blackberry Web account page and keying in your email address and password. In addition to letting you get your email practically whenever and wherever you want, the messaging software allows you to open attached files in Excel, MS Word, Power Point, PDF, JPEG, GIF and other formats.

If you really don't think you are connected enough with email alone, the 8800 offers instant messaging capabilities, such as Yahoo! Messenger and Google Talk. Set up is just as easy as the email application, with only a password and address to type in to get things started.

One of the more interesting new features the 8800 offers is GPS. The Blackberry functions as a high-powered navigation tool to get from Point A to Point B, just like GPS devices from Garmin, Navman or TomTom. The antenna is powerful enough to establish a GPS satellite link if you are inside a house or car, while the Blackberry Maps interface is reasonably straightforward. No additional unit or module is required, either.

Unfortunately, while it represents more than just an average first attempt at GPS, the app is not without its flaws. A much-talked-about GPS feature lets you select a location from your address book with Blackberry Maps. However, I ran into some trouble with this function. While it was possible, for example, to select and locate an address on a map, I was unable to have access to the address book when I wanted directions to a location. To go from point A to point B, I had to key in the address to which I wanted to go instead of just making a selection from the address book. It is strange that the option to do that did not somehow make its way in the final version.

For whatever reason, you cannot get a list of the directions to where you want to go - e.g. turn right on Broom drive, then turn left after 1.3 miles onto Bloomfield avenue - if you select a location using the Go To option, which just plots your itinerary on a map. However, you get a list of directions by selecting the Directions menu option, and you can then select Go To from the menu to follow your way on a map en route to your destination.