Blackberry 7250

After having played with the Verizon XV6600 and the new EV-DO air card, I really wanted EV-DO capability.  When I read that the new 7250 might offer that capability and had the hardware built in to support it so I decided to give it a try.  A big factor was that I knew Verizon’s service is excellent wherever I travel except out of the country.  I wanted reliability for both phone and messages akin to what I got back with the 950 and a separate Verizon phone.  I also knew that the 1XRTT network is considerably faster than the GPRS network and might make the browser a little more usable.  More importantly, if I could use the phone as a modem I would be able to communicate using my Vaio notebook almost anywhere.  With EV-DO it would give me near WiFi performance without having to find a HotSpot.  I knew I was giving up the speakerphone and the smaller size but gaining a better keyboard.  I also knew I was giving up the really nice appearing screen on the 7100t for a screen that lacked the resolution but was a little larger.  I was also giving up the ease of one handed phone dialing.

I have only had this phone a little over a week so my impressions may change with time.  The screen is bright to very bright.  When compared to a 7230…well…there is no comparison.  The colors are a little flat compared to the 7100t and the resolution is obviously poorer.  In daylight it is far superior.  The keyboard is obviously better and the build quality is something you can see and feel.  The speed of the unit with the ARM9 processor with a worst case speed of 250MHz is outstanding.  Everything happens as quickly as you think it should.  The browser speed is very good and puts the browser on the 7100t to shame in terms of speed to load pages.  The network coverage is, of course, Verizon great.  So far, I am leaning toward making this unit my only unit except when I travel to Europe .  The plastic holster is still far better than the nylon one for the 7100t and I will soon try a leather holster.  The Bluetooth sound quality on my Lexus appears to be better than the sound quality of the 7100t.  Why RIM can’t put a small speaker like LG uses in the LG4500 for a speakerphone has always mystified me.  There is no need to make the case thicker like they did on the 7510 & 7520.  The sound level appears to me to be decent, but not as loud as I would like.  They really should test their units in airports so they can see how difficult it can be to hear one in a noisy environment.  Again the LG4500 is a good reference and it doesn’t compare to some of the Motorola units I have used.

What does it lack?  Bluetooth needs to have additional profiles made available.  We need to be able to transfer our phone book to another device.  We need the GPS and wireless synchronization profiles as well and the serial port for use as a wireless modem.  Take a screen like the 7100t, make it a little longer and put it in sideways into the 7250 and you have a great screen with higher resolution.  Add the speakerphone for another hands free usage and finally add speaker independent voice dialing so I don’t have to fumble trying to dial a number that is not in my unit while trying to drive.  This last one is a real must.  Voice Signals technology supports the ARM processor so it should be possible to add this feature.

The bottom line is that I want a reliable means of staying in communications with my office for both messages and voice on a unit that is convenient to carry and use and that doesn’t crash or fail.  I think the 7250 is pretty close to being there and with either software upgrades or minor revisions will become the killer unit to own.

Basic Information
Talk time: 198 minutes
Standby time: 192 hours
Size: 4.45H x 2.93W x 0.87D inches
Weight: 5.0 oz

Basic Features