'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?
ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing.
When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form.
BlackBerry 7130e
BlackBerry 7130e
pros and cons
There are two distinct types of BlackBerry: the data-oriented varieties -- such as the 8700 and the 7250 -- and the phone-oriented models. The former are designed with data entry and avid e-mailing firmly in mind, and offer a full 35-key QWERTY keyboard. This makes them wider than their phone-like siblings and arguably less suited for use as a mobile phone.
On the other hand, the phone-shaped design -- which has been adopted for the 7130e -- is thin and less dorky to hold up to your ear for calls, but e-mailing is a little more tedious since two letters share each key. Nonetheless, the 7130e is still more than adequate for bashing out short e-mails, thanks to its use of SureType predictive technology.
But make no mistake; while it's certainly not bulky, the 7130e is still larger and heavier than your typical mobile phone. Its dimensions are 55.88 x 22.86 x 116.84 mm (WxDxH) and the unit weighs 130 grams.
Unlike a conventional smart phone or PDA, the BlackBerry's navigation keys are located on the right-hand side of the device. First there's the thumbwheel which is used to traverse the menu system and doubles as an "enter" key when depressed. Just below it is a second button which functions as an "escape" or "back" key. This combination works quite well -- as long as you're right handed. If you operate the device with your left-hand, your middle finger, rather than your thumb, falls on the scroll wheel which can prove uncomfortable.
The power button is located in a familiar spot on the top of the phone, and nearby is a handy LED that flashes red when you've got unread e-mail and green otherwise. The left-hand side offers up a mini-USB port for connection to a PC, as well as a headphone jack.
Features
Of course, the BlackBerry's killer app is always-on e-mail, which
corporate users have taken to like fish to water. That said, the
BlackBerry is also of use to highly mobile small business users
and individuals, as it can access any ISP's POP3 mail server. It
supports up to 10 different e-mail accounts, and for the
uninitiated, e-mails are automatically passed from the e-mail
server to your BlackBerry just like a regular SMS text message.
There's no logging in required and messages can be replied to
instantaneously.
The device is currently only available through Telstra and operates on its EV-DO network. There are separate plans for enterprise and individual users. Configuring accounts can be done painlessly through Telstra's Web site, and users can be up and running within minutes.
Top ZDNET Reviews
In addition to its push-e-mail capabilities, the 7130e also supports regular voice calls and SMS. Calling is fairly flexible, as the phone offers both loud speaker support and Bluetooth support for connecting an external headset. There's also a full HTML Web browser, and pages load quickly thanks to Telstra's speedy EV-DO network. Granted, EV-DO doesn't tangibly boost the 7130e's e-mail function, as the BlackBerry converts messages into plain text anyway, thus not requiring much bandwidth.
All content looks sharp on the 240x260, 65,536 colour display, and the backlight makes reading text extremely comfortable. In addition, storage space is ample at 64MB of flash memory and 16MB of SRAM.
An interesting feature found on newer BlackBerry models is Telstra's Mobile Broadband functionality. This enables it to morph into an EV-DO modem for surfing the web from a notebook or desktop PC when connected to the handheld via USB cable. Telstra's EV-DO network can reach speeds of up to 600Kbps in metropolitan areas, but the device reverts to the 100Kbps CDMA network in regional areas.
Unfortunately, the Telstra Connection Manager that's used to enable the Mobile Broadband feature isn't available on PDAs as yet, albeit the BlackBerry offers most of the functions of a PDA anyway. These include a calendar, address book, alarm clock and To-Do list, among others.
If you're not a business user, the BlackBerry probably isn't for you. This is because, aside from being expensive, it also lacks many of the features found on consumer-targeted smart phones such as music/video playback support and an integrated camera.
Performance
We tested the dual-band phone in the Sydney metropolitan area
using Telstra's network. Both regular and loud speaker call
quality was pleasingly clear, while e-mail delivery was faster
than expected, with messages often hitting the handheld before we
received them in our inbox at home.
Using the 7130e as a wireless modem, we found the EV-DO network to be extremely speedy, reaching 3G-trumping speeds of just under 500Kbps. This is below the theoretical 600Kbps maximum, but still extremely impressive for a mobile device.
RIM claims that the device's battery will last for three hours of talk time and up to eight days standby time. The claimed standby time was spot on, but talk time actually exceeded the manufacturer's promises by around an hour.
Telstra offers a number of plans for the 7130e, all of which are fairly expensive. Handheld included, customers can begin a 24-month contract and pay AU$89.95 per month for unlimited e-mail. If you can supply your own BlackBerry, this drops to AU$49.95 per month on a 24-month contract or AU$54.95 per month without a contract.
Adding five hours, twenty hours or forty hours of EV-DO modem usage will bring the plan up to AU$99, AU$129 and AU$149 a month respectively, with the handheld included. If you BYO handheld, the prices drop to AU$59, AU$89 and AU$109 respectively. Should you exceed your monthly EV-DO usage, you'll be charged an extra AU$1.50, AU$1 or AU$0.50 per five minute block depending on whether you're on the five, twenty of forty hour plans. The charge for exceeding your monthly EV-DO quota is the same whether you supply your own BlackBerry or not.
Note that the above prices only refer to the e-mail and mobile broadband features of the handheld. You'll have to pay extra if you want regular voice calls as well.
BlackBerry 7130e
Company: RIM
Price: AU$99