The Unofficial Cingular Weblog

One more glorified pager to add to the BlackBerry line up. As the love child of the 7100g and 62xx series, the 8700c will feature a new sleek and slim form factor. Replacing the 6290 in Cingular's portfolio, the 8700 features a full qwerty keyboard and improved display. In addition it will be the first BlackBerry to feature EDGE compatibility. Retailing for the price of a real PDA at $449.99, the 8700 will be available at two year contract pricing for $299.99.

The w600i is already being shipped to stores nationwide. With the s710a showing some age, it is likely to replace it in Cingular's line-up. Although Sony's reincarnation of the Walkman follows the same form factor as the s710a it falls short in features with only 256MB of non expandable memory, and a lower resolution 1 megapixel camera. Sony did however manage to cram a FM radio in with EDGE capability, unlike the swap between the S700i and the S710a. The phone features SE's new loop style antenna as seen on the new Z520a, and is reported to recieve better reception than the standard built-in antennas as on the s710, t616 etc. SE lovers might as well trash their accessories as the new w600i like the z520a features a new connection port, requiring new chargers, headsets and data cables, and for all you avid unlockers out there, RSA subsidy locks. For Sony Ericsson, the w600i sets as a mid-range phone, with its older brother the w800i stealing the show with its 2 megapixles and MSDuo slot. It is likely that Cingular passed up the w800i in order to offer a better pricing point with the w600i at $199.99 ($100 MIR, 2YR Contract) than what was possible with the s710a.