THE Wl-FI ATTRIBUTES OF NEW BLACKBERRY 8820 are so good that after my testing period, I was left wondering what benefits Wi-Fi abilities really offer. Independent of the Wi-Fi, though, the 8820 should be on any business customer's short list. Superficially, the 8820 looks and acts exactly like a BlackBerry 8800. It's the same 4.5 by 2.6 by 0.6 and 4.7 ounces, with the same sculpted (not separated) keys on the QWERTY keyboard. It shares the 8800's very good quad-band world phone performance, beautiful screen, and easy-to-usc BlackBerry e-mail. The handset also shares the 8800's lack of3G cellular networking, which might be frustrating for road warriors who want to use the 8820 as a laptop modem.

The big new feature here is an option in the Network Connections menu that gives you the ability to turn on 802.11a, b, or gWi-Fi. Yes, that includes the little-used "a" version seen mostly on corporate campuses. This flavor of Wi- Fi is enterprise-ready, supporting WPA2 and CCX V3 security protocols. I connected to an unsecured 802.11a network and a WPA secured 802.11g without a hitch. The problem is, RIM has optimized its system for low-band-width networks so effectively that the 8820's Wi-Fi seems, well, superfluous. The BlackBerry system has always delivered email promptly.

In addition, the stripped-down BlackBerry Web browser discards design frills for direct text and simple images, and it delivers pages in an accelerated manner through the special BlackBerry proxy server. The result is that complex pages load almost as fast over EDGE as they do over Wi- Fi. There are worthy applications for Wi-Fi on a handheld, but unfortunately, they aren't available for the BlackBerry platform. For example, there's no VoIP client, no streaming video solution, and no rich desktop-style Web browser. The on-board app that requires a lot of bandwidth, TeleNav GPS navigation, will most likely be used when you're out ofWi-Fi range.



The 8820 searnlessly tunnels through any Internet connection to deliver your e-mail just as if you were connected to the cellular network. So even though you were not able to make phone calls because there's no cell signal, you'd still be able to communicate via e-mail. RIM also said that some vertical market software developers are working on apps that would transfer large files over Wi-Fi to BlackBerrys.The new BlackBerry desktop software borrows chunks ofRoxio's Easy Media Creator 9, which automatically converts any unprotected music or video file you can play on your PC into BlackBerry-compatible format.

This process isn't as smooth as true Windows Media syncing, but it's a huge step forward. As in the 8800 (but not the BlackBerry Curve), you have to listen to music with a wired headset: There's no stereo Bluetooth here. Well, And true to the solid reputation of BlackBerry devices, the 8820's wireless networking is easy to use and works well.