We told you our thoughts on AT&T’s new BlackBerry 8820, and how Wi-Fi simply wasn’t a big deal for us. On AT&T there is no UMA functionality, and it currently can’t tie in with your corporate phone system (Avaya IP Office, Cisco, etc.). The only use of Wi-Fi is for data, like email or web browsing. There’s such a big bottleneck on the device though, that we figured Wi-Fi would certainly not be as fast as everyone had hoped. We had countless emails telling us we were crazy, that it simply couldn’t be true, that Wi-Fi on a BlackBerry was a godsend. Well friends, we hate to say it, but we were kind of right. Wi-Fi browsing simply doesn’t cut it. The device is so underpowered that it can’t really handle and process the speeds that we have hoped for. Take a look at our quick video comparison showing Wi-Fi vs. EDGE on a BlackBerry 8320, and BlackBerry 8300. You won’t like what you see. Feel free to do the same speeds at home and tell us what you get!
Disclaimer: The first couple tests had JavaScript enabled by default, which most likely slowed the browser down, but the last test had JavaScript off on both devices. In addition, it seems as if the BlackBerry 8320 on Wi-Fi downloads higher resolution images.
UPDATE: Check out the second part of our speed test, after the jump!
Conclusion? If you have T-Mobile and your BlackBerry needs replacing, this is a logical upgrade. While even though Wi-Fi does not offer much of an improvement in speed over web browsing, file downloading and UMA access make it worthwhile. We just still don’t see the attractiveness of the BlackBerry 8820 on AT&T…
