Research In Motion, more commonly known as RIM, has announced the newest addition to their BlackBerry line, the Wi-Fi equipped 8820. This is the first of what is sure to be many mobile handsets aimed at taking on Apple’s much ballyhooed iPhone.

Featuring a combination of EDGE wireless technology and 802.11 a/b/g Wi-Fi standards, the 8820 will be able to access data over home networks and public hotspots.

In addition to the data access, there will be the added bonus of being able to switch between GSM service and Wi-Fi for phone calls using the UMA technology. With the recent launch of T-Mobile’s HotSpot@Home line, this is sure to be a feature we will be seeing more and more. And, depending on the carrier, there should be no hit to your minutes when using a Wi-Fi signal.

In addition to new wireless capabilities, the 8820 will support microSDHC up to 32GBs, a lovely add-on to the audio and video playing capabilities on the 320 x 240 display.

As always with BlackBerrys, the corporate user is their focus, and this unit will carry all the expected security measures and support for your corporate VPNs.

Considering the apparent lack of corporate support for the iPhone, this will probably be the closest enterprise users will get to the multimedia support Apple is using to lure in common consumers. Convincing your purchasing department should be far easier with the name “BlackBerry” attached to the new smartphone of your dreams.

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Entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at 2:47 am under Apple, Cell phones.

Read more entries by Sean P. Aune.
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