O2 BlackBerry 7130g: Hands-on with the 7100x successor

We've been lucky enough to get our hands on the O2 BlackBerry 7130g, launched yesterday, which is the successor to the O2 BlackBerry 7100x. As you can see, it looks more like a mobile phone than any other BlackBerry device to date and measures a relatively pocket-friendly 56 by 115 by 18mm. Compared to the 7100x, it's not only smaller but lighter by 2g and we like the new design, which is smoother and rounder.

The 7130g is similar to the 7100x in size, but has the same dedicated side convenience key and mute button as on the T-Mobile BlackBerry 8700g. The most original aspect of the handset is the new keypad, which is reminiscent of a mobile phone keypad but has a Qwerty layout and isn't as cumbersome as the 8700g's flat and squashed full keypad.

Aside from aesthetic changes, the real improvements to the phone have been made on the inside. The 7130g features a fairly swift Intel XScale 312MHz processor, identical to the one found in the BlackBerry 8700g, and has 64MB flash memory and 16MB SRAM. It also has an improved battery life of around eight days on standby and three hours talk time. The phone is available on O2 now -- for more information visit its Web site. -AL