Sure, the BlackBerry is a workhorse aimed at mobile professionals. But you'll find some frills lurking among the business applications such as themes to spice up the home screen's wallpaper and icons, and it supports MP3 ring tones.

The review unit I received came installed with the usual BlackBerry organizer applications (address book, calendar, task list, etc.), as well as some useful (Google Inc.'s local search) and not-so-useful add-ons (a link to T-Mobile's entertainment-laden T-Zones service).

RIM has also expanded instant messaging options beyond BlackBerry Messenger, adding support for AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo, MSN and ICQ. You can also download Google Talk and send messages via Short Message Service and Multimedia Messaging Service.

So, what about e-mail, BlackBerry's bread and butter? Of course the BlackBerry 8700g supports push e-mail and access to corporate data via BlackBerry Enterprise Server for Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and Novell GroupWise.

Personal accounts can be configured with the BlackBerry Internet E-mail application to retrieve mail from services such as Yahoo, AOL and Comcast. Yahoo mail users now get real-time mail delivery, a feature announced at the CTIA event. I found it a breeze to configure, and it worked without a hitch.