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SunCom Wireless today began offering Research In Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry 7100g smartphone, first delivered in the United States by Cingular Wireless in the United States and worldwide in Hong Kong, to its subscribers in the Southeastern United States and Puerto Rico.

The quad-band GSM/GPRS 7100g extends SunCom's BlackBerry portfolio to a more consumer-friendly handset that delivers the same push-based e-mail and personal information management capabilities as traditional BlackBerry handhelds.

"The Blackberry 7100g's sleek new design and enhanced capabilities, including Bluetooth technology for hands-free wireless use, is sure to be a hit with individuals and corporations who rely on mobile communications," asserts Suzanne Lowry, director of product marketing at SunCom.

With the widely deployed 7100 series, RIM replaced the BlackBerry thumb-keyboard with one that uniquely merges a keypad and a keyboard. For text entry, each key supports two letters, while predictive text software called SureType helps you accurately input text—so when you press a key, the 7100 knows which of the two supported letters you mean to use.

The software's word database encompasses approximately 35,000 words plus the user's address book. As with your word processor's spell-checker, you can add more words to it as well. SureType support various languages, including English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and Swedish.

According to RIM VP of corporate marketing Mark Guibert, "The BlackBerry 7100g has widened the market for BlackBerry with its 'candy bar' design. RIM's breakthrough SureType keyboard technology enables users to enjoy the many advantages of the BlackBerry platform in a smaller handset design. SureType allows quick, accurate and comfortable typing and dialing with either one-handed or two-handed operation."

BlackBerry 7100g
Since the 7100 series—mobile handsetsof which the 7100g is one of many very similar models—are quad-band (850/900/1800/1900) GSM/GPRS, you can use the smartphones when traveling anywhere in the United States, Europe, and Asia, as well as many other parts of the world. Cingular counts 170 countries for voice communications and over 75 countries when accessing e-mail, calendaring and other data applications.

Additional 7100 series features include Bluetooth for use with wireless headsets and other peripherals, a bright color screen, and 32MB of RAM. Unfortunately, there is no way to add more memory because the devices do not integrate a memory card slot like many other smartphones.

Of course, the smartphones can connect to RIM's renowned enterprise software, BlackBerry Enterprise Server, for access to corporate e-mail and data, plus its Internet-based personal e-mail solution.

For individuals and smaller businesses, BlackBerry Internet Service allows users to access up to 10 corporate and/or personal email accounts (including Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino and many popular ISP email accounts) from a single device.

For more information, see Review: BlackBerry 7100 Series – RIM’s BlackBerry Alternative.