BlackBerry Electron

The BlackBerry Electron (8703/8700/8707) is a discontinued BlackBerry smartphone developed by Research In Motion Ltd and released in 2005.^[1]

BlackBerry Electron

Compatible networks	CDMA, GSM
Weight	134 g
Memory	64MB
Battery	Talk time Up to 4 h, Stand-by Up to 450 h
Display	320 x 240 pixels, 2.6 inches (66 mm)
Connectivity	Bluetooth, USB (with Mass Storage Mode support)
Development status	Discontinued

Launch

The Blackberry Electron was announced in Q4 of 2004.^[2] It was formally launched in the fall of 2005.^[3] The gross profit reported by RIM's income statement, as of March 2006 (about four months after the release of the Electron), was US$1.3 billion.^[4]

Manufacturing

Most of the materials that make up the BlackBerry Electron and other BlackBerry devices, such as flexible circuit boards, were manufactured in China.^[5]

The BlackBerry Election weighed 134 g (4.73 oz), the dimensions of the device were 110 by 69.5 by 19.5mm (4.33 x 2.74 x 0.77 in), with a QWERTY keyboard configuration and a 320 by 240 pixel LCD Display with a 16-bit (65K colors) colour depth. It had a loudspeaker and contained 3 different alert types: Vibration; Polyphonic, MP3 ringtones. It did not contain a 3.5mm jack. The memory was fixed at 64 MB storage, and 16 MB RAM. The Electron had a Lithium-Ion 1100 mAh battery. Which would last up to 450 hours on Stand-By time, and up to 4 hours in Talk time.^[2]

Software

Interface

The BlackBerry Electron features a graphical interface and uses menus and icons for navigation.^[6]

Music and ringtones

All 8700 series phones come with MP3 ringtone support.^[7] Saved songs can be played.^[6]

Network

The 3 versions of the Electron had differences in network support – the original (8700) model supported Quad-band GSM (EDGE/GPRS).

The 8707 (AKA "UMTS Electron") added 2100 MHz UMTS 3G and the 8703 model was designed for US CDMA operators and supported both 850 MHz and 1900 MHz CDMA2K (EvDO/1xRTT) – the 8703 also has A-GPS support, which was not present on the GSM/UMTS variants.

All variants have Bluetooth, and USB facilities.

The quad-band network (on the 8700 and 8707, but not the 8703) was the network available for international travelers in 2005–2006. The Electron uses a mini-SIM.^[2][7][8]