The iPhone is wonderful for well-heeled consumers and status-conscious gadget freaks (see my review, "iPhone: The $1,975 iPod"), but business users need more … much more.

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The iPhone also misses the mark with enterprises, which typically run their own wireless operations, wiring back-end services with custom handset software to create tailored solutions. Most enterprises standardize on a given handset that's compatible with their wireless solutions, then deploy a fleet of devices appropriately pre-configured for the company's applications and general IT services like e-mail and intranet.

So what makes a great enterprise handset? It must be highly configurable to match infrastructure and potentially to adapt to changes in geography or work assignment. It must accept custom client/server applications that may place unusually high storage, performance, and UI burdens on the device. It must be manageable from a central point within the business so that the enterprise is empowered to provision, revoke, reconfigure, blank, and alter usage and security policies without bringing the unit in from the field.

It's a tall order, but such devices exist, outside Cupertino. The seven mobile handsets reviewed here all meet the mark, albeit with varying degrees of compromise. At the top end, the BlackBerry 8800 and Nokia E61i satisfy enterprise criteria for functionality, usability, and extensibility more fully than any handsets before them, with each device showing markedly different strengths, some of which will surprise you.

One step down, the Nokia E65 and the T-Mobile Wing (HTC Herald) sacrifice some usability for a sleeker package, but don't cut corners on functionality. Sporting all of the features of an enterprise phone, these mobile executive handsets never leave you having to say "I'll have to get back to you on that" or "I'll get my people on that as soon as I get back to the office."

The remaining three devices in this roundup -- the BlackBerry 8300 (Curve), HTC Advantage X7501, and AT&T 8525 (HTC Hermes) -- make the most compromises, usually for the sake of a smaller form factor or more stylish consumer look. But while they may shortchange you on performance or battery life or build quality and durability, they are still professional-grade handsets for serious business users.

Smart and driven executives, as well as top-echelon sales and marketing staff, need mobile devices that give them unfettered access to people, projects, services, and information. No phone is a notebook replacement, but these seven devices give you the option of traveling without a full PC or Mac and the bulging bag of necessities that accompany it. Together, they represent the cream of the crop for executives, mobile professionals, and the enterprises they are a part of.

Enterpriseclass: BlackBerry 8800 and Nokia E61i
When Research In Motion (RIM) started out, there was one thing that its BlackBerry did well: Push messaging. Now that the BlackBerry 8800 is here, we have one handset that does push messaging, mobile phone, media playback, Java GUI, PDA, and GPS navigation equally well.

If you've never encountered one, BlackBerry is the prototypical big-screen-over-QWERTY-keyboard mobile device. Every BlackBerry comes with the capability to receive and send push messages, which contain e-mail, application data, and management commands.

BlackBerry's uniqueness lies in distributed infrastructure that is located at wireless operators' facilities, at RIM's datacenters in Canada, and on BlackBerry Enterprise Server systems hosted by IT organizations that support BlackBerry users. BlackBerry devices are also uniquely easy to use, self-configuring, and centrally managed. A BlackBerry never fetches e-mail. E-mail finds your BlackBerry: accurate, intact delivery of all messages sent to and from BlackBerry handsets is guaranteed by the infrastructure and the handset's messaging software.

Previously, all data moving to or from a BlackBerry, including Web content, had to pass through RIM's servers in Canada or a private BlackBerry Enterprise Server. A significant change brought the option of direct connection from the handset to the Internet for some applications, including BlackBerry's built-in browser. That shift boosted Web performance considerably and brought about a new browser, along with a new human interface to go with it.

The BlackBerry 8800 ushered in a completely overhauled, and now standard, BlackBerry-to-human interface. The lighted trackball centered under the display has taken the place of the familiar thumbwheel across the BlackBerry line, and the contour and layout of the keys has evolved. The keyboard is now indescribably comfortable, with each key cupped on one side so that your thumbs don't slide off.

The BlackBerry 8800's trackball is innovative in ways that won't be apparent until more BlackBerry applications make the trackball de rigueur. There is no more natural one-handed way to move around on a map or within a Web page than with a trackball. Remote administration tools can use a GUI interface without weird key-thumbwheel combos to scroll and move the mouse pointer. Forms are easier to fill in when you can move randomly around the form, and within a text field, the way you would when you're driving a mouse. Selection of large blocks of text is quicker, too.