The BlackBerry browser is vastly improved, taking on the desktop view that's enabled by the trackball. Perhaps this browser is the best that can be done in Java, but it's well behind other mobile browsers discussed here. The BlackBerry 8800 can spend several minutes chewing on scripts and styles for a Web 2.0-ey page such as the InfoWorld.com landing page. Dealing with the pain of desktop-style browsing requires turning off scripting and style sheets, and although any intelligently designed site should adapt to this, more and more sites just bail out if scripting is turned off. The new browser is welcome, but it can't meet the expectations created by the new desktop view.

The BlackBerry 8800 integrates a feature that many mobile users don't realize they need: GPS. I was among those who saw GPS as a gadget, and with respect to stand-alone GPS boxes that stick to the windshield, gadget is the right word. BlackBerry 8800's GPS receiver works in concert with its EDGE mobile network radio to provide real-time, turn-by-turn navigation on the same handset that you use for phone calls and e-mail.

BlackBerry Maps is bundled with the 8800. It presents simple, fast, and accurate real-time tracking of your position on an easy-to-read 2D moving map. The trackball lets you explore around the map, snapping back to your GPS position ten seconds after you stop moving it. If you don't do a lot of driving for business, BlackBerry Maps is as much mapping and trip routing as you need.

BlackBerry 8800's killer application is TeleNav GPS Navigator. After a 14-day trial, this application will cost you as much as $9.95 per month, but if you drive, it's worth it. TeleNav puts every stick-to-the-window stand-alone navigator to shame with crystal-clear spoken directions that include street names and exit numbers, with automatic re-routing to navigate around traffic jams. Integration with BlackBerry's address book lets you select a contact, click "Drive To," and be on your way. I'm reviewing the TeleNav service separately, but having it on the BlackBerry 8800 has changed the way I travel.

The flagship BlackBerry handset is the best yet in all regards. No, it won't replace your notebook's browser, but the GPS, battery life, and the greatly improved interface go a long way toward making up the difference.

Given its shape and core features, Nokia's E61i is bound to be compared to BlackBerry, but the E61i is very much its own, quite exceptional handset. The E61i's 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, wireless network universality, market-leading "Web 2.0" browser for Web apps, large display, two-week standby battery life, VPN, VoIP support, local and remote configurability, strong security, and incomparably flexible programmability make the E61i my recommendation for workforce, team, workgroup, and fleet deployments that leverage existing IT infrastructure and services.

You can add wireless to an existing solution using the technical resources you already have. You can dole out a batch of E61i handsets, make no alterations to your back-end services, create some Java, Perl, Python, AJAX, or C++ code to run on the handsets, and you've gone wireless in record time. If you want to do the whole UI in HTML and JavaScript and yet maintain off-line operability, you can run your Web app on an HTTP server that runs locally on the E61i. (Executives who want to be fully plugged into a wireless solution built around the E61i but who don't want to lug around a big handset, will find the phone-sized E65 identical to E61i in functionality and price. The E65 will be reviewed here tomorrow.)

An especially noteworthy recent addition to the Series 60 3rd Edition platform is Open C, a set of libraries and headers that offer an unexpectedly rich subset of POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) functionality. With Open C, it's possible to port some existing UNIX and Linux software to run on the E61i and other S60 3rd Edition handsets, as well as write new code using the easy and widely accepted BSD Sockets networking API. Oracle developed a cut of its database using Open C, and other projects including an Apache-based, handset-hosted HTTP server have emerged.

The E61i's OSS Web browser is grand, outdoing all other browsers in this review. It's made from the best stuff -- Apple's open source Webkit -- but if you're hoping to sneer at Nokia for plagiarizing the Safari or iPhone browser, you're in for a letdown. Nokia managed to nicely emulate a mouse-driven desktop browsing experience using only a five-button directional pad. A picture-in-picture full page overview pops up during rapid scrolling to make points of interest easy to find with zero rendering delay. The scale of text and images can be altered independently, an approach that's superior to zooming the entire view. The user can turn off graphics loading entirely for instant page viewing, loading images for a single page on command. Clicking on an image brings up a full-screen view of it, which can be zoomed, rotated, and saved to disk.