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Sprint today became the fourth North American carrier, after Alltel, Verizon Wireless and Canada's TELUS Wireless to offer the BlackBerry 7130e, which is the first edition of Research In Motion's (RIM) Blackberry 7100 series to support high-speed (Evolution Data Optimized) networking.

That means it is compatible with 3G networks from Sprint, Verizon and TELUS for data transfer rates between 400 to 700 Kbps, with bursts up to 2 Mbps. The net result should be the faster delivery of mobile content-messages, video, pictures, games, audio, etc.-and other services, which boost ARPU (average revenue per user) for carriers over traditional voice products and performance for consumers.

The handset can also serve as a tethered modem via a USB cable for users looking to connect their laptop computers to the Internet and other data networks at broadband speeds. Of course, it supports "push-based" wireless e-mail, Web browsing, text messaging, personal information management and other productivity applications.

"Sprint is committed to being on the forefront of meeting demand for mobility solutions," said Danny Bowman, VP of product marketing for Sprint. "Combining the power of Sprint's Mobile Broadband service with innovative BlackBerry devices provides Sprint customers with more options for extending the workplace and getting more done in more places."

As with earlier 7100 models, the 7130e is more phone than PDA-like than other Blackberrys.

It replaces the BlackBerry thumb-keyboard with one that 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 tens of thousands of 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.

Additional features of the 4.6 x 2.2 x 0.9-inch smartphone include a speakerphone, a high-resolution display, BlackBerry OS version 4.1, Bluetooth, 64MB of flash memory, 16 MB of RAM, and attachment viewing.

The 7130e is currently available at Sprint Stores, Sprint business sales channels and online for $200 after available discounts and promotions.

See below for our review of the Verizon version of the 7130.