Blackberry Curve 8300 Review
| Release Date | Available Now |
| 2G Network | GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
| Operating System | Blackberry OS |
| Size | 107 x 60 x 15.5 mm |
| Weight | 111 g |
| Display Type | 65K colors |
| Display Resolution | 320 x 240 pixels |
| Ringtone Types | Polyphonic (32 channels), MP3 |
| Ringtone Vibration | Yes |
| Phonebook Memory | Yes, Photocall |
| Call Records Memory | Yes |
| GPRS | Yes |
| HSCSD | No |
| EDGE | Yes |
| 3G | No |
| WLAN | No |
| Bluetooth | 2.0 + A2DP |
| Infrared Port | No |
| USB | Yes |
| Messaging | SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging |
| Browser Type | HTML |
| Games | Yes + Downloadable |
| Camera Pixels | 2MP |
| Camera Resolution | 1600 x 1200 |
| Battery Type | Standard battery, Li-Ion 1100 mAh |
| Stand-by Time | Up to 408 h |
| Talk Time | Up to 4 h |
The Blackberry Curve is a peculiar name for a device that is really no more curvier than its predecessors. Where the device does shine however is in its sleek, compact size and the Curve's new added functionability found in the devices ability to perform spell checking and the use of GPS functions through bluetooth enabled GPS devices. While the phone may still be behind the soon to be released Blackberry 8820 (Which will feature WiFi abilities), it does still offer a new face to the Research in Motion Brand
Editor review
Blackberry Curve 8300 Review
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Design
The Blackberry 8820 features the smallest compact size of any Blackberry to date, measuring in at a surprisingly small 4.2 x 2.4 x .06 Inches, while weighining in at a respectable 3.9 ounces.
The front of the phone at first look reveals the phones compact Qwerty keyboard in a sleek design that features a black on silver design, the color scheme was not the most appealing choice, however the form factor well makes up for that fact. Specifically, the design features a much spacier qwerty keyboard as the phone has reverted back to past qwerty designs that helped to make Blackberry devices so appealing to heavy users. Below the phones screen are the phones main function keys for easy navigation, these keys include the talk and end buttons, while the end button also functions as the power key. The phone also features a menu shortcut key, an escape key and a trackball navigation scroller.
The right side of the phone features a volume rocker, and a soft launch key that can be used to launch a variety of options on the phone, however I should note that it is set in default to launch the phones newly installed, and higher mega pixel camera than past Blackberries.
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The left side of the phone holds the devices mini usb port, along with a second programmable softkey, and finally a 3.5mm headset jack for use with your standard set of mp3 headphones, which means no more looking for headset adaptors which can cause quite an annoyance.
The back of the device hold a 2.0 mega pixel camera, a nice addition to RIM's arsenal. What I did find annoying however was the location of the devices MicroSD card slot which is inconveniently located behind the battery. I would have preferred to see something along the lines of the HTC S710 which features an easy to load MicroSD card slot along the side of the phone.
Holding the phone was made easy by the addition of a soft touch side panel that gave the device the feel of a rubbery finish.
Features
Usually I name off all of the phones cool new features, but I feel it necessary to bring up what the Blackberry 8820 is lacking. The device does not feature a WiFi or 3G access, a feature as I stated before that will be included in the new Blackberry 8820. It seems odd to me that a company focused on business users has yet to add some of the standard business functions that are flooding the cellular market already.
On the positive side, the Curve is the first RIM device to feature spell checking for emails and memos. The spell check offers a bevy of neat features, such as the ability to ignore numbers, acronyms, and numbers.
The device also features support for Microsoft Exchange Servers, IBM Lotus Domino servers, and Novell GroupWise, while POP Mail support can feature up to 10 accounts at one time, or a combination of POP and IMAP4. With the phones ability to feature such connectivity, it was also important for Blackberry to include software for attachment viewing which they have done in abundance, users have the option to view, PDF, GIF, and JPEG files, along with other popular formats.
Camera
The Blackberry Cruve does finally include a 2-megapixel camera, and is the first to go beyond 1.3 megapixels in the companies arsenal of phones. The device also features a 5x zoom with a standard built-in flash. Users can choose between three picture sizes 1,600x1,200, 1,024x768, and 640x480. Images with the device tended to have a gray overtone, while they may have appeared sharp it is no surprise that a video recording function was not included on the device as it would have produced horribly taken video captures.
Display
The phones screen sizes in at a respectable 2.5 inch diagonal, 65,000 color screen with a screen resolution of 320 x 240. The screens resolution may be standard in
many of todays devices, what made its easy to read however was the screens light sensing technology which changed the screen settings to make for easier reading
in a variety of environments including indoors, outdoors, dark settings, and more. I was actually quite impressed with the phones images as they appears bright and in
full context, while lettering and numerical displays showed no signs of blurring or fading.
Audio
The isn't much to the Blackberry Curve's audio, the phone features full support for MP3, AAC, WMA, WMV, and ASF files, while using the devices mini EXTusb port and 3.5mm headphone jack for playback. There was actually very little background noise when playing files through the phones supplied headset, and the phones audio was easy to control while using its side loaded volume rocker control. Another good feature was the phones ability to pause music when a new call was received and resume playing after the call was ended. Overall the Audio was on par with most non music featured phones on the market, and in playback mode it featured even more playable formats than those listed above. Unfortunately my A2DP supported Motorola S9 Headset was loaned out and I wasn't able to try out the phones A2DP for Stereo Bluetooth playback.
Messaging
Whether send a text, formatting an email, or using Blackberries messaging program, it couldn't have been any easy to get my messages across (No pun intended). The phone functioned with ease, and with spell checking for emails (But not for text messages) I found that the device sent and received well. One feature that I would have liked to see would be instant messaging for platforms other than Blackberries own messaging software, but other than that the keyboard may typing fast, and fairly accurate, and the phone offered a nicely packaged messaging platform.
Internet
The phone doesn't feature 3G, or for that matter WiFi, however when tested on the Tmobile and Cingular Edge networks the phone functioned at decent speeds, loaded pages as would be expected on those two networks, and offered very little thrills. I would put the phones speed on par with other Blackberry devices, but there didn't seem to be any improvement over browsing capabilities or other internet based applications.
Connectivity
The phone features the Quad Band (850/900/1800/900) frequencies for worldwide use with Edge network capabilities. Using the phone in Central, IL and Chicago, IL produced average calls overall, I didn't have a problem hearing anyone, however I did feel that their voices felt a little echoed out. One neat feature was the phones ability to increase volume intensity as background noice increased or decreased. I didn't feel however that background noise was cancelled out as Research in Motion claimed the device would do. I even tried my old Motorolo 300 headset on the device and found that it connected well with both that bluetooth and several newer Jabra headsets, it also connected well with a Parrot CK3200 Bluetooth car kit.
Conclusion
Overall the Blackberry Curve is a sleek, compact device, that offers some new functionability. It may lack 3G and WiFi, but it appears to be a step in the right direction for Research in Motion, if the Blackberry 8820 supports the features of the Curve with the addition of WiFi, then it appears RIM is finally beginning to put together a winning package. Messaging, Internet, and Display functions were concise, and while not breathtaking, they did manage to do what they claimed, something that doesn't always happen in the cellular arena. Overall I would recommend the Blackberry to currently users of Research in Motion products if they like their past models, otherwise there are still products by companies such as HTC and E-Ten that offer more usability on a large scale with more functions for users to enjoy.
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| Overall rating: |
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7.3 |
| Styling: |
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6.0 |
| Ease of Use: |
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8.0 |
| Display: |
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8.0 |
| Voice Quality: |
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6.0 |
| Battery Life: |
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8.0 |
| Quality/Build: |
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8.0 |
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User reviews
Average user rating from: 1 user(s)
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To write a review please register or login.
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| Overall rating: |
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7.0 |
| Styling: |
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6.0 |
| Ease of Use: |
|
8.0 |
| Display: |
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6.0 |
| Voice Quality: |
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6.0 |
| Battery Life: |
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10.0 |
| Quality/Build: |
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6.0 |
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Blackberry Curve User Review
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
I have been using the Blackberry Curve for about 4 months or so now and I like the device in terms of its basics. Obviously its great if you are using Blackberry connect, and the battery life is what I would expect from Blackberry, nothing but fantastic!!!! But its also easy to see why the Blackberry Curve doesn't use alot of battery, the device using only the Edge/GPRS network and its pretty slow for me, even when I was in L.A. and Dallas, so its not about my area I don't think. The Blackberry also has no wifi which is a really bummer, every pocket pc device has WiFi these days!!!! The Reception on the device is about medium grade thats why I ranked it a 3, I would have given the device a 5 on the Ease of use, but the operating system can be a little confusing at times, and the display is okay, but far from perfect. I'm no expert but from what I've noticed from my Blackberry Curve i'm excited to get my Pantech Duo in the mail and try it out. If you do just need a basic business device that is really no thrills and doesn't really offer alot in terms of connectivity, but still gets the job done with blackberry connect, then I would recommend the device, it also makes an okay video player and MP3 player if you are looking for a business device that still offers some entertainment features.
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| Overall rating: |
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7.0 |
| Styling: |
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6.0 |
| Ease of Use: |
|
8.0 |
| Display: |
|
6.0 |
| Voice Quality: |
|
6.0 |
| Battery Life: |
|
10.0 |
| Quality/Build: |
|
6.0 |
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