Blackberry Curve 8900 - DigitalVersus

Blackberry Curve 8900


Amazon.co.uk	299.99
Info-Stor	304.42
Misco UK	310.49
Pixmania.co.uk	319.00
Amazon Marketplace UK	391.39
The Carphone Warehouse	399.95
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Camera sensor	3,2 Mpixels
Weight	110 grammes
Dimensions (mm)	109 x 60 x 13
Talk Time	6 heures
Standby Time	456 heures
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Internal memory	256 MB
Memory Card	Micro SD
SAR Level	1.01 W/Kg
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Florence Legrand
Test date: March 19, 2009

Ditching 3G

After depriving the Storm of WiFi, RIM decided not to give any high speed to the Curve. The reasons for this choice: offer a longer battery life and speedy access to the Internet thanks to data compression, which goes through RIM before showing up on the screen.

In reality, sharing or downloading content (which can be done over Wi-Fi, GPRS or EDGE) is slower than high speed and using some websites is simply a nightmare. This being said, it is true, the battery can go on for three days (without exaggerated use of GPS and WiFi naturally). The Curve is definitely not the fastest one around and is not really a great device to browse the web unless you are on the move and cannot do otherwise...or if you do not mind waiting.

Smaller and cheaper, the Curve 8900 is Bold’s little brother.It has Wi-fi/GPRS/EDGE connectivity but no high speed, so does that really ruin the deal?

Solid, sleeek and sophisticated

No mistake here, this is definitely a RIM baby and it carries all the trademark design, but in a sleeker version. The Curve is a mid-range device with a chrome-frame, a stylish black finish and a good build. It is compact, slim, light and boasts great ergonomics as well. The only thing we regret is that the memory card slot is under the battery cover. You therefore need remove the cover but as it is hot-swappable, at least you do not need to turn the phone on and off. The trackball is fast and accurate and lets you scroll through emails, navigate through applications, zoom on pictures or Web pages…

Samsung Addict, Apple Iphone and Blackberry Curve

The full-QWERTY keyboard allows you to write yours SMS and mails without a single mistake even if your fingers are clumsy.
Nothing to say against the 2.4 '' 480x360-pixel screen either. The display is excellent, the images crisp, and the colours vivid even in bright sunlight. Actually sunlight legibility is better than on other smart phones. The shortcut keys (accessing pictures, locking the phone, silent mode...) come in extremely handy.

Great ergonomics

The Curve 8900 is extremely user-friendly. Blackberry is definitely making an effort to seduce the mass market. Still, even here, there are many features that the average consumer will probably never use and in that sense the Curve can come across as a business tool.

The handset offers direct access to social networking websites such as Facebook, to photo-sharing pages like Flickr and to Blackberry’s very own Urban Tour widget; a guide to the best spots in the trendiest capitals around the world. But even with this going on, the functionality-rich Curve cannot exactly be labelled an entertainment device.

Great communicating tool

Like all Blackberry smartphones, the Curve is first and above all a communicating tool: mail, SMS, synchronisation of multiple mail accounts, Push-delivery Technology, Attachment Viewing (Word, Excel, PDF)…it handles all it all and well. Call audio quality is good for both voice input and output, making it a very good telephone too. However the lacks of 3G connectivity and is a bit sluggish compared to the Bold.

Multimedia capabilities should be better

Multimedia features are not the best around. The 3.2-megapixel camera is slow to start, has an unreliable AF and the pictures do not come out very clear. The music player has a decent sound for a telephone, allows the use of normal headphones, but the interface of the player is rather basic. Video recording is available, but is really just a gimmick and the quality is far from impressive.

Screen smaller than the Bold but with more pixels!

The device comes with a built-in GPS. Though it is not as good as a standalone sat-nav device, it is useful to have BlackBerry Maps or Google Maps and get directions on the go.

Communication-friendly tool

Ergonomics / Build

Battery life

Great display

Speaker

Internet browsing

No 3 G/3G+

No FM radio

Multimedia capabilities

Micro SD card not supplied

If you are looking for a good phone with plenty of features and that is cheaper than the Bold, you might like the Curve 8900…and you will fall in love with its long battery life. If however you are looking for something is entertainment-orientated, or if you want to be surfing a lot, aim straight for the Bold.