Blackberry Curve Review

Blackberry means business and so far the new slew of attacks to its empire has been unsuccessful as it has one of the most loyal customer bases in the cell phone industry (followed closely by Nextel). But that does not mean that they are taking a break. With their just released Cure and the Bold coming to AT&T in a few weeks and their iPhone killer to Verizon later this week it’s easy to see that they are not playing around. So let’s take a look at their new device the Blackberry Curve and see how it stacks up.

DESIGN:
RIM (the makers of the Blackberry) have still kept true to their proven design with the new Curve. The design is still 100% Blackberry but with rounder edges (hence the name Curve). The keyboard is very good and probably the best so far in the Blackberry lineup. The overall feel of the phone is great. While it is a little lighter than other Blackberry phones it still has a good feel to it and does not feel like a toy.
The rubber located on the sides is also a big improvement especially for those with sweaty hands. This greatly increases traction and prevents the phone from slipping out of one’s hand during extended uses.

The phone does include an expansion slot for SD cards but it is inconveniently located behind the battery.

SOFTWARE & UI:

This is still as much a Blackberry as former models and the interface keeps true to the Blackberry legacy. Of course the UI has been updated and the new enhancements add a lot more ease to navigating the phone. The media player has been revamped and is closer in simplicity to the iPod user controls. As more and more phones move towards media powerhouses Blackberry said they won’t be left out. The Curve offers many more multimedia playback features including photos, mp3 and video.
All the great things that you’d expect from a Blackberry are back including full support for consumer and corporate email accounts.

PERFORMACE:
The AT&T version is probably the most performance lacking version of the Cure series. Both the Verizon and Sprint version support EV-DO and Wi-Fi. But other than that there are slight improvements to memory. Call quality is good, exactly what you would expect from a Blackberry device.

CONCLUSION:
The Curve is not a revolutionary device. Instead it’s a great improvement on previous models. While it does have a few faults those are outshined by its many improvements. For Blackberry fans this will be a worthy upgrade. The only drawback (as with every Blackberry device) is the mandatory Blackberry data plan required for phone service. While this will not be a problem if you’re planning to do heavy surfing on your phone it can be a problem if you are only interested in the device for its media, text and email capabilities. But so far this has not hindered Blackberry from becoming the choice device for business and government officials.