Price £150 (Plus £10 top up required)
A few days ago I went to the 02 shop and purchased another new phone, this time it was the BlackBerry Curve 8520 (I think I genuinely have OCD, I can’t keep the same phone for more than a month or two…Great for a review site!)
The Design
First things first, I think it looks amazing. It’s a smaller version of the BlackBerry Bold (Click for review). I think it looks better than the Bold because of its smaller size and softer feel.
Like the Bold, it has the touch pad rather than the trackball which it took a few minutes to get used to but I actually quite like it, I think I can navigate the menus quicker with the touchpad rather than the ball.
The keyboard is perfect for me however it is slightly smaller than that of the Bold, I imagine if you have bigger fingers than mine then the keys may get a bit fiddly.
The Screen
The display resolution is 320x240 pixels and it’s safe to say that even though there are better resolution phones out there this is by no means bad. I have heavily used the phone for the past few days and at no time have I thought the resolution hasn’t been high enough. I think the sample pictures really show off the best the phone can do and they are quite impressive to have as backgrounds. The Software
It comes with the usual apps like BlackBerry maps, Browser and of course the famous BlackBerry Messenger. I absolutely love the messenger and use it all the time. I really like the new feature which allows you to add non BlackBerry contacts to the messenger so you get most of the BBM features but when you send a message it is done through SMS.
The Phone
If you haven’t realised already I absolutely love this phone. The built in WiFi is excellent and comes in handy when using BlackBerry services to save on sending data via the network. It has the usual features like Bluetooth and comes with a built in modem so you can use it to connect a laptop of pc to the internet.
Unfortunately this BlackBerry also suffers from the same SMS/MMS problem as the Bold, I can’t work out a way to see when a text was sent to me, only when I received it. Its not that big of a deal however it’s the reason the phone gets 4.5/5 rather than 5. Its also the reason the Bold got the same mark!
The built in music player is very good and comes in handy, I'm actually using it as I type this. The phone came with a 2GB memory card and has 256MB built in which coupled with the memory card is fine for what I need.
The built in music player is very good and comes in handy, I'm actually using it as I type this. The phone came with a 2GB memory card and has 256MB built in which coupled with the memory card is fine for what I need.
The Camera The camera is 2.0 Megapixels which isn’t as good as a lot of the newer phones out today however the pictures it takes are just fine. I don’t really see a need for a camera more than about 2 Megapixels so I think BlackBerry have actually got it right, I guess it saves the user money and at the end of the day the quality won’t matter unless you are blowing the image up larger than half a meter or so.
The Battery
The battery time seems fine. I have heavily used it for a few days and only needed to charge it this morning. It charges pretty quickly and has a standby time of 408 hours.
----
----
Overall I really love this phone. It has so many features and the only downside is that mentioned about the SMS/MMS which again, isn’t the end of the world. For the price I paid I am more than happy!