BlackBerry Curve 8320 Review - Conclusion
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Alfredo Padilla Published on October 10, 2007 Comment on this |
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Who's It For
Business User
The Curve is an excellent choice for budget-minded business users who also want some decent multimedia functionality. It's excellent integration with business infrastructures, push e-mail and good PDA functionality in conjunction with a decent camera and music and video players makes the Curve one of the best all-in-one devices out there. If your company doesn't ban phones with cameras we heartily endorse the Curve for business users. If they do, then consider the BlackBerry 8830, which has a similar set of features, adds a GPS receiver, but drops the camera.
Budget Callers
Budget callers probably won't consider the Curve at its current price point. If you're looking for a smart phone from T-Mobile at a more reasonable price and with similar functionality, you'll probably want to consider the T-Mobile Dash.
Chatty Teenager
The Curve is probably too much smart phone for chatty teenagers. Although some will appreciate the keyboard for easy messaging, few teenagers need push e-mail and the Curve's enterprise compatibility. If you want a nice multimedia phone for your teenager we again recommend the T-Mobile Dash.
Media Maven
BlackBerry has made great strides in adding multimedia functionality to their devices recently, but hardcore multimedia mavens are probably still better served with another device. The Curve's camera is as good as any other 2-megapixel shooter, but the music and video playback functionality still isn't up to snuff, especially since there's no support for DRM-protected content. Media mavens are probably better off with a Nokia Series 60 device like the N95 or an iPhone.
Conclusion
We really like the BlackBerry Curve. Not only do you get the standard BlackBerry goodness with solid organizational functionality and excellent messaging capabilities, but the Curve adds a decent camera to the mix. Multimedia features like music and video playback are also on board, and although sufficient they aren't up to the level you'll see from a Nokia Series 60 device or the iPhone. Our biggest gripe with the Curve is that the addition of T-Mobile's myFaves software seems to add some significant lag to phone operations, but this can be addressed by turning that interface off or choosing a different theme for the phone. We also like the inclusion of Wi-Fi, which works with T-Mobile's new Hotspot@Home feature, which provides unlimited calls over WiFi for an additional fee. T-Mobile also operates an extensive network of Wi-Fi hotspots, so for a small additional fee you can find Wi-Fi access in many places, which makes browsing the Web a much nicer experience. Anyone looking for a great business device with decent multimedia features in fairly small package should consider the Curve. | Previous Next | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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