BlackBerry Curve 8320 Review - Making/Receiving Calls
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Alfredo Padilla Published on October 10, 2007 Comment on this |
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Dialing Speed (6.33)
To see how easy it is to dial a number on the BlackBerry Curve 8320 we time how long it takes to go from the home screen unlocked until we
have dialed each of five different test phone numbers. We take the average time of these tests for our score. We found it took an average of 3.16 seconds to dial a number. This is slower than the AT&T version of the Curve. We blame the slower speed on a slight amount of lag we encountered when initially dialing a number. Given that BlackBerries are famously free of lag we were surprised to see this; it might have been caused by T-Mobile's myFaves interface, which is shown on the home screen by default. To test this turned myFaves off and ran the test again. This time, we found dialing sped up by about half a second, although we still did notice some lag. We also felt the number keys, which are built into the QWERTY keyboard, were very small and prone to errors. This phone is going to take some getting used to. Despite these concerns, though, the table below shows it could be worse; the curve is pretty speed y at dialling once you get used to the keyboard layout. | Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 3.16 | 6.33 |
| Nokia E90 | 2.36 | 8.47 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8300 (AT&T) | 2.78 | 7.19 |
| HTC Mogul | 6.16 | 3.25 |
| T-Mobile Dash | 6.20 | 3.23 |
| Apple iPhone | 3.96 | 5.05 |
Talk and End Buttons (3.0)
The send and end buttons on the BlackBerry Curve 8320 are placed at the extreme left and right of the control keys, just above the keyboard. This puts them within easy reach when using the device. The buttons provided a reasonable amount of travel and good tactile feedback when pressed. Our only issue is that when you are working on the keyboard and reach for the buttons they are a little difficult to find by feel, as they are not raised above the surrounding plastic.
Call Management (5.0)
You can access your call history easily from the home screen by hitting the send button. The history is a simple list of calls in chronological order. Each call shows the number or contact name, along with the time the call was placed or received and an icon that shows you whether it was an incoming, outgoing, or missed call. You can access additional details about each number, including a history for that specific number and the option to redial, send a message to or save each number from the history list. What you can't do, however, is see a filtered list of incoming, outgoing, and missed calls, a feature many phones offer. During a call you can bring up a quick menu of options like mute and speakerphone by pressing on the trackball. Hitting the menu key brings up a more complete menu and allows you to access other phone functions like notes and contacts. As a smart phone, the BlackBerry Curve 8320 allows fairly advanced multi-tasking, so most phone functions are available while on a call. Unfortunately, you cannot record calls.
Startup to Call (14.04)
To see how quickly the BlackBerry Curve 8320 can start up and make a call when it's turned off we time how long this process takes for each of the five numbers we used for the dialing test above. The result was an average time of 7.12 seconds, which is comparable to the AT&T version of the Curve and significantly faster than most other handsets.
| Cell Phone | Time (sec) | Score |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 7.12 | 14.04 |
| Nokia E90 | 32.12 | 3.11 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8300 (AT&T) | 6.77 | 14.77 |
| HTC Mogul | 55.00 | 1.82 |
| T-Mobile Dash | 76.00 | 1.32 |
| Apple iPhone | 26.12 | 3.83 |
Ring Volume (8.56)
To see how loud ring volume can get we set the phone's volume to maximum and measure the volume of each ring tone on the phone using a sound pressure meter from a few inches away. We measured ring volume at 85.6 decibels. This is fairly standard; few phones fall outside of the 80 to 90-decibel range, and most of our comparison phones are within a decibel of the BlackBerry Curve 8320.
| Cell Phone | Volume (decibels) | Score |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 85.6 | 8.56 |
| Nokia E90 | 85.4 | 8.54 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8300 (AT&T) | 85.7 | 8.57 |
| HTC Mogul | 85.7 | 8.57 |
| T-Mobile Dash | 84.5 | 8.45 |
| Apple iPhone | 84.9 | 8.49 |
Ringtone Customizability (6.0)
We were pleased to see the BlackBerry Curve 8320 allows you to import and use your own ring tones, and supports MP3, AAC, and WMA files. You can also purchase ring tones from T-Mobile, but why buy them when you can use your own? You cannot edit or record your own ring tones, however.
Non-Audio Alerts (6.0)
We were not impressed by the Curve's non-audio alerts. Vibration is weak and easily missed, even when the phone is in your pocket. The screen lights up and shows you incoming call information, and if you miss a call the LED blinks red to let you know, which is good. But we wish vibration was better, especially on a business device where getting a call can be important.
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