BlackBerry Curve 3G

Editor's Review of the Curve 3G

Even before they called them smart phones, Research in Motion's BlackBerry lorded it over in the personal digital assistant market. Now the Canadian company has come out with the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300.

A truly global handset, the Curve 9300 3G works on any GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 network. Appearance wise, it looks like the BlackBerry Curve 8520 except that the Curve 9300 comes with a selection of red or black as it casing colours. Measuring 109 mm. long, 60 mm. across and 14 mm. thick, this is actually quite a light smart phone at only 104 grams. As with other recent releases, this mobile phone has a full tactile QWERTY keypad underneath a TFT display that is capable of displaying up to 65K colours. The display measures 2.46 inches with a resolution of 320 by 240 pixels.

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 has 256 megabytes of built-in memory that is enough for unlimited phone book contacts and call records. That is certainly not enough for all the eAAC+, WMA, WAV, FLAC and MP3 music files, MP4, H.264, H.263 and WMV video files, and other media files that you can play back on the Curve 3G. But that is not a problem as you can pop in a microSD card to have additional storage memory up to 32 gigabytes.

Internet connectivity is very much alive with the Curve 3G. You can get on any class 10 GPRS or EDGE network, or go wireless with any Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n connection. You could also enjoy faster speeds with any 850 / 1900 / 2100 or 900 / 1700 / 2100 network. Furthermore, you could interface with any Bluetooth enabled devices. You could also transfer files to and from any computer with the handset's microUSB v2.0 port.

The BlackBerry Curve 3G also has a 2-megapixel camera that is capable of capturing photos with resolutions of 1600 by 1200 pixels. It can also capture videos.

Running on BlackBerry's proprietary OS, the Curve 3G could handle SMS, MMS, e-mail and instant messaging along with BlackBerry's very popular Messenger. What is more, you get push e-mail that allows you to get important e-mails even without logging on to your account. GPS support is also available, which makes BlackBerry Maps and Google Maps even more useful.

The standard lithium ion 1150 mAh battery provides up to 4.5 hours of talk time and up to 456 hours of power on standby. This equates to up to 29 hours of music play.

BlackBerry is currently targeting those who are yet to buy their first smart phone; hence they are looking at a reasonable price for the Curve 3G.

Limitations

BlackBerry OS browsers have always been the bane of previous versions of the BlackBerry, and this time around, it is no different. Just compare the Android browser with the one on this mobile phone and you would certainly notice how clunky and slow. What is more the browser is lacking some basic features that most other browser has including Flash support and tabs.

Also for a smart phone, the Curve 3G has a pretty low screen resolution, so much so that it practically screws up anything that it displays: images, Web sites, even text! On top of this, the screen is also oddly dimensioned that may limit app support for the phone.

Further, the camera could use some sprucing up. Similarly priced mobile phones have at least 5 megapixels packed into their cameras, why RIM opted for 2 MP is a mystery. Moreover, there is still no LED flash on the Curve 3G.

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 is not the company's best phone in terms of specs, but it is quite fast when in operation, even as you multi-task. Also, its mid range price could be your inexpensive ticket to owning a BlackBerry and getting on that BlackBerry Messenger network.