Blackberry 8520 Curve Mobile Review

Blackberry 8520 curve is first of its kind in the Blackberry’s history in terms of its features and pricing. Phone is a complete package, being a Business phone with a focus on social networking and multimedia ability. BlackBerry is famous for being a phone for business people who need to stay connected during travel and in between meetings. A reliable brand accepted by the most potential business associates across the globe. But this time it’s a game change with the release of Blackberry 8520 curve given the focus it has for those who love social networking and stay connected with people of same kind.

Let us just go through the main features it has before the BlackBerry magic begins

Network Quad-band: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GSM/GPRS networks
Dimension (LxWxD): 109 x 60 x 103.90 mm
Weight(w battery): 106 gm
Display: High resolution 320 x 240 pixel color display, transmissive TFT LCD, supports over 65,536 colors 2.46’’ (diagonally).
Battery Life: 4.5 hours talk and 17 days talk time
Processor : 512 MHz
Memory: Hot Swappable micro SD (Located behind Battery Cover) and SDHC supported.
Navigation: Trackpad – Located on front face of mobile
Keyboard: 35 key backlit QWERTY
Dedicated Keys: Send, End, VAD (User customizable), Camera (User Customizable), 2 x Volume.
Media keys: Play/Pause/Mute, Back, Forward
Device lock: A long press of A* key on Home Screen
Voice Input/Output: Integrated speaker and microphone, hands – free capable, Bluetooth headset capable, integrated hands – free speaker phone, voice notes recorder.
Wi-Fi 802.11b/g enabled
Wi-Fi Alliance certifications: WPA/WPA2 Personal and Enterprise, WMM Power Save planned, Cisco CCX Certification planned, Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry Enterprise Server, Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry internet server, direct IP browsing over Wi-Fi, Support for UMA/GMA.
Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR, Headset(HSP), Hands-Free(HSF), Serial Port Profile, SIM Access, Profile, DialUp networking (DUN), Stereo Profile (A2DP), A/V Remote Control Target (AVRCP), Phone Book Access (PBAP)
Camera: 2 MP, 5x digital zoom.
Video Camera Format : Normal Mode: 320 x 240 pixel, MMS Mode: 176 x 144 pixels.
Media Player Blackberry Media Player (Video format support: MPEG4, H2.63, H2.64, WMV3, Audio formats : MP3, WMA9 (.WMA/.ASF), WMA9 PRO/WMA10, AAC-LC, eAAC.
Picture formats : bmp, jpg, gif, png, tif, wbmp.
Headset: 3.5 mm stereo headset capable

Now lets Review it feature by feature

Design and Construction
Blackberry 8520 curve is a standard Phone with same Blackberry Look and feel with dedicated keys for multimedia and camera with other customizable keys for your own ways of using them. This makes phone more user friendly and easy to use. There is an optical Trackpad in front for easy navigation which I find as quiet an innovation. Blackberry is always famous for its QWERTY keypad and it’s same for 8520 curve model. People will love this phone, who like messaging and chatting on the move, for the kind of features it provides.

Screen Resolution
Well screen resolution is as I said before is just a blackberry standard one. You can enjoy some of the most popular graphic and video format on phone resolution.

Email and Applications
You can have 10 e mail accounts accessible with around almost all instant messengers available 24 x 7 on your phone provided you have blackberry service activated on your phone.

With Facebook, my space and Tweetberry like application made exclusive for Blackberry has just made this phone which I can suggest to anyone who belongs to this internet age.


Operating Platform
Blackberry 8520 curve comes with Blackberry OS which is reliable and never let you struck with you work.

Camera
Blackberry Camera is a 2 MP camera without Flash, but fits as a decent feature in a smart phone. Pictures taken in day light are very pretty and clear with proper color distribution.

Multimedia
You can enjoy your favorite music whenever you wish and can access videos, music or sports and news clips from websites built for mobile streaming. You can even sync your desktop itunes and windows media files on your phone using blackberry media sync.

Connectivity
Blackberry 8250 curve has got all kind of connectivity you need to stay connected with the outside world. It has full browser with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity which makes it a well connected phone.But it some has no 3G connectivity and there is no GPS inbuilt in Blackberry 8520 Curve.

Office and Documents
You can read, edit and attach all your office documents including PDF with your email on your blackberry 8250 curve phone. This adds an added feature for those who have to travel a lot and has to stay in touch though emails.
Blackberry phone have software that allows you have blackberry enterprise services that has many business related utilities like SAP CRM interface and IBM COGNOS interface on your blackberry mobile.

There are about 300 alliance partners of blackberry providing a lot of new software and services for blackberry users.

SIP and VOIP
Correct me if I am wrong, till now we don't have native SIP in Blackberry. I don't know why BlackBerry doesn't take up this issue. Business people have trips round the world, in that case SIP can be a cost saving point for them. I think this is a big drawback in BlackBerry.

But has some drawbacks like…
No 3G connectivity.
No flash with its camera.
No touch screen.
No SIP
No GPS

In the end all I can say that it has been sold as business phone with multimedia functionality, but it has much more to prove itself. Specially for the first time user or non business guy may find it difficult to explore its potential but with further exploration you will find more unique and business related functionality which will not only thrill you but allows you to imagine new possibilities with it.

Price in US
130$ with T-mobile
350-400$ unlocked

Price in Europe
249euro with contract from Vodafone

Price in India
15990 Rs with Airtel

We give 3 out 5 to Blackberry 8520 Curve for its features in a standard price pack. And I would like to mention special thanks to our Reader Abhinav for sharing this nice review with us.