The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is the latest business-oriented full QWERTY mobile phone with very good functionality.
Overview:
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 has a refreshed user interface, some built-in memory and support for 16GB memory cards. Additionally the phone features a standard 3.5mm jack, powerful battery and a bright 2.4-inch screen of high resolution and good direct sunlight legibility.
BlackBerry Curve 8900 Pros:
+ Near perfect feel
+ 3.2 megapixel digital camera
+ Best in class high-resolution display
+ Quick, polished, bug-free Operating System
+ Greatly improved camera performance over the Storm
+ Solid phone performance
+ Very good battery life
+ Decent audio quality
BlackBerry Curve 8900 Cons:
- Keyboard may be a bit too small for larger fingers
- The OS may be bug-free, but itʼs far from perfect
- Few digital camera settings
- Few multimedia player settings
The design:
BlackBerry Curve 8900 measures 109 x 60 x 13.5 mm and weighs 109.9 grams. The phone is made of high quality materials and although the back looks as if it was made of brushed aluminum it in fact is made of plastic. The front of the phone features the 2.4” display displaying 65k colors and 480×360 pixels. The screen has very bright colors and good direct sunlight legibility. Below the display is the full QWERTY keyboard with very comfortable and responsive keys. The left side of the phone features only the lanyard eyelet, whereas the right side houses the volume rocker, microUSB port used for charging and connecting the phone to your computer and a convenience key. On the back of BlackBerry Curve 8900 there is, of course, the camera lens.
Performance:
Making phone calls with the BlackBerry Curve 8900 is a pleasure as the voice quality and reception are always very good. The user interface looks very attractive and has some nice transitions. The phone comes with a 3.2 megapixel camera which will most probably not substitute a dedicated digital camera, but still does a decent job. Unfortunately, it is not very customizable, so practically the only thing you will be able to adjust is the white balance. The BlackBerry Curve 8900 can also record movies but the maximum resolution is 240×180 so it is hardly useable. If you are interested in other BlackBerry phones with better video capability have a look at the BlackBerry Bold 9000 review.
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 supports viewing documents out of the box so you will have no troubles with Word, Excel, or PowerPoint files. Moreover, you also get four games pre-installed. The all-in-one multimedia player supports the majority of audio files and some of the most popular video file types. The player displays album art and allows you to sort your library by artist, genre, or create custom playlists.
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 has some GPS software pre-installed, a good web browser and mail client. The browser renders web pages almost like your computer so you can easily read al the information you need. And in oder to make navigating through the websites easier you have a mouse pointer and the trackball which zooms the pages.
Menus / ease of use:
The menu structure in the BlackBerry Curve 8900 is not as straightforward as in some other phones like Nokia N85 or Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 but as it is a business device it is quite understandable. Still, after a few hours of using the phone you should know where to find all the options so that should not be considered a big issue. The User Interface in the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8900 is slightly changed when compared to some older models. There are more colors and nice transitions, but the phone still works fast. Moreover, unlike some other models it does not hand up or have nigh other annoying glitches. The entire OS is highly customizable and that is why it feels more user-friendly than for instance the Windows Mobile.
Selected BlackBerry Curve 8900 features and specifications:
Battery & Battery Life
Battery: 1400 mAHr removable/rechargeable cryptographic lithium cell
Talk Time: 5.5 hours
Standby Time: 356 hours
Display
High resolution 480×360 pixel color display
Transmissive TFT LCD
Supports over 65,000 colors
Screen Size: 2.44 inches (diagonally measured)
Camera & Video Recording
Camera: 3.2 MP camera (JPEG Encoding) with Auto focus, Image stabilization, Flash and 2X Digital Zoom
Video Camera: Normal Mode: 240×180 pixel, MMS Mode: 176×144 pixel
GPS & BlackBerry Maps
Assisted and autonomous GPS enabled
Data Input & Navigation
35 key backlit QWERTY keyboard
Trackball located on front face of device, ESC key to the right, Menu to the left
Dedicated Keys: Send, End, Mute, Lock, VAD (user customizable), 2-stage camera (user customizable), 2x volume/zoom
User Interface: Intuitive icons and menus
Voice Input & Output
Integrated speaker and microphone, Hands-free headset capable, Bluetooth® headset capable, Integrated Hands-Free Speakerphone
Media Player
Video Format Support: DivX, XviD (MPEG4 Advance Simple Profile), H.263, WMV3
Audio Format Support: .3gp, WAV, MIDI, AMR-NB, G711u/A, GSM610, PCM, MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA9/10 Standard/Pro
Ringtones & Notifications
Ringtones: .3gp, WAV, MIDI, AMR-NB, G711u/A, GSM610, PCM, MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA9/10 Standard/Pro
Notifications: Tone, vibrate, on-screen or LED indicator; notification options are user configurable
Bluetooth
Bluetooth v2.0 + EDR; Headset, Handsfree, Serial Port Profile, Stereo Audio (A2DP/AVCRP), SIM Access Profile and Dial-up Networking supported
Keyboard security
Password protection
Keyboard lock
Sleep (standby) mode
Wi-Fi
802.11b/g enabled
Wi-Fi Alliance Certifications: WPA/WPA2 Personal and Enterprise, WMM, WMM Power Save, Wi-Fi Protected Setup
Cisco CCX certification planned
Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry® Enterprise Server
Wi-Fi access to BlackBerry® Internet Server
Direct IP web browsing over Wi-Fi
Support for UMA/GAN
Wireless Networks
North America: 850 MHz GSM®/GPRS networks
North America: 1900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Europe/Asia Pacific: 1800MHz GSM/GPRS networks
Europe/Asia Pacific: 900MHz GSM/GPRS networks
EDGE networks
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Sony Ericsson G705, LG KC 910 Renoir, Nokia E63, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Samsung M7500 Emporio Armani, LG KS360, LG KF900 Prada, LG KP500 Cookie, Sony Ericsson W902.