Research in Motion has teamed up with eBay and is helping to get the word out about the eBay Celebrity Charity Auction allowing you to follow all of the action directly from the eBay App for BlackBerry .
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RIM Teams Up With eBay To Sponsor Celebrity Charity Auction
I felt odd sitting at the airport chatting with a group of teenagers about why they all carried BlackBerry Phones. The conversation started off with 4 kids, but, soon ballooned into a brain storming session with nearly 30 talking about how they liked BlackBerry
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BlackBerry Wins As A Phone But iPod Touch Is Tagging Along
Carbonite , a cloud based (online) backup solution that backs up all the files on your PC over the internet, has released a mobile application for the BlackBerry that provides users access to all their backed up files via their device. Carbonite is actually a pretty cool backup service and costs less than $5.00 per month. They offer a 15-day free trial and the BlackBerry client during which you can test out the Carbonite BlackBerry application . Carbonite Expands Mobile Access With New Application for BlackBerry(R) Smartphones and Updated Application for iPhone(TM) Backed up files available for access anytime, anywhere BOSTON, May 11 /PRNewswire/ – Carbonite®, a leading provider of online backup, today introduced a new mobile application for BlackBerry® smartphone users that provides access to their backed up files anywhere, anytime directly on their BlackBerry phone.
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Carbonite Online Backup Releases BlackBerry Application
I have to say that I recently had the most interesting and rewarding experience. I am an avid collector of just about everything. I use eBay and Craigslist on a regular basis. My husband lost his job last year and we have been trying to save money more recently. I was trying to figure out a way to continue working on my collections and spend a lot less. Last week I figured out the way to do that.
NoLongerNeedIt.com. This site is amazing. I came across it by happenstance and figured I would try it out. It is a trading site. Genius right? You would have thought that someone would have come up with this sooner. It was so easy. You can search for things that you want to get or you can search for things that you want to trade. It was so easy to use too. Very simple and it only took me 3 minutes to create a profile to post my own items.
I took a look around my house and found a bunch of things that I no longer need or never use anymore and I searched for people that might want them. I found someone that wanted some old skis and she had Alias The Complete Series to trade. I contacted her and we set up a meet and I had my new items the next day. Best part is it literally cost me nothing but a pair of skis that I will never use again. Maybe when I am done watching Alias, I will post it on the site and trade for something else.
I have listed some of the items that I usually use eBay and Craigslist to purchase for my collection and I have already gotten a couple of hits from people that want to trade. I am definitely going to continue to use this site. So far it has been really fun and easy. I definitely recommend thinking about trading if you are trying to save money or even if you are not. You never know what you can get. What is that famous quote? “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” Well NoLongerNeedIt.com proves that to be true. Happy Trading!
Making a good thing better isn’t easy these days. We’ve seen phone manufacturers make incremental improvements that don’t jazz reviewers or the buying public. RIM, makers of the BlackBerry line of smartphones, clearly haven’t succumbed to “manufacturer’s block”: the Bold (the best BlackBerry to date), touch screen Storm and now the Curve 8900 prove that RIM still has that special sauce that floats sales even during these hard times.
The Curve 8900 (sometimes referred to by its code name “Javelin” or Curve II) adds nothing groundbreaking but tweaks just the right things to make the BlackBerry Curve once again seem cool and competitive. It’s currently offered by T-Mobile in the US, but rumor has it that the phone will eventually make its way to AT&T. And history tells us that the Curve II is likely to make it to Verizon and Sprint some time in the distant future since those carriers have offered their own variant of every BlackBerry released in the past several years.
The Curve 8900 features BlackBerry OS 4.6, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus lens, GPS and WiFi with UMA calling (T-Mobile’s @Home WiFi calling service). It’s the thinnest BlackBerry by a slim margin and is significantly more compact than the capacious Bold. It has the Bold and Storm’s black and chrome modern design that looks great and much less plasticky than the original Curve. Though it is made of plastic, the BlackBerry 8900 doesn’t look like cheesy piece, rather quite the opposite. Though it doesn’t look as chic as the Bold and lacks the leather-textured back, it costs less too.
Design and Ergonomics
The BlackBerry 8900 keeps the first generation Curve 8320’s overall shape and size while slimming down 0.10 inches from 0.6″ to 0.5″ thick. It feels great in the hand, even for those with smaller hands and is easy to operate one-handed (even when texting). They keyboard layout is nearly identical to the Bold’s, but the keys are smaller which makes typing a bit harder than on the Bold, though still better than many other QWERTY bar phones on the market. The key surfaces are similar to the last generation Curve’s, and lack the “wave” ridged key design found on the Bold. Which key surface is better? That’s a matter of personal taste, and I found both equally workable.
The phone has RIM’s usual front-facing call send and end buttons along with menu and back/esc buttons. The volume controls are on the right as is the camera key/shutter button. There’s a convenience key on the left side that’s assigned to voice dialing, but you can set it to launch any application. The camera lens is on the back as per usual, and the SIM card slot and microSD card slot are under the battery cover. You need not remove the battery to insert or remove a microSD card.
Performance, BlackBerry OS and Web
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 runs OS 4.6, currently the latest non-touch screen version of RIM’s smartphone operating system. The Bold runs 4.6 as well, but we’ve noted some improvements in the web browser’s rendering accuracy and speed. For an EDGE smartphone, the BlackBerry 8900 downloads and renders pages very quickly, thanks to RIM’s excellent data compression technology, improvements in OS 4.6 and the 8900’s fast 512 MHz Xscale CPU. Obviously it doesn’t outpace the Bold with its 3G HSDPA connection and even faster CPU, but it runs circles around the original Curve. Likewise, navigating menus and folders is snappy and the 8900 only occasionally slowed down when several heavyweight applications were running in the background (i.e.: web browser, media player, Docs To Go and email). The phone has ~119 megs of free memory to store applications and T-Mobile bundles a 256 meg microSD card (that won’t last you long if you’re into music and video).
The BlackBerry can sync PIM with Outlook on the desktop using the included desktop software. PocketMac Mac syncing software isn’t in the box, but it’s available as a free download on the web. We find PocketMac a little cranky with newer BlackBerry models and resorted to Missing Sync for BlackBerry, which costs $40, but works quite well.
The phone’s WiFi 802.11b/g connection works not only for UMA calling but for web surfing as well. Obviously, web pages load more quickly over WiFi and we were very satisfied with the speed. There are three browser configurations (each is highly customizable): T-Mobile (WAP and mobile browser emulation), Internet Browser (by default it emulates Internet Explorer) and Hotspot Browser (you can use this only when WiFi is connected). If you use the ‘Berry without a BlackBerry data plan, the Internet Browser option won’t appear and you won’t be able to use BlackBerry email services. But basic web browsing and text messaging will work. As we’ve noted with other BlackBerry smartphones, Javascript slows down page load times; in fact it sometimes doubles them. The 8900 is a little less addled than the Bold when it comes to Javascript handling, but we suggest that unless you really need it, leave Javascript turned off in settings. You can always turn it on on the fly by hitting the “j” key when in the browser.
The BlackBerry’s claim to fame is push email, and it’s still one of the best solutions for those who want email and more on the go. The 8900 works with BES and BIS services (the first is for companies that have BlackBerry servers, the second for those who wish to have their carrier provide the BlackBerry server services). BIS (short for BlackBerry Internet Service) is hosted by T-Mobile in the case of the T-Mobile branded Curve 8900 and it can support up to 10 email addresses including those from your non-BES workplace running MS Exchange or IMAP, POP3 and popular personal email services like Gmail and Yahoo email. You’ll get your own @tmo.blackberry.net email address and that’s true push email. When you add other IMAP, Exchange or POP3 email addresses, it’s not instantaneous delivery since the BlackBerry BIS server polls those email accounts periodically (depending on your email server’s setup it could be between every 3 and 10 minutes) and then sends the mail to the Curve. Some web-based email services like Gmail do work in near instant fashion. BES email is instant push, and the Curve can sync PIM data with a BES server.
The BlackBerry Curve, like the Bold and Storm, displays HTML email, and does a decent job of it. Image display is turned off by default to protect your privacy but you can turn it on for a message if desired. The phone creates inbox icons for each email account and has a consolidated Messages icon which is an aggregated inbox for all emails and SMS/MMS. When new mail arrives, you can set the phone to notify you audibly, with a flashing LED or not at all. Since this is a BlackBerry, there are separate settings for in-holster notifications and a small leather slip case sans belt clip is included (it doesn’t look like the traditional BB holster with magnets but it indeed is).
Phone
The BlackBerry Curve 8900 is a quad band GSM world phone that will work anywhere in the world GSM service is available. It’s sold locked to T-Mobile which means you must use their SIM card or get it unlocked (customer service will do this if you’ve been a customer for 3 months). Call quality is very good and earpiece volume is adequate for all but very noisy locations. The speakerphone is loud and clear with little distortion at high volume. Reception is middle of the road to a bit below– the smartphone worked fine for us in areas with strong to middling reception but the signal was a few decibels weaker than the Dash and Motorola MOTOZine ZN5.
Nuance’s excellent voice command software is included, and it handles voice dialing along with basic commands like “status”. It works well when used directly with the handset and with Bluetooth headsets.
The Curve’s coolest feature may well be UMA calling, which is calling over WiFi. RIM isn’t a stranger to UMA calling, and the BlackBerry Curve 8320 on T-Mobile also had this feature. T-Mobile charges $10/month for their @Home service, and it works with most WiFi access points including public hotspots. The service tunnels calls over a WiFi connection, and you get unlimited domestic calling over UMA– not bad if you’re often in range of a WiFi access point and make a good number of calls. The service also compensates greatly for T-Mobile’s residential coverage and building penetration issues that might otherwise make home service or work service in a large office building problematic. When this feature is added to your account, the 8900 will automatically use UMA when connected to a WiFi access point, and display “UMA” on the home screen along with a pink signal strength indicator. If your call originates in UMA mode it counts as a UMA call for billing purposes, even if you go out of access point range and the call transitions to GSM. These handoffs are smooth and reliable– impressive. If your call originates on GSM and the smartphone later connects to an access point during that call, it’s billed as a regular GSM call (in other words, you’re billed based on where the call originates). Call quality over UMA is excellent, and is even louder and clearer than a good GSM connection’s call.
GPS
The smartphone has an integrated GPS and it comes pre-loaded with BlackBerry Maps, a free program that downloads map data over the air and handles mapping, location, POI and on-screen directions. It does not provide spoken turn-by-turn directions, for that you’ll need TeleNav, a $9.99/month service that also downloads map data over the air. TeleNav is a solid application with up-to-date maps, traffic information, spoken directions, re-routing and a good POI database. In our tests, the BlackBerry and TeleNav tracked our location correctly and gave logical directions with fairly accurate traffic information. The phone and program occasionally fell behind according to the on-screen map, but spoken directions didn’t lag and seemed to know where we actually were.
Multimedia and Camera
The 8900’s media player handles video playback, music, ringtones and pictures. It’s no different from other recent BlackBerry smartphones in terms of UI and file support, though we’ve found that with each OS revision, the media player expands video format support (for example older BlackBerry Pearl models were very picky about encoding). RIM includes Roxio (Windows only) desktop software and it will convert and optimize video before transferring it to the phone. Alternatively, if you’re using compatible video files, you can use a card reader and drag them to a microSD card. The music player handles most popular formats including unprotected iTunes songs (RIM includes a Windows app that will sync iTunes playlists to the BlackBerry and PocketMac has the same feature). Other formats include MP3, WAV and WMA. Audio output through the included 3.5mm stereo headset is good and likewise very good with A2DP stereo headphones like the Motorola S9-HD.
The video player handles MPEG4 (the same format used for the iPod and iPhone) and the high resolution display impressed us for QVGA playback of iPhone-formatted .MP4 files. The screen’s sharpness and vivid colors are likewise wonderful for photo viewing, though we wish the screen were larger for both video and image viewing. The display is a bit more warm than our Bold’s which is quite cool, and we preferred the Curve’s more natural flesh tones.
The 3.2 megapixel camera represents RIM’s second autofocus model (the Storm was the first). Both cameras share the same resolution and similar software, but we found the Storm’s colors faded and dull while the Curve 8900’s are strong (in fact, blues are sometimes vividly over-saturated). As with most autofocus camera phones, you’ll press the camera button half way down to focus (an on-screen box will turn green when focus is achieved) and then press it all the way down to take the photo. Camera phones aren’t quick when it comes to autofocus, and the Curve like the Storm is a bit faster than average at approximately 2 seconds. Overall, we really liked the 8900’s photos and rank them above the Storm’s and HTC Fuze though below the 5 megapixel Samsung Behold.
Battery Life
The Curve 8900 comes with a 1400 mAh Lithium Ion battery, that’s beefier than the original Curve’s 1100 mAh battery. Since this is an EDGE device, battery life is good when WiFi is turned off, and we managed just over 5 hours of talk time. WiFi and UMA calling take their toll when the phone is in use but less so on standby. The BlackBerry lasted 2 to 3 days in standby with WiFi on, easily outlasting the Nokia 7510 feature phone on T-Mobile which died after a day of standby.
Conclusion
It’s hard not to pick this ‘Berry; it’s one of RIM’s best smartphones yet in a compact package. Gone is the burden of choice– WiFi or GPS, and the camera is excellent, UMA calling works well and the phone feels great in the hand. It’s fairly stable for a new model and in general, BlackBerry OS is one of the most stable on the market. Though billed as a consumer model, the Curve 8900 has what it takes to be a great business tool: very good keyboard, the usual RIM push email experience, a decent web browser and good voice services. Fun features like music and video playback are strong, and we like the standard 3.5mm stereo jack and Bluetooth stereo A2DP support.
Pro: Fast, attractive, very good ergonomics. Improved speed and web browsing compared to older BlackBerry OS versions (i.e.; the first gen Curve and Pearl), high resolution display that’s sharp and vivid, very good camera, strong video and music playback, good GPS performance. Has 3.5mm headphone jack and A2DP. UMA is a big plus and works well.
Con: Display resolution is very high for the size and text is hard to read– the display is the same resolution as the Storm’s, which measures 1.1″ larger! No 3G. Reception is middling.
Specs:
Display: 2.44″ 65K color transmissive color LCD. Resolution: 480 x 360.
Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1400 mA. Claimed talk time: up to 5.5 hours. Claimed standby: up to 15 days.
Performance: XScale 512 MHz processor. 64 MB built-in RAM. Approximately 119 megs free Flash ROM for program installation.
Size: 2.4 x 4.3 x 0.5 inches. Weight: 3.9 ounces.
Phone: Quad band GSM world phone 850/900/1800/1900MHz with EDGE and GPRS for data. Sold locked to T-Mobile.
Camera: 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus lens and LED flash. Video resolutions: 240 x 180 and 176 x 144 MMS mode.
Audio and Multimedia: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Voice Recorder and music player included. Audio Format Support: .3gp, WAV, MIDI, AMR-NB, G711u/A, GSM610, PCM, MP3, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA9/10 Standard/Pro. Video formats supported: DivX, XviD (MPEG4 Advance Simple Profile), H.263, WMV3.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g with UMA support and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR with A2DP stereo, AVRC, data transfer, headset, handsfree, desktop sync, serial port, DUN and SIM access profile.
Software: BlackBerry OS 4.6. BlackBerry push email client. BlackBerry Messaging, SMS and MMS. BlackBerry Maps (free service), TeleNav GPS navigation application (requires subscription), Documents to Go standard edition (view and edit but not create MS Office documents), T-Zones portal, web browser, media player for MP3 pleasure and video playback. PIM apps include address book, calendar, tasks and memo. Also Alarm, clock, voice notes, calculator, Password Keeper. Games: BrickBreaker and Critter Crunch. BlackBerry Desktop software for PC included for syncing and software installation (PocketMac for BlackBerry Mac software can be downloaded for free from RIM’s site).
Expansion: 1 SDHC microSD card slot. 256 meg card included.
With a whirlwind marketing campaign behind it, the RIM BlackBerry Storm 9530 for Verizon has been a highly anticipated smartphone. Why? This is the first touch screen BlackBerry. Gone is the hardware QWERTY keyboard synonymous with the ‘Berry. Instead we have an on-screen keyboard– actually two: 1) a standard QWERTY in landscape mode and 2) 20 key SureType in portrait mode. Who’d have thought even RIM would jump on the touch screen bandwagon gone rampant since the launch of the first iPhone?
nd RIM has done something different here: this isn’t the resistive touch screen usually found on Windows Mobile devices, nor is it the “simple” capacitive display found on the iPhone and a few other phones. The Storm’s huge touch screen display is capacitive but it’s a screen made of floating layers, and the screen actually moves downward when you press it, giving a tactile click. Thus the whole screen moves just a hair, and clicks like a key on a standard BlackBerry. Funky. RIM calls this “SurePress”. This changes the way, or rather ways we interact with touch screens. The light to moderate touch works with the capacitive layer (it reacts to the electrical resistance in your skin, so a stylus won’t work). You’ll use this to scroll a web page, document or palette of icons. To select a web link, menu item, icon or keyboard key, you must press down until the display moves and clicks. Very funky… but kinda cool. It’s one of those things you’re either going to love or hate.
The Storm has an accelerometer that rotates the display when you turn the phone on its side (either side). You’ll get the full QWERTY on screen keyboard in landscape mode and a SureType keyboard in portrait mode. The accelerometer is quite sensitive and we found a steady hand was required to avoid accidental rotation.
The BlackBerry Storm is currently exclusive to Verizon in the US. In Europe, Vodafone has the GSM version. The Verizon version does have a SIM card slot, and it’s a world phone like the BlackBerry 8830. The SIM card slot is locked to Vodafone (who happens to own a stake in Verizon). So no luck for those of you with AT&T and T-Mobile SIM cards here in the US. The touch screen ‘Berry has EVDO rev. A for fast data, a 3.2″ display with a remarkable 480 x 360 resolution, a GPS that works with VZ Navigator, Bluetooth stereo and all the usual BlackBerry push email goodness. Pretty much the only thing missing is WiFi.
Performance and OS
The Storm runs BlackBerry OS 4.7, which adds touch screen support. The also new BlackBerry Bold in contrast, runs OS 4.6. Speaking of the Bold, a traditional BlackBerry with a full hardware QWERTY keyboard, the specs are quite similar. The Bold actually runs on a somewhat faster Marvell 624MHz CPU while the Storm runs on a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, but both have a gig of internal memory, 128 megs of RAM, GPS, and a high resolution display that’s viewable outdoors and stunning indoors. But the Bold adds WiFi to the mix while it loses the touch screen. In favor of the Bold is performance– it’s the usual BlackBerry quick while the Storm lags too often. Firmware updates might tweak performance but we noticed the Storm taking occasional time-outs to think its way through even seemingly simple chores. The waits are sometimes very short and other times a few seconds, reminding us of the bad old days of Windows Mobile.
Design and Ergonomics
There’s no way around it– this is one large phone. At 5.5 ounces it carries some serious weight too. If you thought the Bold was big (or at least wide), the Storm isn’t smaller. It looks and feels thicker than the Bold though it’s actually a tad thinner. The phone is attractive and looks well made, and we like the lightweight metal back plate that covers the battery. The Storm is black with chrome accents along the sides, and is made of plastic (other than the battery cover). The SIM card slot and microSD card slot are under the back door. Thankfully, there’s no need to remove the battery to swap a microSD card. Verizon generously provides an 8 gig microSD card in the box, which is their subtle way of saying “yes indeed, it supports SDHC high capacity cards”.
Our beloved BlackBerry menu and back buttons made their way over from the non-touch screen world, and these are flanked by call send and end buttons. That means you can get a few of the basics done without touching that lovely display.
RIM keeps it simple on the sides: the left side has just the voice command button and USB port. The right side houses the 3.5mm stereo headphone jack (headset included), volume control and camera button. The speakerphone, camera lens and flash are on the back, as per normal.
Phone and Data
The Storm is a dual band digital CDMA phone that works on Verizon’s network in the US. It has 1x and EVDO Rev. A for data. The Storm’s SIM card slot is for overseas roaming on a Vodafone SIM as we mentioned. Handy for world travelers, along with Verizon’s international data roaming plans. Voice quality is good and volume is loud. The speakerphone is deafeningly loud, yet clear. Dialing on screen is simple and easy, and Nuance’s (formerly Voice Signal) voice dialing software is an excellent way to avoid dialing with your digits when driving. Reception is very strong: our office is in a Verizon dead zone, yet the BlackBerry Storm managed to to pull in a decent EVDO rev. A and voice signal when other Verizon phones drop to 1 bar or none.
Data is a pleasure on Verizon’s EVDO Rev. A network, and our BlackBerry Storm averaged over 1,000 kbps on DSL Reports’ mobile speed test. We like the dual function touch screen for browsing– you can drag the page to scroll to your heart’s content with no fear of accidentally tapping a link or banner ad. Likewise double-tapping to zoom does only that. And there are quite a few levels of zoom, making this Berry friendly to old and young eyes alike. The concerted press until click is very effective here. The BlackBerry browser is quite good, and that much better with a touch screen. No more madly driving the trackball around the screen, and the 480 x 360 resolution makes for a page overview that’s almost readable on full HTML sites. As always with BlackBerries, some Javascript can befuddle the browser and given the touch screen convention, there’s no way to interact with dHTML JavaScript menus (if they’re even supported). Full HTML sites’ pages do download very quickly over EVDO rev. A and the Storm’s page scrolling is responsive, quick and accurate with no re-draw delays.
Display and Multimedia
The display is marvelous, especially for a touch screen. Though it supports only 65k colors, it looks richer than many other touch screen phone’s displays. It’s also extremely sharp and even small fonts are clear. The display is perfectly readable outdoors, another relative rarity among touch screen phones (especially Windows Mobile phones). The Storm holds its own against the iPhone on the display quality and outdoor viewability fronts. Like the iPhone, the touch screen does get smudgy quickly, and unlike the iPhone the display surface is plastic, not glass.
Since the BlackBerry Pearl and Curve, BlackBerry smartphones have dropped the suit for trendy multimedia features. We’re not complaining. The media player (similar to that on the Bold and other recent BlackBerry phones) is very good at handling music, video and photos. The music player supports MP3 and AAC iTunes format files and can even sync with iTunes (except copy-protected files). Sound quality is good through headphones, both wired and A2DP Bluetooth stereo, and the speaker is very loud and clear. It’s loud enough that you could seriously annoy the person next to you on the commuter train or bus.
The video player is very capable and handles MPEG4 formats (as always with BlackBerry, it’s a little picky about formats). Videos look great on the the large, high resolution display and playback is smooth up to 550 or 600kbps (the Bold handles high bitrate files a bit better, but it has a faster CPU and no touch screen). Given the large display, high capacity microSD card slot and included 8 gig card, the Storm makes a very good portable media player.
The BlackBerry Storm has a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus lens– a first in terms of resolution and focus technology in a BlackBerry. Yes, the photos are better than any other BlackBerry smartphone’s. They’re better than the Nokia E71’s (also a 3MP autofocus) but not better than the HTC Fuze’s or Sprint HTC Touch Diamond’s photos. While the HTC offerings over-sharpen images, the Storm does fine in that regard but its colors are faded in comparison. The Storm has more white out in outdoor settings, but it takes more natural shots overall.
Autofocus is responsive by camera phone standards, and max photo resolution is 2048 x 1536. You can press the camera button to focus and shoot or press the screen (that leads to camera movement though). There are settings for flash control, image quality, resolution, white balance, image stabilization, color effects and geotagging. The Storm can also shoot video with audio at 320 x 240 and 176 x 144 resolutions.
GPS
The BlackBerry Storm has a built-in GPS that works with the included VZ Navigator. The GPS gets a fix in average time compared to other recent phones, and there’s no lag when driving; directions are prompt and the map is spot on with actual location. Navigator costs $9.99/month and it requires a data plan since maps and directions are downloaded over the air. The spoken directions are accurate, loud and clear. In fact the Storm’s directions are startlingly loud at anything above the medium volume setting. You can drag maps around with a finger, zoom and save locations to favorites. There are extensive POI listings and traffic information as well.
Conclusion
If touch screens tickle your fancy or you’ve had a bad case of iPhone envy, but can’t live without the BlackBerry push email experience and very complete smartphone feature set, the BlackBerry Storm might be for you. Since it’s exclusive to Verizon, make sure that their coverage and plans suit your needs, and if that’s a go, do check out the Storm. We’d like to see less lag, and hope that this will improve with future firmware updates, but overall the Storm is a pleasing and competent phone– if you like RIM’s new touch screen technology. That’s a matter of personal preference: it’s not an easy transition if you’ve become accustomed to non-moving displays. But once you get the hang of it, it works well. Our only complaint is that typing is inherently slower compared to other touch screens when you must press until the display moves and clicks for each keystroke.
Pro: Innovative Touch screen. Large and lovely display. Good web browser and the usual superb BlackBerry push email experience. Decent camera, good multimedia performance. Impressive speaker and good GPS.
Con: Innovative touch screen. Only available on Verizon (no offense to Verizon but like the iPhone, there’s no carrier choice). Slow downs and lagging aren’t a part of the usual BlackBerry experience. Large.
Specs:
Display: 65K color color touch screen. Screen size diagonally: 3.5″. Resolution: 480 x 360, supports both portrait and landscape modes.
Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1400 mAh. Claimed talk time: up to 6 hours. Claimed standby: up to 15 days.
Performance: Qualcomm 528MHz CPU. 128 megs RAM, 1 gig internal storage.
Size: 4.43 x 2.45 x 0.55 inches. Weight: 5.5 ounces.
Phone: CDMA dual band digital 800/1900MHz with 1x and EVDO Rev. A. GSM quad band 850/900/1800/1900MHz with EDGE and 3G on the Euro 2100MHz band only. SIM locked to Vodafone
Camera: 3.2 MP with autofocus lens and flash.
Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Music and video players included. Can sync to iTunes for non-copy protected media.
Networking: Bluetooth 2.0. Profiles include headset, handsfree, PBAP, Serial Port, DUN and stereo A2DP with AVRC.
Software: BlackBerry OS 4.7.
Expansion: 1 SDHC microSD card slot. 8 gig card included.
The BlackBerry Curve 8520 aims to go where no ‘Berry has gone before, a land with no trackball. RIM’s trackball is beloved and like the BlackBerry line, addictive. It’s responsive, accurate and more efficient than the much more common d-pad. So why axe it? The trackball does pick up dirt which can affect performance (and require an alcohol rub-down to get working), gets dingy and involves several moving parts (moving parts are more likely to break down). The Curve 8520 instead has a small optical trackpad in place of the trackball and miraculously it works nearly exactly like the trackball. And it moves down and clicks for the center-press action– nice. No small engineering achievement on RIM’s part, the trackpad is great. For those of you who’ve used the optical pads on Samsung phones such as the Omnia and some imports, this isn’t the same animal: it’s much more precise and controllable.
The Curve 8520’s other new hardware feature is the music playback control cluster that lines the phone’s top edge. All the Berry’s edges are rubberized, giving it a rugged feel and the top music controls for track forward, track back and play/pause are under rubber. The controls are easy to use, as are the other under-rubber buttons for volume, camera and voice command.
The BlackBerry Curve 8520 replaces the Curve 8320 on T-Mobile and it’s smaller and sleeker looking. The smartphone is available in black and “frost” which is a very dull battleship gray. In black it looks quite good, in frost it looks dull and cheap to us. The Curve 8520 joins the excellent BlackBerry Curve 8900 in T-Mobile’s lineup, and that’s the 8520’s biggest problem. Currently priced at only $20 less, the 8520 has weaker specs in several key areas: lower display resolution, a lower resolution camera and no GPS. If and when T-Mobile drops the 8520’s price relative to the 8900, it will make much more sense in their lineup.
The 8520 is a quad band GSM world phone with EDGE for data. It has WiFi 802.11b/g with support for UMA calling over WiFi and T-Mobile’s @Home service. As with most UMA phones on T-Mobile, it works very well and call hand-offs are seamless. The phone has a 2.46″ QVGA 320 x 240 pixel display, a 2 megapixel fixed-focus camera, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR and an SDHC microSD card slot.
The Curve runs BlackBerry OS 4.6.1 on a 512MHz processor with 256 megs of flash memory, of which 125 megs are free to store documents and applications. It’s responsive and stable.
Looking at the hardware
The BlackBerry 8520 has a few changes in the control cluster: rather than raised buttons for call send/end, menu and back, there are no buttons but rather mechanical switches under the smooth surface. Two raised ridges make it easier to find the “buttons” which would otherwise be lost to the blind finger. The switches do click nicely so you know you’ve hit the button. The look is modern and trendy, and we’ve seen the same thing on several recent Nokia S60 N series smartphones.
The QWERTY keys are raised and have a good tactile click. As BlackBerry phones get smaller, so do the keys but we found the Curve 8520’s manageable and easier to type on than the Curve 8900’s. The key surfaces aren’t slippery and they’re flat rather than the “wave” style. The keyboard’s keys are backlit in white and the control cluster is also backlit in white except the call send and end buttons which are green and red, as you’d expect.
As mentioned, the sides and top and bottom caps are rubberized. A little inspiration from Nextel? But unlike the ruggedized and rubberized Nextel phones of old, the BlackBerry 8520 doesn’t look like it was designed to live on a construction site– it’s subtle. Obviously the rubber makes the phone easier to hold onto, and it makes the phone look less monotonous. The front face and rear battery door are shiny plastic. There’s no real or faux metal back door here, no Bold leather treatment and the battery door doesn’t even get a release latch– you pry at it to get it off. And yes, those shiny parts latch onto fingerprint grime like crazy, making the ‘Berry look hazy.
The microSD card slot is under the battery door, but you need not remove the battery to access the card.
Phone, email and Internet
The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a GSM quad band world phone with EDGE. It will work anywhere GSM service is available. You can make calls over the GSM network or over WiFi if you subscribe to T-Mobile @Home service. The phone hands off calls to and from WiFi seamlessly and automatically uses UMA and the WiFi network if in range of a known and saved hotspot/router. Call quality is good and the volume is good as well. Both incoming and outgoing voice are clear, though call recipients could tell we were on a cell phone (it can’t compete with the BlackBerry Bold’s simply awesome call quality, but it ain’t bad either). Reception is good, and a bit better than the 8900 we reviewed, and the speakerphone is very loud and clear. The 8520 supports T-Mobile’s myFaves service and has a theme that puts MyFaves on the standby screen.
The browser is very similar to other recent BlackBerry phones released in the past year. It does full HTML web rendering along with WAP and it offers separate settings for WAP, HTML and Hotspot (WiFi) browsing modes. RIM’s browser is showing its age, and it’s more prone to Javascript-related slowdowns (this is likely why Javascript is turned off by default), CSS misrepresentations and general layout mayhem. Many full HTML sites look fine, but enough of them have text block overruns, or strange layouts when Javascript is turned off that it’s time RIM came up with something that competes with the webkit browsers used on theiPhone, Android and Nokia S60.
BlackBerry email on the other hand, is still the best game in town. If you want push email, support for multiple accounts and that sense that you’ll never, ever, ever be out of touch for a moment, the Crackberry is for you. There’s also the usual inter-BlackBerry Messenger, SMS, MMS and a host of IM services: AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Yahoo and Windows Live. T-Mobile’s BlackBerry unlimited data plan (BIS) currently costs $25/month and is required with a new contract. Their unlimited Enterprise data plan (BES) is $30/month and there are versions with text message bundles too.
Display and Multimedia
The Curve’s 2.46″ QVGA display is clear and sharp, though not quite as bright and vivid as the Curve 8900 and Bold’s display. It is easier on the eyes compared to the 8900, whose high resolution on a small screen makes for tiny text. The Curve 8520’s speaker is very loud and clear, and we had no trouble hearing the soundtracks that accompanied video. The music player obviously works best with a stereo headset (one is included) or A2DP Bluetooth stereoheadphones/headsets. The speaker sounds good but no phone’s speaker can replace good audio out. The new hardware audio controls work well and certainly are handy, but the media player remains unchanged. RIM’s media player is attractive and capable though, and it handles video, music, photos, ringtones and voice notes as well as podcasts. The phone had no trouble playing locally stored MPEG4 videos encoded at QVGA resolution, 650kbps.
The 2 megapixel camera, alas, takes mediocre photos. It has no flash and a fixed focus lens, and indoor noise is particularly notable. Outdoor shots lack good dynamic range and colors are somewhat muted. If photography is your thing, consider the BlackBerry Curve 8900 with its 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera.
Battery
The BlackBerry 8520 has an 1150 mAh Lithium Ion rechargeable battery that’s user replaceable. Since the 8520 lacks a GPS and 3G, two battery-killers, battery life is good. The phone easily lasted us 3 days on a charge with moderate use. UMA calling and WiFi are well optimized and the phone lasted 1.5 days with WiFi on and UMA calling active– better than the first crop of UMA BlackBerry smartphones on T-Mobile.
Conclusion
The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a solid phone and we found little to dislike. Really, it’s hard to imagine a “poor” BlackBerry– RIM’s products are always solidly functional. It looks good in black (you know what we think of the “frost” color), and is sturdy and stable. In fact, it’s more stable than the Curve 8900 was at release. The slim feature set might appeal to budget-minded BlackBerry buyers, but the problem is that the more full-featured and higher spec BlackBerry Curve 8900 is currently only $20 more on contract. At that differential, we have to recommend the Curve 8900 over the 8520. But if the prices start to diverge and the 8520 drops to $50 less, then we would recommend it to budget buyers who don’t need a GPS or better camera. And if you want to buy a new ‘Berry without a contract extension, the retail (no contract) price of the Curve 8520 is $150 less, which makes much more sense.
Specs:
Display: 65K color transmissive TFT color LCD. Screen size diagonally: 2.46″. Resolution: 320 x 240 pixels.
Battery: 1150 mAh Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. Claimed talk time: 4.5 hours on GSM. Claimed standby: 17 days.
Performance: 512MHz processor. 256 megs flash memory with 125 megs available to store programs and data.
Size: 2.4 x 4.3 x 0.5 inches. Weight: 3.8 ounces.
Phone: GSM quad band with EDGE 850/900/1800/1900MHz. Supports UMA calling- T-Mobile @home service.
Camera: 2.0 megapixel with fixed focus lens (no flash or self-portrait mirror). Can take still photos up to 1600 x 1200 resolution and video up to QVGA 320 x 240.
Audio: Built in speaker, mic and 3.5mm standard stereo headphone jack. Voice Recorder, music and video player included. Has hardware playback controls on the top edge.
Networking: Integrated WiFi 802.11b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR. Bluetooth profiles: hands-free, headset, serial port, DUN (dial-up networking), A2DP stereo with AVRC, SIM access and phone book access.
Software:BlackBerry OS 4.6.1. BlackBerry push email client. BlackBerry Messaging, SMS and MMS. BlackBerry Maps (free service), Documents to Go standard edition (view and edit but not create MS Office documents), MyFaves, web browser, media player for MP3 and video playback. PIM apps include address book, calendar, tasks and memo. Also Alarm, clock, voice notes, calculator, Password Keeper. Games: BrickBreaker, Texas Hold ‘Em Sudoku, Klondike and Word Mole. BlackBerry Desktop software for PC included for syncing and software installation (PocketMac for BlackBerry Mac software can be downloaded for free from RIM’s site).
Expansion: 1 SDHC microSD card slot.
In the box: Phone, battery, charger, USB cable, stereo earbud headset, software CD and printed material.
What’s hot: New software and styling. Excellent messaging experience and strong application selection.
What’s not: Camera takes mediocre pictures. Battery life could be better.
Those who are on Verizon and Sprint typing away on their BlackBerry 8830 or Curve 8330 now have something to pine for: the BlackBerry Tour 9630. Smaller than the BlackBerry Bold but classier than the Curve 8900, the BlackBerry Tour is the flagship CDMA BlackBerry smartphone. It has a 528MHz processor, and 256 MB RAM and 256 MB internal flash ROM. It’s running BlackBerry OS 4.7 and desktop software 4.7, and has built-in GPS with BlackBerry Maps, built-in Bluetooth v2.0 with A2DP stereo support, a media player that supports more codecs, and a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus and video capturing capability. Users of the older BlackBerry Curve smartphones will appreciate the higher resolution screen, the same excellent push email and IM experience and improved web browser that’s better but has not yet reached the level of the iPhone, Nokia S60, Palm Pre or Google Android browser. Above all the enhancements, the real star accompanying the BlackBerry Tour is the BlackBerry App World. BlackBerry Tour users get over the air download links to popular applications in multimedia, social networks and productivity categories on both Sprint and Verizon versions. What’s glaringly missing from the BlackBerry Tour however is built-in Wi-Fi.
The Sprint and Verizon versions are nearly identical apart from carrier services, so we’ll cover both phones in this review and make note when a feature is available only on one carrier’s version.
The BlackBerry Tour 9630 is a digital dual band CDMA phone that’s available in Sprint and Verizon versions in the U.S., and it’s also a quad band GSM phone that will work anywhere GSM networks are available outside of the U.S. Both Sprint and Verizon lock the GSM radio in the U.S., as they want you to use their CDMA networks. The BlackBerry Tour 9630 also has 3G for fast data and works on EV-DO Rev. A networks. Outside of the U.S., the phone works on 2100MHz UMTS/HSPA 3G networks.
Design
The BlackBerry Tour 9630 is a great looking BlackBerry. It has the Curve’s curvy lines but the Bold’s build quality and classier looks. Measuring 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches, the BlackBerry Tour is a hair bigger than the Curve 8900 and just a bit shorter and narrower than the Bold. The 2.4″ display has 480 x 360 pixel resolution and 65K colors, and it looks bright and color saturated. The QWERTY keyboard is very easy to use and the trackball provides an excellent navigation experience as with other trackball-equipped BlackBerries. The menu keys, call send and call end keys flank the trackball and are quite flat though not hard to use as they are large. Music fans should be happy to know that the BlackBerry Tour has a 3.5mm stereo audio jack and it comes witha wired stereo headset. Along with the audio jack, the BlackBerry Tour has volume controls, and two convenience keys, one on each side of the phone. You can assign these keys to launch any applications including voice command, camera, music and more.
The 3.2 megapixel camera lives on the back with flash and the battery door has a latch that allows you to take the door off very easily. The battery doors vary a little bit between the Sprint and Verizon versions: the Sprint Tour has a smooth plastic back while the Verizon Tour has a soft touch battery door with a textured plastic strip in the middle. The SIM card lives under the battery door and you will need to take the battery out to access it when you travel overseas, and the microSD card slot also lives under the battery door but it doesn’t require removal of the battery.
Phone, Web and Messaging
The BlackBerry Tour 9630 gets mediocre signal strength in areas that have average to good coverage. Near a cell tower though the phone does get full bars or nearly full bars. The smartphone has never dropped a call on either Sprint or Verizon networks, but the voice quality can’t compete with the BlackBerry Bold on AT&T. The voice isn’t super clear like the Bold, but the Tour has a good DSP for wind and noise filtering. The BlackBerry Tour comes with Nuance voice command software that works very well for voice dialing and checking the coverage level and battery level. The smartphone also has smart dialing and speed dial. Call management features include call waiting, conference call and call forwarding.
The BlackBerry Tour 9630 has the BlackBerry Browser 4.7.1 which can display full HTML pages with images and most layouts intact. Web pages load at a reasonable speed over EV-DO Rev. A. The browser offers bookmarks, history, cookies, cache and settings for fonts and images. One thing that still slows down web page rendering considerably is JavaScript. The browser offers an option to turn JavaScript on or off, and with the feature turned on pages load slowly even over EVDO; but without JavaScript support you might see broken tables, text mis-alignment and other layout nightmares. We certainly hope that RIM’s next generation web browser fixes this problem. In the meantime, webkit-based browsers beat the BlackBerry offering by a mile for rendering accuracy and speed.
For BlackBerry traditionalists who want excellent push email and IM, the BlackBerry Tour doesn’t disappoint. The push email is super fast and allows signatures, attachments and a multitude of message management features and settings. The BlackBerry PIN-based messaging and IM are expedient and easy to use. The Tour also supports SMS, MMS and popular messenger applications.
GPS and Navigation
The BlackBerry Tour 9630 has built-in GPS. It comes with BlackBerry Maps and also works with Sprint Navigation and Verizon VZ Navigator. The GPS gets fast fixes and accurate positions. BlackBerry Maps is a free download over the air and offers maps, turn-by-turn on-screen directions and POI searches. The maps load a bit slower than the carrier hosted navigation services, and it doesn’t have voice guidance. While not free, both carriers’ navigation services offer route calculations, turn-by-turn directions and voice guidance for driving. We tested the GPS with both services and found the GPS worked smoothly for real time routing and re-routing, traffic reports and POI searches. The voice guidance was on target and the turn-by-turn direction and maps followed driving perfectly. The voice was loud through the phone’s built-in speaker and we had no trouble hearing it over highway noise. Sprint Navigation and Verizon VZ Navigator both cost $9.99 per month.
Multimedia
While the BlackBerry Tour doesn’t have the hardware music controls found on the BlackBerry Curve 8520, it’s a very decent music player. The media player on the Tour doesn’t look fancy but it can play MP3, AAC, AAC+ eAAC+, WMA and WMA ProPlus audio files. The built-in mono speakerphone is very loud and has clear sound for music playback but it can sound blown out when the volume is turned too high. Using the included wired stereo headset, the music sounds very clear and loud with much stronger bass. The Tour also works with Bluetooth stereo headsets via A2DP. The Sprint BlackBerry works with Sprint’s Music Store and Verzion’s version works with V CAST Music with Rhapsody for buying and downloading music over the air. The BlackBerry Tour also has a microSD card slot that works with high capacity cards and plays music stored on the card. The Sprint version includes a 1GB microSD card with the Tour, and Verizon gives you a 2GB card with the phone. You can of course sync music using the included USB cable.
The BlackBerry Tour can also play video, and on the entertainment front, the BlackBerry Tour for Sprint offers more unique content. Sprint TV works reasonably well on the Tour. The on-demand videos play smoothly most of the time but there are some noticeable frame drops and refresh delays. Other sports and entertainment content on the Sprint version include NFL Mobile Live and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile which offer team info, player info, news and much more. The news and interview videos from the two sports channels are sharp and play mostly smoothly, but the resolution is so small that you can barely make out who is on the screen. Both NASCAR mobile and NFL mobile content is set up for devices with lower resolutions, and as result, the text looks really small on the Tour. Sadly the Verizon version of the Tour doesn’t offer V CAST Video services.
BlackBerry App World and Applications
What if you want to listen to streaming audio, update your Facebook or upload photos to your favorite sites? How about games or checking the weather? BlackBerry App World has you covered. Be it Pandora radio, or apps for Facebook, MySpace and Flickr, or WeatherEye and free games, all you need to do is just download it over the air and install them on your BlackBerry, and many of them are free. RIM has just added a catalogue feature to the App World and now when you look at an application you can see more info about it. App World has top paid app lists, a newly released app list, a top free app list and it also allows you to archive downloaded apps to microSD cards.
Camera
The BlackBerry Tour 9630 has a 3.2 megapixel autofocus camera with a flash. The camera takes OK pictures but not impressive compared with other camera phones in this class. The still images have inconsistent exposure, but colors look saturated and balanced. The pictures could be sharper in both indoor and outdoor shots. The autofocus lens is quite fast and the flash lamp is bright and works well for shots in dark environments. The camera can also take video with audio. The camera software offers white balance settings, effects, shooting modes and geo-tagging as well as image quality and resolution settings.
Battery
The BlackBerry Tour has a rechargeable Lithium Ion battery that’s 1400mAh in capacity. That’s the same battery capacity as the BlackBerry Bold and the Curve 8900 but the Tour doesn’t last as long on a charge. The claimed talk time is 5 hours and claimed standby time is 14 days. Both the Sprint version and Verizon version of the Tour lasted no more than 4-5 days on standby with only push email turned on. When we accessed EVDO data for more intensive tasks such as shopping for music, watching on-demand video and navigation and driving with voice guidance, the phone lasted about 1.5 days. If you talk a lot on the phone and access data frequently as well as getting messages pushed to you, expect to charge the Tour every day to 2 days. Playing music drains very little battery.
Conclusion
For the BlackBerry 8830 or the Curve 8330 users, the BlackBerry Tour 9630 is the logical upgrade. The processor is twice as fast and memory more than doubled from the BlackBerry Curve 8330. The Tour gets the new styling and looks great for a BlackBerry. It has a fresher OS, newer web browser and a media player that supports more codecs. You get the same excellent push email and IM experience, and for the business users, the Tour offers many levels of security. Office To Go suite is onboard to view and edit MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint files, and PIM tools include calculator, Password Keeper, Memo, Tasks and Voice notes. Though not flashy, the BlackBerry Tour offers a good music experience and works with carriers’ over the air music stores. Kudos to Sprint for offering Sprint TV, NFL and NASCAR content on the Tour, and most of all you can download and install more apps from BlackBerry App World over the air. We don’t dig the camera quality and wish the phone had a better battery life. Users who seek built-in Wi-Fi are out of luck with the Tour.
Pro: Faster processor and more memory, new OS including a new version of the web browser and media player, outstanding email and IM experience, good selection of bundled software and available downloads from BlackBerry App World. Very good looking.
Con: Call quality isn’t as good as the Bold, camera takes so-so pictures, and no Wi-Fi.
Specs:
Display: 2.4″ 65K color TFT LCD. Resolution: 480 x 360.
Battery: Lithium Ion rechargeable. Battery is user replaceable. 1400 mAh. Claimed talk time: up to 5 hours. Claimed standby: up to 14 days.
Performance: 528 MHz processor. 256MB built-in RAM and 256MB internal flash memory and more than half of that is available for program installation.
Size: 4.4 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches. Weight: 4.58 ounces.
Audio: Built-in speakerphone, mic and 3.5mm stereo headset jack. Media Player included for your MP3 pleasure. Can play music in MP3, AAC, AAC+ eAAC+, WMA and WMA ProPlus formats, has vibration mode and voice note recorder.
Phone: Dual-Band 800/1900 MHz CDMA/EVDO Rev. A networks in the U.S.; Quad-Band 850/900/1800/1900MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE overseas unlocked, single-Band: 2100 MHz UMTS/HSPA networks.
Networking: Bluetooth v2.0. Supported profiles: Hands-free, mono Headset, phonebook access, Serial and Dial-up Networking (DUN) and A2DP/AVRCP.
Software: BlackBerry v4.7. BlackBerry push email client. BlackBerry Messaging, SMS and MMS. BlackBerry Maps (free service), Sprint Navigation or Verizon VZ Navigator application (requires subscription), Documents to Go standard edition (view and edit but not create MS Office documents), BlackBerry web browser, media player for MP3 pleasure and video playback. PIM apps include address book, calendar, tasks and memo. Also Alarm, clock, voice notes, calculator, Password Keeper. Games: BrickBreaker, Word Mole, Texas Hold’Em King 2, Sudoku and Klondike. BlackBerry Desktop software for PC included for syncing and software installation (PocketMac for BlackBerry Mac software can be downloaded for free from RIM’s site). Nuance VSuite 2.1 for voice dialing and voice command.
Expansion: 1 SDHC microSD card slot. 1GB card included with the Sprint Tour; 2GB card included with the Verizon Tour.
