Think of BlackBerry and automatically you think of email on the move, you think of easy, flawless, seamless communication. You think business device, office on the move, smartphone. What you don’t think, if you are being honest, is entertainment, feature rich specification or all round connectivity. Because, let’s face it, the BlackBerry is an almost device, crossing over from the business market to the consumer market, an almost device in the sense that it is almost a fully fledged consumer handset, but there is always something missing. WiFi here, HSDPA there, GPS elsewhere, for example.
The latest handset in the BlackBerry line-up is the Curve 8520, a compact phone, similar in design and look to the other recent BlackBerry to carry the Curve name, the 8900. A level entry handset, the 8520 of course comes complete with full email functionality we have come to expect from BlackBerry devices. As well as email, the Curve also offers instant messaging, with support for most popular IM platforms, such as MSN Messenger, Yahoo and AOL. The menu layout is standard BlackBerry, colourful icons, underneath which are the long lists of options the BlackBerry menu is infamous for. One new innovation on the Curve is the way the menu is navigated; there is no trackball, instead we find an optical track pad. To move around the menu, simply run your finger over the track pad, left, right, up and down, and the highlighter on screen mirrors your actions, as you highlight and select the option you want. It is a very simple way of navigating the menu, and takes very little time to get used to.
The simplistic design of the 8520 conveys laidback elegance. Compact, the Curve 8520 measures in at 109 x 60 x 13.9mm and weighs 106g. The screen is as on many other BlackBerry handsets, a TFT screen, supporting up to 65,000 colours, which gives a surprisingly clear look and images present sharp and clear. The screen has a resolution of 240 x 320 pixels, and measures 2.64 inches point to point. On screen we find the standard 6 icon shortcuts, which mirror the top six icons from the full menu, offering shortcut access to the most often used menu items. Underneath the display alongside the track pad, is the menu back button, menu access button, send and end keys, and the keypad itself is comprised of a 35 key QWERTY keypad. Despite the size of the keys, composing a message is comfortable and seasoned QWERTY users should find no problems.
Feature wise, the 8520 has a lot to offer, considering its level entry price point. The media player is very well featured; along with support for MP3, AAC, AAC+ and WMA music files, the 8520 can also handle MPEG4, WMV video files, as well as DivX and XviD. A 3.5mm audio output jack is included on the device, pretty common for BlackBerry, and this allows you to use your own favourite headphones for audio playback. Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP is also available, for stereo playback to a wireless headset. There is plenty of room for media, with an internal memory capacity of 256MB, which can be expanded up to 16GB with the addition of a MicroSD memory card.
On the connectivity front, the Curve 8520 offers WiFi, but no HSDPA, let alone 3G. Whilst the core function of a BlackBerry, namely email, is little affected by a GPRS only connection, the lack of 3G is a real killer when it comes to web browsing, and really does have a negative impact in this regard. WiFi is a real bonus, but limited, and personally I would happily trade WiFi for 3G on any mobile device.
A pleasant surprise is the inclusion of a GPS receiver, with aGPS support. BlackBerry Maps comes pre-installed on the phone, and you can also download the ever reliable Google maps to the handset, too. Finally a mention to the 2.0 Megapixel camera. There is little to say here, a simple point n shoot camera, which will take great pictures for sending via MMS or email, but offers not much more than that.
And that is the BlackBerry 8520 Curve. Given it is sited below the Curve 8900 in the BlackBerry hierarchy, the 8520 actually has a pretty impressive spec list, I am particularly impressed with the media playback options. The only real disappointments is the lack of 3G, and the poor camera. Rumoured release date is mid to late August 09.
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