RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G for Verizon Wireless Review

Introduction:

It has been two years since Verizon introduced its BlackBerry Curve 8330 smartphone, which was then followed by the Curve 8530, so we’re glad to see a newer model has made its way out; the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330. This new Curve model closely resembles its predecessor, instead of bringing anything new and exciting to the table. Needless to say, the Curve 3G won’t have Android users jumping ship, but is it enough to keep BlackBerry users onboard?

Included in the retail package is the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 smartphone, 1150mAh battery, wall charger with detachable microUSB cable, and user guides.

Design:

For those of you looking for a fresh design, you may be disappointed, as the BlackBerry Curve 9330 closely resembles the appearance of the Curve 8530; though it does come available in two color options: charcoal gray and fuchsia red. Its overall plastic construction is light weight (3.7oz) and feels durable, utilizing a rubberized back and sides. Due to its compact design, the Curve 9330 is comfortable resting in the palm of your hand, and can be inconspicuously slipped away in your pants pocket.



You can compare the RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The display remains unchanged, coming in at 2.4” with a resolution of 320x240 and 65K color support. Because of its low resolution, images and text (especially in web pages) are quite pixelated and must be zoomed in to be legible. So naturally we would have preferred a higher resolution display here. Below it is the standard optical d-pad in the middle, which works well when navigating through the menus, and on either side are the send, end, back, and menu keys, all of which are smooth plastic.


At the bottom is the familiar BlackBerry styled QWERTY keyboard, which performs quite well. Although the button size can be regarded as tiny, especially for those with large fingers, they are raised up to provide some distinction from one another. Moreover, they offer the same tactile response we're accustomed to experiencing with the Curve series. On the left side of the phone is the 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB port, and convenience key (that can be assigned to a number of actions), on the top is music player controls and the external speaker, and on the right is the volume control and another convenience key. The unchanged 2MP camera is found at the upper left corner on the rear. Finally, removing the back cover is a pretty simple process requiring you to just yank it off, but once that's done you'll have access to the microSD card slot and battery.

Interface and Software:

We were hoping to see BlackBerry OS 6 make its presence known on this handset after seeing the Touch 9800 bring it into the world, but for now we are left with nothing more than OS 5 (specifically 5.0.0.857). Though Verizon does say the Curve 3G 9330 will support an update to OS 6 down the road. The last generation platform is still more than sufficient in getting things done thanks to the peppy 624MHz processor running under the hood, which is an upgrade over the 512MHz CPU that is used on the Curve 8530. In actual usage, there is nothing different to separate this BlackBerry OS 5 device from others on the market, but if you are new to BlackBerry, it will require some investment in time up-front in learning the platform. Overall, we adore the fact that the Curve 9330 is well endowed with the speed factor; seeing that launching applications and getting tasks are a breeze.

The homescreen is laid out as you'd expect it to be with icons on the bottom for accessing your E-Mail, SMS/MMS messages, contacts, calendar, browser, and VZ Navigator, but in the settings you have the option to change them to other specific apps. The home screen can also be changed from the Verizon theme to the standard BlackBerry one, and you can alter their layout between the Zen and Today format. Once you get into the main menu, you'll be greeted with the neon styled presentation of the icons, which are arranged in a grid-like fashion. Needless to say, the BlackBerry menu key will become a friendly tool when you run specific apps.



The phonebook, organizer and other PIM functionality remain virtually unchanged, so anyone who has used a BlackBerry before will feel right at home. For first time users you can store just about anything you want about a contact and the full-featured calendar allows you to customize reminders, recurrence options and much more. Other basic PIM functionality, like tasks, memo and a calculator are available, and voice dialing is handled by Nuance.



By far one of the biggest strengths of any BlackBerry device is its never-complicated email setup, which is also true with the RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330. After simply running the Manage Internet Email app under the Settings folder, you can pick and choose which clients you want to use. Undoubtedly you'll find all of the generic email clients there, but it was even able to automatically set up our work (IMAP) and personal (POP) accounts by only requiring our email address and password. Still, it might ask for some additional settings if it's not able to set it up automatically. Once all that is completed, there will be specific icons in the main menu for each email account you set up, but you'll find a combined inbox when you run the “Messages” app.



Sending SMS text messages is no different from other BlackBerry handsets as you'll even have the option of MMS by including media content like audio, video, and photos. Without a doubt, the Curve 9330 is another messaging monster since its QWERTY keyboard makes for a fantastic overall experience. Other options included an array of instant messaging clients like Windows Live, Yahoo!, Google Talk, AIM, and BlackBerry Messenger. For the social networking fanatics out there, you can stay up-to-date with your friends by using the apps for Flickr, Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. This is an easy way to update your status, view your networking feed and friend’s profiles while on the go.



Other productivity apps include Word to Go, Sheets to Go, and Slideshows to Go, which will open Microsoft Office files. But since the Curve 9330 is a Verizon device, it comes with a slew of their programs as well, such as VCast Music, VCast Video streaming, VZW Ringtone downloads, Song ID, City ID, Visual Voicemail, Bing search, and of course VZ Navigator for GPS guided driving directions ($9.99/monthly use fee).




The BlackBerry Desktop Manager handles desktop sync as always, and is used to manage calendar, tasks, contacts, and email synchronization between the phone and your PC. You can also use the data cable to load media onto the memory card, and Media Sync will allow for iTunes syncing of non-DRM files, like we’ve seen with other recent BlackBerries.

Camera and Multimedia:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 still uses a 2MP fixed-focus camera as before, but the overall picture quality does look slightly better. Images that we took outside had fairly accurate color representation and nice detail, but bright areas had a tendency to be overexposed, and sometimes the automatic white balance didn’t work 100%. When moving indoors, images became more fuzzy and blurry looking, which was no surprise, and the lack of a flash doesn’t help either. For videos, the device is still limited to a maximum resolution of 320x240 pixels at 15FPS, which means they may look OK for viewing on the phone, but not so hot on a PC with a large monitor.






You shouldn’t have any problems playing your songs on the handset since it supports most of the popular audio formats like MP3, AMR-NB, AMR-WB, QCELP EVRC, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA9, and Windows Media 10 Standard/Professional. As for the music player, it is the same one that is used on other BlackBerry OS 5 smartphones. Its presentation is no different, seeing that it will display things such as the album cover, song information, and on-screen controls. There is also nice selection of equalizer presets and even a custom equalizer that you can adjust manually. We were impressed with the audio quality of the speaker since it's able to muster up strong and audible tones that can be easily heard without sounding overly strained and without any distortion. Packing a 624MHz processor definitely has its advantage when playing videos on the handset, which supports MP4, H.263/264, and WMV9 formats. We were able to load a variety movie trailers, up to 800x480 resolution, without any problems as it played fluidly from start to finish (but higher resolution videos like 1280x720 would not load). Even though the smaller sized display doesn't make it conducive to watching videos for long periods of time on a flight, it's still able to present a decent video experience while waiting for your Dentist appointment.



Data and Connectivity:

The BlackBerry Curve 9330 is a dual-band device that operates on Verizon’s CDMA 800/1900MHz network. Data is provided through their 3G EVDO Rev 0 network, but the device can also use local Wi-Fi 802.11b/g connections. Included memory on the phone is 512 MB flash and 512 MB SDRAM, but you can install a memory card up to 32GB.



After experiencing the Webkit based browser on the BlackBerry Torch 9800, it is somewhat of a setback to once again witness the Curve’s behind the curve web experience (no pun intended).Yes, it loads up web pages at a nice pace thanks to the 3G speeds, but the tiny and faint looking text makes it very difficult to read long passages. Fortunately, scrolling is pretty smooth as it is able to render things on the fly without much lag, but we have to admit that it's probably more than acceptable by most average people. You also have to use the optical d-pad for moving around pages, zooming, and selecting links, as the Curve 9330 lacks a touch screen.

Performance:

Just like its fellow Curve brothers, the 9330 produces good call quality, with voices sounding clear and natural on our end, though we were able to hear a slight white noise “hiss” in the background. People that we called said that we sounded good on their end and there was no “hiss” in the background. The speakerphone also does an excellent job, as it produces clear voices and can get quite loud without too much speaker distortion. Signal reception was also above average, as we got 3-4 bars showing and had a signal strength of -91dBm, which is equivalent to the Motorola DROID X.

The included 1150mAh battery is rated to provide up to 4.5 hours of talk time or 10.5 days of standby time on a full charge. In our testing, we were able to get up to 4.5 hours of continuous talk time with a full battery, which isn’t bad, but still not as much compared to other smartphones that can get 6 hours or longer, but it is still reasonable considering the smaller battery on the Curve 9330.

Conclusion:

Overall, we are quite pleased with the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330, and its low $29.99 price with a 2-year contract is budget friendly for those looking to get into the world of BlackBerry without having to spend a lot. It does have a few improvements from the previous model, most notably the faster processor, but we wish that it came with a higher resolution screen and BlackBerry OS 6 out of the box. Though this doesn’t take away from what it does offer, and the QWERTY keyboard is nice for messaging.

Software version of the reviewed unit: 5.0.0.857

RIM BlackBerry Curve 3G 9330 Video Review: