RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 Review

Introduction:

About this time last year RIM introduced the Curve 8300.  The consumer-friendly feature set paired with RIM’s legendary QWERTY made it an instant hit, and CDMA users have lusted after it since day one.  Now they finally have a Curve to call their own, and with a few enhancements to boot!  The CDMA Curve 8330 brings some notable upgrades to the original GSM 8300 including a bump in memory, integrated GPS and most importantly high-speed EVDO data.  Other specifications remain the same, such as the 2 megapixel camera, microSD expansion, 3.5 mm headphone jack and of course trackball navigation and that famous QWERTY keyboard.  The Curve serves as a compliment to the Pearl in RIM’s lineup; both devices have all the power a business user needs but with the multimedia features they are both aimed at breaking into the consumer market.  We’ll be taking a look at the Curves offered by both Verizon and Sprint.

Included in the box you’ll find:

• Lithium Ion battery (1150mAh)
• Home Charger
• Leather Pouch
• USB Cable
• Stereo Headset
• User Guide
• Software CD
• 1GB microSD Card (Sprint Curve only)

Design:

The Curve comes in two different color palates. Verizon’s unit is bright silver, whereas Sprint and Alltel have both chosen a more refined dark Titanium color. Both versions have a black, rubbery trim running along the sides of the phone, and it extends a bit onto the back, especially at the bottom. The housing around the display is black, as are the keypad keys. Keys with an Alt function are half and half, with a silver top and black bottom.


The 35-key QWERTY sits below the navigational trackball, which itself is flanked to the left by the Send and Menu keys and to the right by Back and End. The keypad is the best we’ve used to date and was a breeze to type on, even for those of us who don’t usually like QWERTY keypads. The keys have good travel, there is no doubt when you press a key that it has been pressed. They do, however, feel just a bit cheap. The keys wiggle ever so slightly, and while it did not affect our typing ability it didn’t give us a feeling of quality.

On top of it all is a 2.4” QVGA landscape display featuring 65K colors. It’s a good display, and we were able to use it in any lighting condition, but the picture wasn’t as crisp as we’ve seen on other devices like the Samsung Ace. At the top right above the display is a LED indicator light that flashes different colors depending on the event.

Along the right side is a volume rocker and multi-function key, both of which are bright chrome and stand out against the black trim. On the left is the 3.5 mm headset jack and miniUSB port, with a black multi-function key below. At the top is a single chrome key on the left used to mute the device and put it in/bring it out of standby. There are also two cutouts, one centered and the other off to the right, which serve as the Curve’s stereo speaker holes.


Flipping the Curve over reveals a large chrome insert at the top of the battery door. This acts as a housing for the 2 megapixel camera and flash, as well as a self-shot mirror. At the bottom of the door is the release, which is flanked by two gold contacts that charge the battery in an optional cradle. The door easily pops off to reveal the battery. The battery can be tricky to remove - you have to get your nails in the top, push down towards the bottom of the phone a bit and pry it out - which is troubling because that is where the microSD slot is located. The slot actually works more like you would expect a SIM slot to, you have to slide the catch to pop the door open, and there is no indication as to how to put the card in other than the exposed contacts. Overall, it is an absolutely horrid design that we quite frankly hate.

The Curve has a fairly good in-hand feel. The 8330 is similar in design to the 8300; the two units look nearly identical, but the 8330 is slightly thinner though a bit wider and weighs a tenth of an ounce more.


You can compare the BlackBerry Curve 8330 to many other phones, using PhoneArena's Visual Size Compare tool.

At just four ounces the Curve feels very light in the hand and pocket, but unlike the Pearl this does not lead to a feeling of cheapness. Perhaps it’s the rubber ring around the phone, but the Curve feels decidedly higher quality than its little brother.

RIM obviously has a balancing act on their hands with the keypad and phone design, they have to keep the device wide enough so the keypad is useable but narrow enough so it still feels good in the hand. The keypad on the Curve is great, but we can’t help but feel that it is just a bit cramped. Conversely, the phone feels a bit wide in the hand as well, so it’s obvious that RIM tried to make the best out of the situation here.

We are a bit underwhelmed by the Curve’s overall design. It is a good size, but still on the large side for the average consumer. The keyboard performs excellent, but feels a bit cheap. The color difference is huge; Verizon’s silver housing looks almost gaudy, whereas the Titanium finish gives the Curve a very sleek and modern look. All in all it’s a case where we can’t necessarily find anything bad to say about it, but at the same time can’t really find anything good to say about it. It is what it is.

Interface:

The operating system checks in at 4.3.0.127, and there isn’t anything new to write home about here. It is the same OS found on several other models, like the 8830 and Pearl. As always, it is highly customizable and the user can reorder the application screen anyway they see fit, including hiding certain icons from display. This includes creating folders in which you can file applications. It is somewhat similar in principle to the Palm OS. Another nice customization option is that both multi-function buttons can be assigned by the user to just about any task.

There are several different themes to choose from, and the icons on the standby screen (whose numbers vary depending on theme) are determined by their order in the applications menu. One thing to note, however, is that the application order is tied to the theme. This means if you reorder your menu in Theme A and then switch to Theme B you will have to reorder them again to suit your liking. Switching back to Theme A they retain your original reordering, but switch to Theme C and you will have to reorder for that theme as well.

The trackball is used for navigation around the menu system. It is better than the trackball we found on the Pearl, but still had some play and it was not quite as tight as the 8830. Even though it moves 360o, you can only move horizontally and vertically through the menus, and you cannot wrap around at the end of a menu row. If RIM is going to force us to use this semi-annoying input mechanism then we would prefer it be used like a mouse, giving us greater freedom to move around the menus. What we’d really like to see is for RIM to catch up to 2003 and integrate a touchscreen into their devices (and no, we’re not talking about an all-touch device like the rumored Thunder. Think Windows Mobile or Palm.)

Though we like the customization elements, we’re still not sold on RIM’s UI and have high hopes that the upcoming 4.6 OS will greatly improve the experience. Without hiding icons and creating folders for organization the UI is clunky. There are endless tricks and shortcuts within the UI that make it easy for the pro- such as pressing hitting B or T to go to the bottom or top of a message list, or pressing G while in the browser to automatically go to the address bar- but these are fairly well hidden and only a few are mentioned even in the user manual. It is, in a lot of ways, like Windows; a new user can probably pick it up and get by enough to do the basics, but they won’t necessarily feel comfortable.

A great example of our frustration is changing the ring volume. On just about any other phone in the world you hit the rocker from standby and the volume changes; it might be the simplest operation out there. Not so with the BlackBerry! You have to go into Profiles, scroll down to Advanced, select your profile, scroll down to Phone, down to Volume and then you can finally set your desired level. Sure, you can create a profile for each volume level, but that’s just ludicrous. Not even Windows Mobile makes it this hard to accomplish seemingly simple tasks.

Phonebook:

The phonebook, thankfully, is much easier and straightforward to use. From the Address Book simply choose New Address from the context menu to enter a new contact, or if the person is on your recent call/email list you can save the contact directly from there. Each entry can hold three email addresses, two work phone numbers, two home numbers, a mobile, pager, fax and “other” number as well as a space for a BlackBerry PIN number. There is a slot for both a home and work address, as well as dates for anniversary and birthdays. Contacts can be sorted by user definable categories, each entry can have a custom ringer and picture ID, and there is a section for a webpage and notes. Users can search directly from the main screen by typing in either the first or last name, and as you start to type a number in the phone application the Curve matches it with the contact list. When an entry is highlighted from the main contacts view the user can hit the send button to initiate a call. If the entry has multiple numbers it will bring up a popup window where you can select which one you want to call.

Organizer:

The Calendar function of the Curve is also very robust. It can be managed either on your phone or on your PC, and when paired to a BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) it can be remotely managed and synced over the air. Creating an appointment is simple, and options such as reminders and recurrence are present. Appointments can also be marked as private for added security.

Other basic PIM functions are available, such as Tasks and a Memo Pad. Tasks is very basic, but reminders can be set and they can also be grouped into categories. The Memo Pad is a basic notepad, no bells and whistles. A Voice Note Recorder is present for taking notes on the go, and a basic calculator is also available.

Voice dialing is handled by VoiceSignal, and as always the software is excellent.

Messaging:

Like any BlackBerry, the Curve 8330 supports a whole slew of messaging options. Standards like SMS and MMS are onboard, as is support for multiple email accounts and BlackBerry PIN messaging. It should be noted that Sprint Smartphones do not fully support MMS; they are received in the form of an SMS and the user must click the link to view the picture via the browser, and pictures must be sent as an email attachment rather than a typical MMS.

PIN messaging is similar to SMS, except that it is sent securely over RIM’s servers and does not use an SMS gateway. Each BlackBerry, regardless of carrier, has its own unique PIN. You simply chose the PIN Message option, enter their PIN in the To field and send the message. Though similar to SMS, it does not count towards SMS packages but does use data.

The Sprint Curve includes AIM, GTalk and Yahoo Messenger clients. The Verizon version has nothing loaded, though an AIM/Yahoo/MSN client is available via their portal.

Email setup on the BlackBerry is about as perfect as it gets, we simply put in our email and password and that was it. Even with our uncommon work email we didn’t have to enter any server information. The push email arrived nearly instantaneously in our testing. With the BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) the user can have up to 10 email addresses on one device.

Connectivity and Data:

The Curve 8330 features EVDO Rev. 0 data, which makes browsing much better than the original 3G-less 8300. It was also much better than the Pearl 8130, and we did not have a problem with slow page loads. Within the browser the trackball is utilized like a mouse, making it easier to navigate. There are two viewing modes, Page and Column. The former shrinks the page and the user can pan around and zoom in on specific areas, but it is not quite the desktop experience that Opera Mini offers, it’s more like Mobile Internet Explorer. It works, but it’s not the best browsing experience and we’d like to see RIM drastically overhaul their browser.

WAP pages loaded best (for example, espn.com redirected to the WAP page) but the browser does have the ability to handle HTML pages. Phonearena.com took about a minute to load, but did not render all that well. YouTube videos work via m.youtube.com (which it does not automatically redirect you to) but videos are small even when played in full screen mode. Interestingly, the VZW portal, however, gave us issues and either partially loaded or more often than not didn’t load at all. We were able to download applications such as Live Search relatively quickly, and they automatically installed to the main menu.



The Curve features Bluetooth 2.0 and lists compatibility with the HSP, HFP, SPP, A2DP and AVRC profiles, meaning basically, you can only use it with a mono or stereo headset. However, via an extremely complicated and unintuitive process you can transfer files to the Media Player. While in the Media Player open the context menu and choose “Receive Using Bluetooth.” Initiate the transfer from your computer (or whatever other device) and receive the file on your BlackBerry. Choosing what location to save it to is a hassle as well, moving through folders in the tree requires two clicks instead of just pressing the trackball to select, and when you finally find the folder you want you have to bring up the context menu and choose select folder, as opposed to selecting open which would display any subfolders. You can actually send any file type this way, but the only file explorer the Curve has is within the Media Player and it will only open media files, so even though you can view Office documents from an email, you cannot save them to your memory card and view them. You can see why we’re a bit frustrated with the UI.

The BlackBerry desktop software is included with the Curve, and it is used to manage calendar, tasks, contacts and email synchronization with your desktop. The user can sync data with ASCII importer/exporter, Outlook Express, Outlook and Yahoo, though some users have reported issues with Outlook 2007. You can also use the data cable to load media onto the memory card.

Multimedia:

Just like the Pearl, the Curve sports a 2 megapixel camera and Roxio-designed media player, which allows the user to play and manage music, videos, ringtones, pictures and voice notes. Coming soon is the BlackBerry Media Sync feature, which will allow users to sync their iTunes library with certain BlackBerry devices such as the Curve.

The media player is good and simple to use, but not overly loaded with features. It supports folders, and will sort your music by Artist, Album and Genres. It also supports album art and playlists, which the user can create on the go, and the other options are Repeat and Shuffle. Audio formats supported are MP3, AMR-NB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA and WAV, while the video formats are MPEG4, H.263 and WMV. The 3.5 mm headphone jack means you can use standard headphones to listen to your music.

In addition to the media player, Sprint gives its users access to the Sprint Music Store and SprintTV. The Music Store offers $0.99 over the air downloads and also features its own music player. Like the RIM Media Player, the Music Store is fairly sparse on options but is attractive and gets the job done. SprintTV offers a mix of both live TV and on-demand clips, including exclusive made-for-mobile content.

The 2 megapixel camera performed very well. Pictures were crisp and color saturation was superb. They were just a little dark, but we really had to nitpick to find something wrong with it. Options are sparse, the only real adjustment is the white balance, but the results speak for themselves. Especially since the camera is almost an ancillary feature we were pleasantly surprised with its performance on the Curve. Video performance was more pedestrian. It records at 240x176 in normal mode or 176x144 for MMS mode, and is more on-par with what you’d expect from a cell phone. Performance isn’t bad, it’s just not good. The only option is Color Effect, and videos can only be recorded when using a memory card.


Software:

The Curve has 96MB of onboard memory and the microSD can handle up to 8GB of expansion. Unfortunately, we noticed some lag at times with the Curve. The device never fully locked up, but there were a few occasions when it hung for a good minute or two when trying to perform simple tasks such as viewing a picture or going out of an application. For such a simple, mature OS we were surprised to find this.

BlackBerry Maps is included with the Curve, and other third party solutions such as Windows Live Search can be installed to the device via a web download. They can utilize the internal GPS found on the Curve, however Verizon has blocked access to this. While none of these solutions offer voice prompts, they are fairly robust GPS programs and we are disappointed to see Verizon force their customers to pay for a service that should be free. We were of course able to purchase VZNavigator, the only GPS solution available from the carrier. The Sprint Curve features unlocked GPS that can be utilized by these third party applications, and Sprint Navigation is included in the BIS plan, though it costs extra with the BES plan. Google Maps is also available, but at the moment does not work with the internal GPS for some reason. It works on other devices such as the Pearl, so we assume there is some issue that Google has to iron out.


Sprint has Pocket Express, formally known as On Demand, which gives users quick access to news, sports, weather, stock quotes, entertainment, travel info and many other things. Pocket Express also serves as a portal for the user to download games and ringtones. It is a very handy application that packages lots of information into one place and makes it easy for users to be more productive.

The BlackBerry Facebook application is pre-loaded on the Sprint Curve, and Verizon users can download it over the air but have to find the link on their own. Sprint's inclusion of things such as this, TV and the instant messaging clients make their offering more compelling and consumer-friendly. While Verizon users can sometimes download these same applications or third-party alternatives (GTalk can be downloaded via RIM's website, but there is no TV option for Verizon) Verizon almost seems to intentionally go out of their way to strip the Curve (and other phones) of functionality. The out of the box difference between the Sprint and Verizon versions is drastic; the Sprint Curve is just plain better for the general consumer.

Performance:

As a business device the Curve must perform well where it matters most, as a phone. It did not disappoint, displaying above average reception and excellent battery life. Callers said we sounded fairly clear, an 8/10 we were told, and on our end they sounded nearly perfect. The speakerphone also performed admirably, though at the highest volume it became slightly distorted. Battery life is rated at 260 minutes, but we were able to get 355 minutes before the Curve shut the wireless radio off. That’s nearly six hours of talk time, which is outstanding.

Conclusion:

The Curve 8330 is a good device, and for RIM diehards and business professionals it is the best BlackBerry to date. However, there are still significant shortcomings, mostly related to the UI, that make us shy away from recommending it to the average consumer . We feel RIM devices appeal to a limited audience, though to that audience they are invaluable. The Curve, however, sets out to defeat the consumer market and unfortunately falls short. The keyboard is excellent but the trackball frustrating. A complicated thing like email is dirt simple, but a dirt simple thing like changing the volume is complicated. While RIM hits the mark on many things, there are still too many simple shortcomings that cannot be overlooked.

Sprint does a much better job than Verizon at including applications that the everyday user will find useful, and we’d be much more comfortable recommending the Curve to a Sprint user. If you’re a business professional or a Verizon customer looking to upgrade your 8703 to a more media-friendly device the Curve is a no-brainer, but otherwise we’d suggest looking elsewhere.