BlackBerry Curve 8520 Black (T-Mobile)

Call quality: We found call quality on the BlackBerry Curve relatively clear: we could hear callers loud and clear, but there’s something about the call quality on our end that reminded us we were on a cell phone. Plus, it’s easy enough to adjust the cell phone’s volume with the corresponding buttons on the side of the Curve. We also appreciated the built-in speakerphone since two people can speak simultaneously. However, we should note that callers said we sounded like we were talking on a speakerphone. Additionally, there was no degradation in call quality when we used a Bluetooth headset, and we could still hear callers clearly in a noisy environment, such as a crowded store.

Audio quality: The playback of music on the BlackBerry’s speaker is quite impressive. It’s loud and clear; so much so, we often lowered the volume on the cell phone when we were listening to music using our own 3.5mm headphones. Additionally, the BlackBerry Curve supports stereo Bluetooth so if you prefer to go wireless, you can always listen to tunes via an optional Bluetooth-enabled stereo headset.

Menu/phone book: If you love the BlackBerry interface, you’ll be happy to learn this Curve sports the latest snazzy OS found on the BlackBerry Bold. You can use the BlackBerry Sync software to easily sync contacts, calendar, and e-mail between your computer and the Curve. Additionally, you can also view and edit Word docs, Excel docs, and PowerPoint presentations on the BlackBerry Curve. You can even download attachments. You can store as many contacts as your available memory will allow. Each entry can hold multiple phone numbers, e-mail addresses, IM Handles, websites, birthday and anniversary information, a picture, as well as a slot for both work and home addresses. You can assign personal ringtones from songs saved on your memory card. Speaking of contacts, another nice feature is the inclusion of a folder dedicated to recent calls (sent, received, and missed).

The standard fare of BlackBerry applications are on the main screen. You can customize the look of the BlackBerry Curve interface. Syncing media – videos, music, and pictures – is also infinitely easier thanks to the Roxio Media Manager software for BlackBerry (see Music for more details). The BlackBerry Curve comes with a micro-USB-to-USB cable so that you can connect it directly to your computer. When the Mac BlackBerry software becomes available, you’ll be able to sync this BlackBerry with a Mac. Also, you can always use Bluetooth if your computer has that functionality.

Messaging: The reason most people buy a BlackBerry is for the messaging, and rightfully so; it really has perfected messaging, and it has a built-in spell checker , which makes sending messages easier. Even better, it’s extremely easy to set up multiple e-mail accounts (including work e-mail) on this BlackBerry. You can do it during the initial setup of the device by following the prompts on the screen. Since this BlackBerry is designed for consumers, you can easily set up web-based e-mail, by following the prompts in Manage Internet Email under the Settings folder. One plus of the service is if you don’t have the right plan to support web-based e-mail you can upgrade from the smartphone directly. If you already have a BlackBerry e-mail account and are simply changing devices, you can upgrade the information in the BlackBerry Start menu. Plus this Curve has multiple IM applications (BlackBerry Messenger, AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger) already loaded on the device. If you plan on using any of those IM clients a lot be sure to get an unlimited messaging plan since each message sent and received during an IM conversation counts as a single text message. Also, if you tend to receive a lot of graphic-intensive e-mails, opt for an unlimited data plan, as downloading graphics can quickly eat up megabytes of data. Additionally, mobile Facebook is already installed making it easy to update Facebook friends.

Camera/video: The BlackBerry Curve has a 2-megapixel camera with 5X digital zoom , but lacks a flash and a tiny mirror for snapping self portraits. Overall, picture quality is decent and we’re happy to report it has a fast shutter. You’ll have no problem capturing candid moments with this camera phone. Especially since there’s a dedicated camera key on the spine of the BlackBerry 8520, so accessing the camera is a snap. Colors are a little washed out, but details are fairly sharp. Once you snap a picture, you can save it, rename it, save it as a Caller ID photo, delete it or send it. Camera features are a little skim, but you can adjust White Balance, Picture Size, Picture Quality, and Color Effects (Normal, Black and White, or Sepia).

Additionally, you can view and shoot videos on the cell phone. Shooting videos is pretty easy and the quality is ok. While it’s a nice feature to have, you’re probably going to enjoy watching videos you download or stream from the Internet over a WiFi connection. Watching video on this BlackBerry Curve is impressive. Video is smooth, however, we prefer the sharper screens found on the BlackBerry Tour.

Music: As noted, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 has a music player. You can listen to songs stored in MP3, AAC (Apple’s audio format), and recent WMA (Microsoft’s audio format) formats. There aren’t many music-centric features included in the player, but it has the ones we’ve come to expect: Repeat, Replay, Shuffle, and Playlists (you can even create them on the fly – nice!). Plus, you can save tunes stored in your cell phone as a ringtone. The Curve comes with about 256MB of memory onboard and a 1GB MicroSD card, if you want to store a ton of music get an extra MicroSD memory card. The real story with the music player is the dedicated previous, play/pause, and next buttons at the top of the cell phone. This makes it extremely easy to access and control the music player. We particularly enjoyed starting and stopping music at will while in other applications.

We still commend RIM for teaming up with Roxio to help you get music, photos, and videos from your computer onto the Curve. The software has an extremely intuitive user interface, so you don’t even need to read directions to get started. You can also use this software to turn CDs into MP3s. There’s even an option to sync it with your iTunes application and sync up existing playlists. Another nice feature is that the software won’t allow you to transfer music that the Curve won’t play back (that is, protected music that you might have purchased at an online store) onto it, so you’ll never have to wonder why a song isn’t playing. Instead, you’ll get a pop-up that says, “There are no media files in this folder that supports filter settings.” We should note any songs purchased from iTunes with DRM integrated will not be played back on the BlackBerry Curve 8520.

Connectivity/Bluetooth/WiFi:You can do a lot with Bluetooth on this cell phone. Besides easily being able to connect to a Bluetooth headset (we found call quality was decent when we used the Plantronics Discovery 925), you can also use it to sync up with your contacts if your computer supports Bluetooth. We were able to easily connect to a MacBook Pro via Bluetooth.

This BlackBerry Curve 8520 has built-in WiFi, so you can use this Curve to log onto available WiFi networks to surf the Web or send/receive e-mail. It’s a nice feature and it just takes moments to set up. The only thing you need to know is the WiFi network you want to use and password if needed. We should note that surfing the Web on the Curve wasn’t bad, but WiFi was often faster especially since this smartphone doesn’t offer 3G connectivity. Pages loaded quickly and you could scroll around them via the trackball, but it’s still not the ideal viewing experience on a cell phone. We should note that since this is a UMA cell phone you can also use WiFi to extend cell phone service in your home with a T-Mobile HotSpot @ Home set-up and service.

Look and feel: This consumer friendly BlackBerry Curve 8520 has a few noticeable new design elements that stand out. First, you’ll notice that the smartphone lacks the trademark track ball; instead, you’ll find a track pad. The track pad works a lot like the one found on a laptop except instead of pressing a bar beneath the keypad to make a selection on a notebook, simply press the trackpad on the cell phone. Overall, we can’t say we missed the trackball, though this did take a little practice to master. Next, there’s the black rubberized casing covering the spine of the cell phone. Finally, are the additional dedicated buttons on the top of the BlackBerry Curve. These dedicated keys are for controlling the music player. You’ll find a Previous, Play/Pause/Mute, and Next keys. What’s missing is the bright, beautiful display we’ve come to expect on other BlackBerry’s, still that said the screen is quite viewable – even in direct sunlight. It’s just not as crisp.

Looks-wise the BlackBerry Curve 8520 has all the keys you’d expect. However the main keys (Talk, Menu, Back, and End) aren’t buttons at all. Instead, they are simply part of the smartphone’s design. Although, the side buttons are concealed under the rubberized casing it does seem like this BlackBerry has more buttons than most. Additionally, in order to access the MicroSD card you’ll need to remove the back cover. The good news is that you will not have to remove the battery in order to change the MicroSD card. Additionally, the back case is easy to remove, but not so much that it feels flimsy. Finally, the BlackBerry 8520 isn’t immune to smudges, the screen attracts face grease and fingerprints. Though, they are only obvious when the display is dark.

Keypad:The BlackBerry Curve 8520 sports raised keys with letters/symbols. Keys representing the numeric keypad have a different color on the top half of the keys. The individual keys all have slightly rounded edges. This aesthetically gives the keypad a bit of a slicker look. Although, the keys are close together there is space between them. Usability-wise we did find the QWERTY keyboard a bit cramped when trying to type messages with one hand and as a result encountered some mis-types when creating text messages. So you’ll definitely want to use two hands on the keyboard. Also, if you have larger fingers, you’ll likely have a harder time mastering this keyboard. While we were able to dial phone numbers with a minimal amount of misdials, we still wish the Alt key was on the other side of the keyboard away from the numbers, which would make it easier to access the numbers for other purposes.

We found battery life on the BlackBerry Curve 8520 impressive – even with WiFi and Bluetooth activated. If you use the cell phone frequently to make calls, listen to music, as well as send/receive text messages and e-mail, this Curve will probably last about three to four days before needing to recharge. However, if you consider the Curve primarily a cell phone and less of a messaging device, you’ll get about five days of battery life from it. We should note that listening to music a lot on the Curve doesn’t have an adverse affect on battery life.

• Blackberry 8520 User Guide

OtterBox Commuter Series Strength Case for the BlackBerry Curve 8500/9300 Our Price: $34.95 Add with Phone

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