RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 – titanium (U.S. Cellular) Smartphone review
      
|
|
We liked: The Blackberry Curve 8330 is about as good as it gets for a smartphone. It is wildly popular since it has great email and great call quality. It also has Bluetooth, EV-DO support and a 2 megapixel camera that can actually record video unlike other BlackBerry models. We didn’t like: Not a lot to dislike here but the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 can lack some features depending on the carrier you chose. If you are on the US Cellular network you will not have full Bluetooth or GPS functionality. There is also no phone as a modem feature with US Cellular which is a bummer. It also lacks the WiFi connection of other RIM BlackBerry Curve models. Overall: This is a top notch Blackberry phone that is feature rich. You are better off to get one on the Sprint network or Verizon Wireless since you can use way more features. The 2 megapixel camera will please just about any user and with the long standing email support BlackBerry offers the 8330 is a real winner. The BlackBerry Curve series of smartphones has been a really popular one for Research in Motion and its no surprise the Curve 8330 continues along with the trend. The BlackBerry Curve 8330 is available for all major carriers which helps spread its popularity. Depending on which US carrier you use the features will vary on the Curve 8330. If you are on the US Cellular network you lose some handy functions that the network simply doesn’t support. US Cellular does not offer location based services at this time and it doesn’t support the phone as a modem feature either which are really bummers. If those features don’t bother you than you than you can will not notice any other differences in a otherwise fantastic phone. The BlackBerry Curve 8330 is a great email phone that has good support for messaging and the call quality is really top notch. Business users will love the feel and features of the Curve 8330. Design The BlackBerry Curve 8330 is quite the sleek unit. It does have a little weight to it since it does have a 3G chip in it. This makes the phone a little heavier and thicker than the GSM version of the Curve. The phone measures 4.2 inches by 2.4 inches and 0.6 deep and a overall weight of 4.2 ounces. The phone looks stylish in two colors: Titanium and Red. The keys of the full QWERTY keyboard are black and have a silver or black trim depending on the main color. The display on the BlackBerry Curve 8330 is a sweet 2.5 inch nontouch screen that features over 65,000 colors and a 320 x 240 pixel display. It also features the light sensing technology found on the newer BlackBerry phones that automatically adjust backlight and screen brightness depending on the external lighting conditions. When you first get your BlackBerry Curve 8330 your homescreen is set to with your carriers background and theme but you can customise it to suit your needs and personal style. You can also adjust font size and font type. The front face is just like other Curve models with Talk and End keys under the display and a trackball in the middle. There is also a main menu button and back button for easy navigation. The full QWERTY keyboard is just the same as other models also. It is a nice keyboard but the keys themselves are rather small which would make it a pain to use if they weren’t spaced out as well as they are. The standard 3.5mm headphone jack is located on the left hand of the BlackBerry Curve 8330 along with the mini USB port and customisable key. On the right you will find the volume buttons and one more custom button that can do anything you set it to. By default this key launches the 2 megapixel camera. On the back of the unit is the camera lens, mirror for self portraits and camera flash. The microSD card slot is inconveniently located underneath the battery. In the sales package for the BlackBerry Curve 8330 you get an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired stereo headset, a belt holster, a desktop software CD, and reference material. Email and Messaging The same great features that are found on other RIM BlackBerry Curve smartphones can be found here. The biggest feature here is naturally messaging. Messaging and email remain BlackBerry’s strongest suit and the Curve follows the tradition. The RIM Curve 8330 has support for BlackBerry Enterprise server as well as Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise to deliver corporate e-mail in real time. You can access virtually any email account whether it is POP3 or IMAP4 and you can manage upto 10 different accounts from the BlackBerry Curve 8330. You can view all your email attachments also since there is support for popular file formats, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Corel WordPerfect, PDF, JPEG, GIF, and more. There are also a handful of instant messaging clients on the Curve 8330 including Yahoo, Google Talk, and Windows Live Messenger. Voice Features The voice calling features on the BlackBerry Curve 8330 are plentiful. Features include a speakerphone, voice dialing and commands, conference calling, text and multimedia messaging, and call audio enhancement, which lets you boost the bass or treble of sound. To store all your contacts is real easy on the unit since you are only held back by the available memory and you can store upto eight different phone numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail and Web addresses, company information, and notes for each contact. There is also caller id that uses photos for each contact and you can group contacts as needed. Connectivity The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 has a Bluetooth connection which lets you run hands-free along with A2DP and also dial up networking profiles. Some carriers offer phone-as-a-modem so that you can plug your laptop in to the smartphone and surf the web. Be warned that US Cellular does not currently offer this feature. There is also GPS support where available from different carriers. Again this is not supported by US Cellular at this time. The BlackBerry Curve 8330 does support EV-DO and has a new and improved web browser with the trackball functioning like a mouse for super easy web surfing. Multimedia While the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 is mostly a business phone it does have handy entertainment features like music and video player. The media player can play all your music and supports most common music formats like: MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and MIDI. The player itself is a bit basic but it will get you rocking with your tunes. The video player supports MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 video clips which comes in handy. The media player has a search feature, can create playlists along with shuffle and repeat. In video mode you can view the videos in full screen format. To keep your media fully stocked the Curve 8330 comes with Roxio Easy Media Creator, 96mb of onboard memory and you can slide in upto 8gb more memory via the microSD slot. Camera The camera on the Curve 8330 is not an industry leader by any means but it is nice that there is even a camera since other RIM models still don’t include one. The onboard camera is 2 megapixel with a flash built in and upto 5x zoom. The Curve 8330 can also record videos with the camera. There are a few basic options on the camera such as white balance and color effects but nothing too fancy. With video recording you have a two different format and a couple of color effects. One word of caution is that you need a microSD card to record video since video chews up memory real fast. Overall the camera took decent pictures with only a tad of graininess and gray tone. Not bad for a camera phone at all. Video recording on the other hand didn’t fair so well and the clips were very grainy and colors looked washed. Performance The voice calling on the Curve was really good. There were no problems on either end during our test calls. The calls were very clear and no distortion whatsoever even during an automated voice response system like at the phone company or major support help line. The speakerphone was decent also and was clear and as loud as it needed to be. This came in quite handy since many phones have terrible speakerphones. Using the features of the phone was easy and quick to respond. There are no negatives to speak of here since in our tests the system didn’t crash at all and the unit was always responsive. Browsing the Internet is a breeze with the new web browser and trackball combination. Playing music on the BlackBerry Curve 8330 was decent also unless you turned the volume to full and then it sounded quite tinny and blown out. When you use a decent pair of headphones the sound quality was excellent. Video play back was fair but not great. It was a bit choppy and grainy but audio and video were synchronized throughout. Battery Life In the manufactures booklet it states that the BlackBerry Curve 8330 has a battery life of 4.3 hours talking and up to 11 days of standby time. During our test we managed to get over 5 hours of talk time on one full battery charge. Again BlackBerry exceeds expectations. Summary The BlackBerry Curve is a great business tool. It has strong messaging and email which is vital. Call quality was good and surfing the net was super easy and smooth. After work there was plenty to like with the audio player and camera. The only downfall is the video playback and lack of WiFi connection. A great smartphone overall. |
