Introduction
The Blackberry Curve 8520 is one of the few Blackberry devices that T-Mobile offers these days. They used to have a ton of Blackberries, but now there are only about 3 available from T-Mobile. The Curve 8520 is one of them. It is available in frost white or black, and costs $50 with a 2 year service plan.
In the Box
In the Box you get the phone (of course), a battery, a 4 GB microSD card, a data/charging cable, manuals, a BlackBerry software CD, and a wall charger.
Appearance
On the outside it looks just like a regular BlackBerry. It has the full keyboard, and good size 2.5 inch screen with a resolution of 320x240. It also has the fairly new optical trackpad instead of a trackball. I think that it is great that RIM have started using trackpads instead of trackballs, because trackballs are reported to have the single highest rate of failure out of all BlackBerry hardware. I think that trackpads are also much easier to use. It may take some getting used to for those of you who are used to trackballs, though. Something worth mentioning is that the Curve 8520’s body is entirely made up of plastic, which makes it lighter, but also cheaper and less sturdy. The keys on the side are also coated or covered in plastic, so they are not very definable, but it is a cool feature. On the sides you have the standard keys including volume keys, a camera key, and a voice command key. On the top you will find a play/pause/mute, next, and back button for controlling your media. There is also a 3.5mm jack and a micro USB port used for charging and data. One downside is that the back panel is a fingerprint magnet.
Camera
The camera on the Curve 8520 is only 2 megapixels, but it still takes good pictures. Pictures taken in good lighting conditions have great quality, but if you are taking pictures in a dark room or at night they turn out very dark and are a little grainy. The camera also does not have any special features like autofocus or flash.
Memory
The Curve 8520 has 256 MB of built in memory, but that can be expanded using a microSD card. The device supports cards up to 32 GB and a 4 GB card is included with the device.
Performance
The Curve 8520’s performance is similar to that of other devices near its price range. The 8520 has a 512 MHz processor, which is the same as most BlackBerry devices. The device performs well, even when you are running multiple apps at one time, which the BlackBerry operating system does great. It does start to chug a little when you are trying to load large web pages. One example is Real Gadget Reviews, which is fairly large. The browser is the default BlackBerry browser, and it has a lot of features but the device is just not powerful enough to handle large websites. Most small web pages load fine. You can also install a large amount of applications using the BlackBerry app world.
Battery Life
Battery life on the Curve 8520 is great. Using moderate web browsing, calling, and text messaging, I got about 3 days of battery life from the device. Web browsing will drain your battery the most, especially if you are browsing large websites that will use the processor a lot.
Connectivity
The BlackBerry Curve 8520 has a multitude of connectivity options, but the on e that it is missing is 3G. This is a big drawback. To make up for this, it does have WiFi, but let’s face it, having high speed internet access all of the United States is much better than having it at your home, office, and your local Starbucks. The 8520 does have edge, but it is unbearably slow, at least compared to 3G. A cool feature on the 8520 is uma. Uma routes all of your calls and text messages through the WiFi network that you are connected to. This is great if you are in an area with little or no reception. If you have T-Mobile’s hotspot service you can also get unlimited calling and text messaging when you are connected to a WiFi network.
Call Quality
Calls on the BlackBerry Curve 8520 are crystal clear, especially on WiFi. The speaker is also very high quality so you can hear the person whom you are talking to great, even on speakerphone.
Overview
The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a great device overall. There are a lot of little problems but they are livable. One of the bigger problems is that many of the features of the device are unusable without a BlackBerry internet plan, even though the device has WiFi. You do get all of the features of the BlackBerry smartphone operating system, which is most known for its great push email system. The Curve 8520 is a budget BlackBerry device that still has a lot of features, but it falls short in some areas.
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