BlackBerry Curve 8520 Review
Blackberry is focusing on the mainstream users with the latest 8520 smartphone. The smartphone will be available at £25 per month contracts for free or you may pay alternately also. The users hoping to buy the smartphone can purchase it at £200 which is quite reasonable. Blackberry has launched a nice optical trackpad onto the phone. The trackpad is comfortable for use and is responsive and accurate always.
You may alter its vertical and horizontal sensitivity to customize its speed of navigating through the various icons on screen. You have 4 buttons beneath the display which are placed smoothly and conveniently, offering the device a slim look than the other models of Curve. The other controls are also changed. For instance, the mute and lock buttons present on the screen’s top portion are replaced by 3 media transport controls that are made of rubber and arranged in a row, a pause/play button and 2 track skip keys.
The buttons that are side mounted have been “weatherised.” Hence, they will not be exposed to unnecessary elements. The smartphone features a 3.5mm headset/headphone jack which is standard. That is, if you dislike the handset jack being offered to you in the package, you may switch it with your own, but the functionality of hands-free will be lost by you.
The extra headset jack which is standard is great, but it is located at the phone’s left corner instead of placing it at the top portion which is slightly annoying while swiping the phone out and in. The QWERTY keyboard is excellent containing 35 keys. Though the keys are tiny, they are elevated slightly to tap with your fingers easily and hence, sending emails will definitely not be a problem.
The transmissive screen is great and has excellent clarity for pictures and videos which look stunning. The screen is just 2.46 inches wide which is small for the recent standards of the smartphone and a resolution, 320 x 240 pixels which feels congested while accessing the web browser. The smartphone has its measurements, 109*60*13.9mm and has a weight of 106g.
The connectivity options available are Bluetooth for use in the stereo handsets or car kits and Wi-Fi for quick browsing of the web at home or within a hotspot’s range. GPS is absent and the Blackberry fails to support 3G. The wise ‘compression technology’ of the smartphone compensates for the absence of 3G support. The browser is good since it is responsive and convenient for navigation utilizing the on-screen cursor through the trackpad.
The messaging feature of the 8520 is classic. It is pretty simple to activate the phone to receive ‘push email’ from an email account that exists by using the web service of Blackberry and its support of instant messages is superb with Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ and Windows Live Messenger. You also have the application, ‘Twitter’ pre-loaded and you may download the other social networks like MySpace and Facebook freely through the application store of Blackberry.
The camera is slightly dejecting since the resolution is just 2Mp and large amount of detail is not present in the images. The outdoor snaps in bright light appear nice but since the camera does not have Autofocus feature or a flash, its difficult to take snaps indoors resulting in noisy, dark snaps. The camera can capture videos with the resolution, 320 x 240 pixels which appears slightly uncontrolled. The video formats supported are H.263, WMV3, MPEG4 and H.264.
The smartphone is compatible with quad-band and can be used in many countries throughout the world. The device offers excellent quality of the call with the ear piece being loud and audible. The microphone is not directional and the speakerphone also works pretty well. The smartphone provides a long battery lifetime. When fully charged, it lasts for 3 days when used normally and also when emails, web browsing and phone calls are done which is fantastic.
The Blackberry 8520 is great with the blend of a user-friendly interface, superb email features and a long battery life, which makes the phone adorable.
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