The BlackBerry line up has seen some concessions to court casual folk in recent months, the Curve 8900 is their first opening salvo to the market at large, sacrificing 3G for a wallet friendly price-point and purse friendly slender design. Does it still have the requisite messaging features to be classed as a BlackBerry, or is it a case of style over substance?

Design and Specs

RIM can hardly be accused of not trying new things to appeal to a wider demographic. After the (faux) leather-bound BlackBerry Bold, touch-driven Storm and clamshell BlackBerry Flip 8220, you would think there was nothing they wouldn’t have a crack at.

This time, it is the turn of the super sleek BlackBerry Curve 8900 to court consumer affections. A gorgeous little device, it takes many of the hallmark elements of the famous pocket PDA and gives them a design nip and tuck. The curved edges, angular buttons and well-proportioned form factor make the Curve 8900 sit ever so nicely in the hand, yet it remains unmistakably a BlackBerry.

The chrome accenting is more classy than kitsch, and the bright and crisp 2.4” 480 x 360 display highlights that the Curve 8900 is ready for more than just e-mails...

The layout is the traditional full QWERTY keyboard with ‘call’, ‘menu’, ‘back’ and ‘end’ buttons flanking the famous trackball which is used to navigate around messages, mail and browse the web.

The top of the device is home to a mute and lock key, whilst the new-found multimedia credentials are manifest with a 3.5mm headphone jack on the side of the device.

 It could have been on the top, but we’re just happy that it’s on the phone at all! The media playback is a genuine surprise, with quality more than a match for many smart phones, and format support that puts the competition to shame.

The 8900’s camera improves on the Bold’s meagre 2 megapixel effort with a 3.2 megapixel snapper, complete with autofocus and an LED flash – an amazing bump up and perfect for an MMS or a mail attachment, if not a Turner prize winning picture. The camera key is placed on the phone’s side, whilst the button on the opposing side offers voice recognition for calls and some features – a deal-breaker for many people.

Memory is never a strong suit in a BlackBerry as standard, but the microSD slot means that up to 16GB can be locked and loaded with little hassle.

Calling and Connectivity

The outlook is not entirely rosy, as we have to address the absence of a significant feature in this section – 3G. Whilst GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth with A2DP for wireless stereo music, are all present and correct, the glaring omission of a faster data connection could turn some off this device. The peerless BlackBerry messaging infrastructure has been optimised to run as fast as possible on the 8900, but surfing the web when out of range of a wireless mast is woefully slow.

Call quality is impeccable, and the six hours talk time and epic nineteen days standby can be taken as gospel, indeed with the absence of HSDPA gobbling up the juice, the Curve 8900 is able to keep on ticking longer than many comparable smart phones.

Verdict

3G or not 3G, that is the question. Only that it isn’t strictly true, as the Curve 8900 beats the Bold in so many other departments that the connectivity factor is moot. Improvements on the camera, the keyboard and a number of things under the hood make us think that this should have been the flagship device, whilst the Bold was the mid-range favourite.

This handset is beautifully styled, competitively priced and has the most rounded feature set of any BlackBerry to date. We recommend the Curve 8900 without reservation to converts and stalwart RIM fans alike.