BlackBerry Curve 8320
Average Ratings
Had this phone for 2 years and it's great
I've had the Curve for over two years and very happy with it. Considering upgrading to either the Bold or iPhone but don't really need to until this one breaks.
PRO:
1) It should be noted that the Blackberry does NOT need the data package to use this as a phone - you do need the data package for the iPhone.
Con:
Really can't think of any.....
Excellent Phone, few shortcomings
I recently switched my family's four phone's from AT&T to a T-Mobile MyFave's family plan with wi-fi option (HotSpot at Home). I couldn't be happier. I had been told by many that T-Mobile was inferior, so I bought a prepaid T-Mobile phone to try out first. The coverage we got everywhere we went in NoVA was as good or better than AT&T and their plans were cheaper. So, when T-Mobile cut their prices on the Curve, we switched (from Amazon...$49 each, before $100 rebate, requires a $10 data plan).
So about the phone...
Pro's
- Easy to use given its many features
- Excellent reception
- Loud and clear earpiece & speakerphone
- Wi-fi works very well, great call quality (not using a T-Mobile router)
- Bluetooth works well with headset & keyboard (no problem with wi-fi)
- Small, comfortable to use, one-handed, mostly
- well built (good covers available, just in case)
- Good, if not excellent PIM apps
- mini-USB for charging and file transfer
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
- good music player (not sure it supports playlists)
- decent camera for a phone
- lots of third-part apps available - Opera Mini, Google Sync (auto sync's w/Google Calendar...killer app for me), PocketDay and Lists
-fast push email
Con's - really minor stuff:
- No timed profiles to change from Silent after meetings, kids concerts, etc.
- Battery life is a little weak
- PIM apps are a little less integrated & featured than they should/could be, (color coded categories, for example, to show on calendar)
- short cut to switch between apps can't be edited- keeps listing IM programs I never use
- some of our settings were wrong from T-Mobile, required call to customer service - very nice, generally helpful, though didn't always know what they were doing
- track ball could use some smarts - like a touch pad on laptop - it needs less sensitivity when starting, but acceleration (I too often push ball to select an item, and have it move to the next item).
Overall, an excellent phone that I highly recommend.
If the dash or wing leaves you wanting...look no further.
I have owned the Treo 700w (verizon), Dash and Wing and previously the BB 8700. I really didn't want to go back to a Blackberry because the plans were so expensive, but with the price drops from T Mobile and the poor performance of Windows Mobile 6 I really had no choice.
CONS: NO Video...if you need that feature you need a different device.
Seems fragile -- very light.
PROS
Almost too many to list.
UMA - wifi calling. If this feature gives you problems....it is your router or internet gateway. That is why TMO is giving away routers. Its a great feature, and TMO should win some kind of customer award for it.
MY FAVES - Can they think of more ways to save me money?
Camera and Full Keyboard. I promised if a blackberry with a full keyboard and camera came out I'd buy. Both work excellent.
Solid OS. Unlike WINDOWS MOBILE, the OS on the phone is rock solid...no problems.
SOLID Email. I use the Enterprise Blackberry plan...and it is much quicker than the Microsoft exchange server I used with the dash and wing.
Great Battery Life - This phone will go for along time between charges...like a good blackberry should.
Light - The phone is ultra light and really easy to type on with one hand. You can forget one handed typing on the wing. CON for some?
ALARM - Yes it only has one alarm but it works. Try the alarm on the dash...set a reminder or two...i dare you. Users of the phone will know what I am talking about. You may only have one alarm on the 8320, but it will wake you up.
Expandable memory - YES!!
I could go on and on...this is a real winner for 2007, maybe the only real winner that I have found. If you want a cool phone...well a sidekick or wing might be for you. If you are looking for a business tool that works, and is reliable, and has the best features of the best phones out there....the curve 8320 is for you.
I am giving this phone a 4.5, because just like in the Olympics you have to give room for next years improvements.
Curve by tmobile
I want to say that as a phone the curve 8320 is a great phone.
I am a new comer to the blackberry world. I will try my best to give a review that is fair and objective as possible. It is fast and responsive. The media player is great. There is this feature that turns the phone into a mass storage unit when you have a mini sd inserted in the curve. The phone connects over your wifi network to make UMA phone calls. The call quality is great over UMA, and in general the call quality is to me is above average. The transition between UMA and regular network does not always go smoothly. I experienced phone call drops in a few instances. The phone boots up in less then a minute as long as you did not do a hard reset by removing the battery. The blackberry web browser is a little sub par to me when it comes to its competitors like I.E. Pocket, but you know what it is stable and does a decent job.
Now with the latter said. TMOBILE DOES NOT ALLOW THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE TO USE THE WIFI FUNCTIONALITY OF THE PHONE. This means if you want to Yahoo GO or Opera-mini, and the likes to work. You will have to pay for their data plan. The data plan has a monthly cost of $19.99 You can only use wifi for Blackberry's proprietary browser and UMA service. Buyers beware you will not see this advertised on any tmobile banner, website or for that matter any place where you would expect to see this VERY RELEVANT INFORMATION prior to you making the decision to purchase this phone.
Well if you can get pass that last bit of information the phone is a GREAT phone!!!!!
Leap of Faith
I have never used a BB till the Curve. I have had a lot of windows phones and sidekicks. I was using the Dash and an unlocked Blackjack. Which are all good phones. The Curve seemed to be the only really New item for Tmo and the Wing is just a nicer looking MDA.
Since I have been using a Non-Touch screen phone it was easy to get use to the Curve. It is a great phone.
Pros:
Great Call Quality
TrackBall
Fast Processor
Great Battery Life
BB Message and E-Mail Features
Look of unit and feel
Very Light weight
Cons:
Desktop Software is limited
Browser is basic, but Opera Mini is the fix
I can't think of anything else to gripe about. I think this will be a great phone and I will enjoy using it. If you and your friends have another BB use the Pin Service for super fast text messaging worldwide. The best part it doesn't count or cost as a text message. It is a BB feature which is free.
No problems so far
I've had my T-Mobile Curve for a couple weeks now and I'm a pretty heavy user.
I've had no issues with either Bluetooth or WIFI. In fact I LOVE the UMA ability. It connects and works without issue on both my home (Apple Airport Extreme) and work wireless networks.
Excellent Bluetooth range with my Jawbone
No the browser doesn't measure up to Safari on the iPhone (just sold mine) but I didn't expect it to.
RF is excellent and I'm able to make and receive calls over TM's network in places where I've had trouble in the past.
Audio can be a bit "hissy" when turned all the way up but is otherwise pleasant.
Keyboard has nice tactile feedback.
Battery life is better than I expected.
I honestly haven't experienced any of the negatives mentioned in other reviews and as a picky user (I.T. Professional) I was looking for them.
To sum up it's a good well rounded phone and I'm more than satisfied with my decision to ditch the iPhone for this Blackberry.
Great Smartphone!! Excellent call Quality!!
I have owned many smartphones and just left the Apple iPhone to come back to my trusty line of Blackberrys. I have laso owned the 7100,8700 and Pearl-8100. The curve is by far the best in the line-up.
Pros:
Excellent call quality
Good signal strength
size and weight-very light
Trackball is great for navigation
Battery life is outstanding
LOUD speaker and speakerphone
Good contact management
Excellent email service
This is why I left the iPhone. The email was hard to pick up if not on wifi. Blackberry mail doesn't render like Apples but it is ALWAYS on and ready.
Cons:
Menu system can be trying at times
Limited wallpaper
Limited themes
This has made me believe in Blackberry again. I will not stray far from the roost anymore.
8320 Curve best device of 2007
The Great
Everything anyone could ever need:
#1 the rollerball, the best input mechanism for navigation (aside from iPhone touch screen)
#2 battery life, I have been on line for the past 12 hours consistently and only dropped to 83% (that because ibahve been using wifi in the mix)
#3 improved media, I just need the basics I don't need a flashy interface *cough* iPod *cough*
#4 solid OS, reminds me of a mac it just works
#5 I'll throw this in anyway, everyone knows e-mail is the best, who needs Windows Mobile 6? For $10 you can have a plug-in for your berry to read formatted html email
#6 wifi picks up and connects with weak signals that the Wing couldn't.
The bearable
#1 still need to convert video to play (wm6 you can download tcpmp and up the processor and play unconverted videos on the fly I did that with my wing, its my wifes now) but hey what's 5 min?
#2 you need a clean uncorrupted Outlook address book otherwise not all your contacts will sync and you'll get an error message.
#3 BB Browser is good (upload files and such) but Opera Mini 4 beta runs the fastest internet wise and performance wise compared to the Dash, Wing and Pearl sorry this should've been in my other catergory
I really can't find anything else to gripe about as you can tell I'm looking for things but I can't really find a real gripe. Oh and for everyone griping about video recording its not worth it the only good recordings I've seen have come from the Nokia N95 (5MP camera, hello?) Also you don't need gps all the time one can pick up a BT puck for under $70. You can't necessarily hack this phone like windows phone but then again there's really nothing to hack for.
Light good feel great plan and doesn't crash, do I have you attention yet?
Hard to improve on but no device is perfect and this one come close.
Great phone not just for business but entertainment
I cannot say enough about this phone but wow.
I had the pearl before this and i didnt think it could get much better but it can. With a new media software,stereo bluetooth and more storage via micro sd up to 4 gigs right now with BB coming out with a software fix to allow up to 8 gigs. The only fault of this device is that when you are watching videos the sound doesnt go through the stereo bluetooth headset. But overall it is a great phone.
T-Mobile Blackberry Curve 8320
This phone is great. A very nice phone for messaging. After using the phone for one month, I can say I am very impressed. Call quality is good on both signals, wifi uma and tmo network. I purchased the @home service to make calls over wifi signals so the call will not come out of the minutes on the plan. Wifi browsing was simple and easy. The built in browser seems to do an adequate job here. I haven't tried Opera mini yet, that may be next on the list. The phone features work fine, nice call quality. The speaker phone worked good. Of course the email features are the reason that almost anyone would buy a blackberry. And the email features are top notch and work great. Of course Blackberry has always been one of the ture pioneers in the mobile messaging device department. And they continue to live up to thier reputation here with the 8320. One of the smallest mobile devices with a full qwerty keyboard to date, this phone is a must have if need any of the aboved mentioned services. I have big hands and the keyboard looked tiny when I first got it and held it in my hands. But I have no problems using both thumbs or with one handed operation. I am able to whip out messages with great efficiency. I purchased the blackberry email service for $9.99, and only use the web browser when on a wifi signal or sometimes use the t-zones wap feature. Overall, I am very happy with this phone from RIM.
