BlackBerry Curve 8300
Phone Scoop Review
Aug 9, 2007 by Eric Zeman
RIM's second attempt at a mass-market phone makes strides in media capabilities while remaining true to its smartphone roots. With Video Tour. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
So far....great!!
I recently upgraded from the Pearl to the Curve. While I liked the Pearl, my overall reaction to it was "meh." Even after only a couple of days I realized the Curve is by far the better choice for me. I love this phone! The larger screen and keyboard are the biggest pluses. The Pearl and Curve are my first forays into PDAs so I am still getting used to the RIM software and functions. My biggest complaint is that certain functions are not intuitive, i.e., changing the "profiles" to change ring tones and picture for entries in the address book. I think Motorola and Nokia do this very well. That said, after taking some time to really learn the phone, I am extremely pleased with the Curve.
Pros:
- Very nice keyboard
- Manageable size, but not too big
- Screen is very readable
- Sound quality is great
Cons:
- No GPS (but this is not fatal to me)
- Not so extensive choice of ring-tones
Just as I would expect from a Blackberry
I have to say I have owned many phone, PDAs, and Smartphones. This is by far my favorite. To name a few phones I have owned, the HTC 8125, 8525, Palm Treo 680, 750. The Samsung Blackjack, BB Pearl, BB 8800 and now this wonderful device the BB Curve. I have only owned it for 2 days but already I love it and DO NOT CARE if it is not 3G or does not have wifi. For one, I do not live in a 3G area, secondly I own a laptop so Wifi is not so critical if it is not on my phone. People that complain that a BB cannot edit documents, big deal. It is a lot faster then any Windows Mobile phone I have ever owned, gets better service and BESIDES A Blackberry's PURPOSE IS EMAILS. I get emails on my BB faster than in my inbox on Exchange or anything. GREAT DEVICE, and If you are having thoughts about getting one, just go ahead get it, you will be happy. TRUST ME I KNOW. I use to be a Retail Sales Consultant for Cingular Wireless.
More than Happy!
This is a fantastic phone! I upgraded from the Pearl and am more than happy with my decision. It has all the great features of the Pearl, but new and improved. My biggest issues with the Pearl were the ringtones (extremely low and not really ringotnes at all but somebody playing with a keyboard??), the low speakerphone, and the keyboard became truly annoying after some time.
Now I have an easy to use full querty keyboard, much better and louder ringtones, and a speakerphone that I can actually hear clearly. If you're thinking about getting a Curve, go for it. It's the perfect blend for people like myself who want functionality and a sleek look. Blackberry really came through on this one!
Curvaceous
WOW! If I was to summarize the new 8300 Curve, that would be it WOW! I am so hard on phones and it takes a lot for me to be pleased. I work for At&t and am always trading up to the latest and greatest phones.
Phones recently owned:
SLVR
Samsung Blackjack
Motorola Q
Samsung Sync
Treo 650
I bought the Q when i was with sprint as my first PDA/Smart Phone and I was amazed. Until about three days into my ownership. I loved the fact that you could edit microsoft office documents and that it was windows based. That is what sold me on the phone. I quickly learned that the salesman misinformed me and that you could not edit documents. It started to get sluggish so I bought MCAFEE PDA virus scan program that was recommended to me and it never found a virus.
I bought the BB 8300 just a few days ago and wow! I thought I was living it up when I had the Q and the Blackjack, boy was I wrong. My co-workers all have the Pearl which never did a whole lot for me only because of the keys having more than one letter assigned and it was a little too small for my bad eye sight. When I first bought it a friend handed it to me out of the box "give me the battery man" I begged, "dude the battery is in it" shaun replied. Yes it is that light!
Pros:
Camera takes amazing pics.
Expandible memory
Size
Larger screen
Cons:
I dunno, haven't figured out any yet but I will for sure post any that I find.
Couldn't ask for more...
I was an HTC/Cingular 8525 User and thought it offered everything. I was wrong. I got the curve and WOW is this thing amazing. Everything is easy to get to and it's smart enough to know exactly what I'm looking to do before I finish typing.
PROs
-Great Size
-2Megapixel Camera
-Stereo output
-Bluetooth
-Full Qwerty
-Almost reads my mind
-Corporate Email is so easy to manage / file emails
CONs
-3G
-WiFi
Blackberry has finally satisfied me!!!!
Having just came off the 8100(Pearl) and going between that and the Blackjack, I think I am finally happy. This device is sweet to say the least. Like another poster said the only draw back to me is the multi shop icons on the home screen. At first the phone was lagging and crazy slow but I am guessing once it caught up with itself all was right with the world. The camera is cool, and I am in love now that I have a full QWERTY keyboard and a nice camera with a Blackberry!
AWESOME!!!
I am going to keep this review simple. I've had many phones, PDA's etc... This one by far is the best!!
PROS:
DITTO TO ALL OF THEM!
The only con would be the non 3G / No Wifi. other than that this is an awesome phone/Blackberry! I will not own anything else but a Blackberry!
BlackBerry = God.
I'll keep it simple, because RIM still does.
All I need is texting, e-mail, and a device that doesn't lock up or power off.
I can't praise RIM enough. My 7130 was sick. My 8100 Pearl was as well. I held off on the 8800 cause I personally didn't need GPS. But hell, that is amazing too, use it once. Even for TeleNav chargint $9.99/month, it's worth it. Anyway, the 8300 Curve is like a Pearl on steroids. All the features, sans internal GPS, plus the 2.0 megapixel camera.
Buy it, I mean try to get your at&t rep to offer the MIR in store, but if I were to shell out $299.99 for a phone, I'd SERIOUSLY overlook the Treo 680 or 750 and the Samsuck Crapjack.
But hey, I only sell these things, so what do I know? ;)
hide detailed ratings
My goto phone
This was the best of the best in its day. I was able to download music on the device, calls were clear, keyboard was easy to use, battery life was good. I loved using this phone. I had the silver one when it first came out and after experimenting with others (HTC Tilt) I switched back to the red one. I loved the way it worked.
Pros: Everything
Cons: None, honestly this phone was everything I needed it to be. My only complaint is that it didn't sync with gmail.
Good, solid every day phone
Before the 8300 Curve, I owned an LG Vu (which I ended up losing). So I bought a used 8300 Curve.
===PROS
- Bright screen (great in the day time)
- Auto adjusting screen brightness
- Loud ringtones
- Small, light and sturdy build
- Great out-of-the-box software
- Email and SMS in one place
- Ringtones are great
- Signal and sound quality is great (AT&T in Minnesota, US)
- Good quality photo from camera
- Camera has flash (doesn't work that well in pitch black darkness though)
- Easy to get around the phone
- Email client supports IMAP and POP3
===CONS
- Battery lasts one day under heavy use
- Original themes suck
- No external SD slot
- Cheap plastic ring around trackball
- Sometimes there are short delays when moving around the phone (nothing to get frustrated about though as most phones do this).
All in all, the curve 8300 is a great phone. After using a crappy lg touch phone for 6 months, the curve was a breath of fresh air.
If you're into social networking (i.e, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace), this phone is a great choice. Everything on the curve is reasonably customizable and the community surrounding blackberry devices are second to none. You're never alone if something goes wrong.
If you want a phone that has great support from both developers and users, Blackberry is the way to go.
