BlackBerry Curve 8520
Average Ratings
I just LOVE my baby!
First off all, I gotta say I love my BB! I gave it a 3.5 because even though I love it, I must admit there are several things that are just not OK...
Pros:
- The track pad is smooth, responsive and very easy to get used to it
- Wi-Fi
- The speaker sounds clear
- The keyboard size is good for texting
- Free SD card
- Screen colors are bright and nice
Cons:
- No camera flash!
- Battery life is so short and after months of usage, the device powers off by itself which sucks
- It takes forever to re start the phone
- Sometimes it gets slow and stuck with a little black clock in the middle and you just can't do nothing but taking the battery out to and re start it, which again will take years!
All in all, I love my BB and would highly recommend it!
At the moment, this phone is superior to all!!
This is only the second review? I'm sure more people than this have this phone. Anyway, I've sampled and have used the 8800, 8320 both sunset and titanium (I have T-Mobile), 8100 red blue and black, 8120 silver, and 8220 red and bladk(not counting other phones I've used). I had my eye on the 8900, but decided to save $20 plus tax and go for the 8520.
Pros:
Touchpad! No Rollerballs anymore!
Sweet camera and video!
Same great e-mail as always
Tons more application memory
Nice, loud speaker (No annoying "what?!" comments, like on my 8100.)
Charges quickly and efficiently.
Comes with 1GB card (which is good, because I lost mine)
Cons:
Not too many accesories are available for the 8520, currently.
Not too many applications are ready for this phone yet.
No Blackberry Pouch
You can see that my cons are trivial. I still have a week to decide if I want to keep this or go to the 8900. For now, I'll keep what I have. You should get one, too.
Great phone needs gps
I got this phone a few weeks ago this is my first blackberry and I'm impressed
Pro's:
-track pad
-media key's(nice touch for a PDA)
-UMA calling(wifi calling)(this rocks if you live in a basement or going someplace were you get no signal)
-blackberry app world(jest needs more apps)
-battery life is good(not great)bout 2 days on standby i get 5 hours with bluetooth calling
-rubberized border makes it feel secure in your hand
-clear calling
Con's:
-screen could be clearer
-speaker could be better
-no GPS (kinda a stander these days)
-no flash(want not a need)
-small keyboard
-volume rocker doesn't do anything on the home screen
all and all for jest the few flaws its great phone
p.s.
for thous who could not fined a swivel holster I'm using the one from the 8300 curve and it fits great (my first reveiw thanks for reading)
Great Phone
As others have stated, this is a budget blackberry but when purchasing it I realized the only difference between this one and the 8900 is the screen resolution and gps... but other than that it's comparable and does the exact same thing as the upper level blackberries.
Pros:
-First thing is first, this optical trackball is amazing... took me literally 10 seconds to get used to it. It's smooth, sensitive, and responds just the way you want it to.
-The phone itself is slim, a lot smaller than my pre and other blackberries I have used in the past. The rugged edges on the side places a firm grip on the phone so dropping it won't be as easy, and also there are multimedia functions on the top such as play, rewind, fast forward for media applications.
-Streams videos such as youtube... and other miscellaneous sites ;], in good resolution as well. Since it's not like the 8900 the pictures seem a little pixelated but it's not a terrible picture. Think of it as playing a dvd on an hdtv using rca inputs if you want a general idea.
-UMA is fantastic. Your calls go through your wireless network, as well as data. Reception is clear with UMA enabled, and websites load blistering quick.
-Comes with a 1GB microsd card.
-Just like the other blackberries, e-mails push in quick and efficiently.
-128MB of program and internal storage left after installing my apps, say goodbye memory leaks.
-Inexpensive, purchased it for fifty. Not saying where, but it starts with an R.
Cons:
-One thing I found annoying is that I have to add a 1 next to the area code to save my contacts, otherwise the number shows up on the received/missed calls instead of their name.
Others:
For business needs, multiple e-mail accounts, and data it's perfect. but for 34.99 for unl data/mssging, and 29.99 for basic calls it's worth every penny.
Honestly, RIM is in their own league and this phone is one of their great creations.
Buy one, you won't be disappointed...well unless t-mobile isn't covered in your area.
curve 8520
So Far so good. Had the phone 2 weeks now, very nice upgrade from the pearl.
Pros:
screen size, resolution, WIFI, automatically connects to best signal...no track ball!!! cursor moves very easily and smoothly...External music player controls
Cons:
Not many, no flash and only a 1.2 pixel camera, battery seems to drain quicker than it should.
Not many accessories available yet
Like it a lot after a couple of weeks
Positives--
1. Love the track pad, easy to get used to, although this is my first BB
2. Camera works great considering no flash.
3. Like having wi-fi option, although my marginal bandwidth doesn't work much faster than edge.
4. Recharge battery nightly, but only because I have become a heavy user-- will probably browse less when the newness wears off.
5. Good construction for one of the low end Blackberries.
6. I'm sure my next phone will be 3G, but for now Edge works pretty well for my needs.
7. Love the ability to seamlessly pull up our corporate G-Mail calendar e-mail functions.
8. Lots of third party stuff out there software wise.
Negatives-
1. Still getting used to small keyboard although it's easier to figure out than I would have thought.
2. Previous cheap Nokia had a flashlight which came in handy. If this had a flash I could get a software flashlight function. I find this to be a bigger problem than lack of flash on camera, per se.
3. Still haven't figured out how to send photos-- lost in the ether.
4. Opera Mini 4+ and native BB browser vary greatly in speed depending on site or ???-- will upgrade to Opera 5 shortly and see how that works. Use Opera on the desktop and like the products just fine.
All in all I like this a lot. Can't say enough about the trackpad.
BB 8520
Good phone but not as great as the BB 8900
Cons:
-Display ( resolution is similar to BB flip)
-Talk time (4.5hrs compare to other BB)
-Camera/Video (only 2.0MP and video is a bit laggy)
Pros:
+Optical Sensor Pad( this is what set this phone asides from all BBs is that it uses an optical sensor pad compare to those trackball that you have to eventually replace unless they are the new trackless balls ex. 8900 and Tour)
+Much Slimmer Much Lighter than most BB full qwerty keyboards
+Does support UMA which is great if reception is not great @ home)
Tried this phone for 2 days now but coming from a BB8900 it is still a bit better
Not All That Impressed
While I am a first time owner of a BlackBerry, I have played with my share of others and I must say, even for what apparently is a "budget model", I am not that impressed with this BlackBerry effort. (I am reviewing the at&t model.)
PROS:
> Sound quality is excellent as most BB users have become used to.
> Nice appearance and sleeker than many other BB models.
> TrackPad replaces the TrackBall and provides the ability for the user to adjust sensitivity settings.
> Easy access to battery compartment without having to push hard against the phone to open.
> Easy Bluetooth setup with flawless operation.
> Battery life is not all that bad. I usually lose a couple of bars of a charge after a full day.
CONS:
> While the design is nice and sleek, the unit overall has a very "cheap" feel to say the least. Especially the Call/Menu/Back & End buttons. The screen cover is made of cheap, flexible plastic that appears to be more like plastic/paper.
> The user interface seems to be very poorly thought out compared to past models.
> With all the cheaper "Smartphones" and cheap phones overall with 3G technology, I don't understand why this new model has to run off archaic EDGE.
> QWERTY keyboard response is "hard" and clicks very loudly compared to other models.
> No camera flash.
> Many user customizing settings that should be available... aren't. i.e. I have not been able to figure out how to just have the entire homepage show up from wake, instead of the useless shortcut menu.
Overall, a very cheap effort by BlackBerry to continue their popular Curve series. I understand that this is a budget model... but for the image of BlackBerry, I'd at least expect a Hyundai, not a Kia.
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THIS PHONE IS A BEAST!
I bought this phone from t-mobile over 4 years ago and 2 years ago I stopped using it. Packed it away in a musty cellar, moved halfway across the country with it in a random box of junk, and then kept it in another even mustier cellar.
Today, I thought I'd dig it out for giggles and see if it still worked. The battery was dead (obviously) but in good condition, and the phone was very dusty from some construction we had done, but I plugged it into the charger and five minutes later I see that old familiar BlackBerry loading screen. IT'S ALIVE!!!!!
Really, VERY impressed with its durability. Going to highly recommend anyone who is looking for a cheap, refurbished phone that will always be there in a pinch to get this phone.
BB 8520 buggy
I've had the 8520 for a little over a year now and I've put up with more than what most people would. It isn't the specific device that I have because I have replaced it four times. The 5.0 software did improve it somewhat, but not enough in my opinion to recommend it to a relative acquaintance let alone anyone I want to keep around. My next purchase will definitely be a 3G or better phone.
Pros:
-Track pad
-Nice interface while in app world
-Durable against dropping
-Relatively decent water resistance
-Better now with some of the 5.0 software bugs worked out
-Great for a basic or first time smart phone user
Cons:
-No flash for the camera
-Some speaker fuzz on some louder tones
-Poor battery life
-Gets stuck in mid cycle when resetting
-Runs 2G(EDGE) internet
-Slower when tethered
