RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 Review

Multimedia:

Just like the Pearl, the Curve sports a 2 megapixel camera and Roxio-designed media player, which allows the user to play and manage music, videos, ringtones, pictures and voice notes. Coming soon is the BlackBerry Media Sync feature, which will allow users to sync their iTunes library with certain BlackBerry devices such as the Curve.

The media player is good and simple to use, but not overly loaded with features. It supports folders, and will sort your music by Artist, Album and Genres. It also supports album art and playlists, which the user can create on the go, and the other options are Repeat and Shuffle. Audio formats supported are MP3, AMR-NB, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+, WMA and WAV, while the video formats are MPEG4, H.263 and WMV. The 3.5 mm headphone jack means you can use standard headphones to listen to your music.

In addition to the media player, Sprint gives its users access to the Sprint Music Store and SprintTV. The Music Store offers $0.99 over the air downloads and also features its own music player. Like the RIM Media Player, the Music Store is fairly sparse on options but is attractive and gets the job done. SprintTV offers a mix of both live TV and on-demand clips, including exclusive made-for-mobile content.

The 2 megapixel camera performed very well. Pictures were crisp and color saturation was superb. They were just a little dark, but we really had to nitpick to find something wrong with it. Options are sparse, the only real adjustment is the white balance, but the results speak for themselves. Especially since the camera is almost an ancillary feature we were pleasantly surprised with its performance on the Curve. Video performance was more pedestrian. It records at 240x176 in normal mode or 176x144 for MMS mode, and is more on-par with what you’d expect from a cell phone. Performance isn’t bad, it’s just not good. The only option is Color Effect, and videos can only be recorded when using a memory card.


Software:

The Curve has 96MB of onboard memory and the microSD can handle up to 8GB of expansion. Unfortunately, we noticed some lag at times with the Curve. The device never fully locked up, but there were a few occasions when it hung for a good minute or two when trying to perform simple tasks such as viewing a picture or going out of an application. For such a simple, mature OS we were surprised to find this.

BlackBerry Maps is included with the Curve, and other third party solutions such as Windows Live Search can be installed to the device via a web download. They can utilize the internal GPS found on the Curve, however Verizon has blocked access to this. While none of these solutions offer voice prompts, they are fairly robust GPS programs and we are disappointed to see Verizon force their customers to pay for a service that should be free. We were of course able to purchase VZNavigator, the only GPS solution available from the carrier. The Sprint Curve features unlocked GPS that can be utilized by these third party applications, and Sprint Navigation is included in the BIS plan, though it costs extra with the BES plan. Google Maps is also available, but at the moment does not work with the internal GPS for some reason. It works on other devices such as the Pearl, so we assume there is some issue that Google has to iron out.


Sprint has Pocket Express, formally known as On Demand, which gives users quick access to news, sports, weather, stock quotes, entertainment, travel info and many other things. Pocket Express also serves as a portal for the user to download games and ringtones. It is a very handy application that packages lots of information into one place and makes it easy for users to be more productive.

The BlackBerry Facebook application is pre-loaded on the Sprint Curve, and Verizon users can download it over the air but have to find the link on their own. Sprint's inclusion of things such as this, TV and the instant messaging clients make their offering more compelling and consumer-friendly. While Verizon users can sometimes download these same applications or third-party alternatives (GTalk can be downloaded via RIM's website, but there is no TV option for Verizon) Verizon almost seems to intentionally go out of their way to strip the Curve (and other phones) of functionality. The out of the box difference between the Sprint and Verizon versions is drastic; the Sprint Curve is just plain better for the general consumer.