RIM BlackBerry Curve 9370 Review

Introduction:

Late to the Ball is the BlackBerry Curve 9370, as it arrives from Verizon several months after the Curve 9350 and Curve 9360. We’re not sure why, as there really are no changes to the device, but better late than never, right? The BlackBerry Curve 9370 is a modest update to the Curve 9330, which we reviewed back in 2010, but at this point we would have preferred seeing the Curve 9380 instead. At its current price of $100 with 2-year Verizon contract, it’s got plenty of competition for other smartphones, some of which are 4G LTE enabled.

Included in the retail package is the BlackBerry Curve 9370, 1000 mAh battery, wall charger with detachable microUSB cable, pre-installed 2GB microSD memory card, and user guides.

Design:

If you’re a fan of the BlackBerry Curve 9330, then chances are you’ll like the more streamlined design of the Curve 9370. It’s quite thin, coming in at 0.43” thick, and lightweight at 3.49 oz, which makes it quite comfortable to hold. Even though the Curve 9370 is made out of plastic, it feels reasonably durable for daily use, and we appreciate the textured soft-touch coating on the back, which provides for a nice grip.



You can compare the RIM BlackBerry Curve 9370 with many other phones using our Size Visualization Tool.

The TFT LCD display is slightly larger at 2.44” (compared to 2.4” on the Curve 9330), but the real improvement comes to the resolution, as it’s now 480x360, instead of 320x240. This allows for text to be sharper and images to be clearer. Furthermore, colors look more true-to-life, since the display now supports 16 million colors instead of just 65K.

Faithful to its siblings, we find the optical trackpad and BlackBerry buttons located below the display. The hard plastic keys feel very similar to the Curve 9330, but perhaps a bit smaller this time around. For the most part, we felt at home typing on them, but the keypad can be cramped at times as we found ourselves pressing two keys at once on more than one occasion. This keyboard is a far cry from the Bold, which is the standard in the BlackBerry line-up.

On its sides we find a microUSB port for charging and PC connectivity, 3.5mm headset jack, stiff feeling lock button, right convenience key, and volume rocker. Meanwhile, there’s a 5-megapixel camera on the rear along with its LED flash. Finally, pulling off the plastic rear cover provides us access to its SIM card slot, tiny 1000 mAh battery, and microSD card slot.