Call quality: We found call quality on the
BlackBerry Curve relatively clear: we could hear callers loud and clear and callers had no problem hearing us as well. It’s easy enough to adjust the
cell phone’s volume with the corresponding buttons on the side of the Curve. We also appreciated the built-in speakerphone (Tip: The easiest way to turn on and off the speakerphone is through the shortcut key on the keyboard. Simply, press Alt and the $ key to activate and deactivate the speaker during a call.) Additionally, there was no degradation in call quality when we used a
Bluetooth headset, and we could still hear callers in a noisy environment, such as a crowded store.
Audio quality: The playback of music on the BlackBerry’s speaker is quite impressive. It’s loud and clear; so much so, we often lowered the volume on the cell phone when we were listening to music when using our own 3.5mm headphones. If you turn the smartphone display side down on a table it’s even louder. Additionally, the BlackBerry Curve 8530 supports stereo Bluetooth so if you prefer to go wireless, you can always listen to tunes via an optional Bluetooth-enabled stereo headset.
Menu/phone book: If you love the BlackBerry interface, you’ll be happy to learn this Curve sports the latest snazzy OS found on the BlackBerry Bold. You can use the BlackBerry Sync software to easily sync contacts, calendar, and e-mail between your computer and the Curve. Additionally, you can also view and edit Word docs, Excel docs, and PowerPoint presentations on the BlackBerry Curve 8530. You can even download attachments. You can store as many contacts as your available memory will allow. Each entry can hold multiple phone numbers, e-mail addresses, IM Handles, websites, birthday and anniversary information, a picture, as well as a slot for both work and home addresses. You can assign personal ringtones from songs saved on your memory card (Tip: To save a song as a ringtone select a contact and press the Menu key. Choose Edit Contact and select Phone under the Custom Ring Tones/Alerts section. Next, slect Ring Tone and scroll to the top and select Browse. Then choose the folder where the song is stored and scroll to select the song you want to save. Once selected press the Menu key and choose Save.)
The standard fare of BlackBerry applications are on the main screen. You can customize the look of the BlackBerry Curve interface. (Tip: To rearrange the icons on the BlackBerry, highlight an icon you’d like to move. Press the Menu button and choose Move. Use the trackpad to reorder. Once the icon is where you want it, press the Menu button and choose Complete Move.) Syncing media – videos, music, and pictures – is also infinitely easier thanks to the Roxio Media Manager software for BlackBerry (see Music for more details). The BlackBerry Curve comes with a micro-USB-to-USB cable so that you can connect it directly to your computer. Also, you can always use Bluetooth if your computer has that functionality. You can even add more applications by downloading them directly from the BlackBerry App Store. Once an application is downloaded it is stored in the Downloads folder.
Messaging: The reason most people buy a BlackBerry is for the messaging, and rightfully so; it really has perfected messaging, and it has a built-in spell checker (Tip: To use the spell checker, write an e-mail or an SMS message, press the menu button. Scroll to Check Spelling and press the black track pad in the middle of the BlackBerry Curve. The spell checker highlights misspelled words and provides other options. To change the word, highlight the word you want to replace and press the scroll wheel. If you don’t want to change the word, just press the Back button to continue checking the message.), which makes sending messages easier. Even better, it’s extremely easy to set up multiple e-mail accounts (including work e-mail) on this BlackBerry. You can do it during the initial setup of the device by following the prompts on the screen. Since this BlackBerry is designed for consumers, you can easily set up web-based e-mail, by following the prompts in Email Settings in the Setup folder. If you already have a BlackBerry e-mail account and are simply changing devices, you can upgrade the information in the BlackBerry Start menu. Plus this Curve has multiple IM applications (BlackBerry Messenger, AIM, Google Talk, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, and Windows Live Messenger) already loaded on the device. If you plan on using any of those IM clients a lot be sure to get an unlimited messaging plan since each message sent and received during an IM conversation counts as a single text message.
Camera/video: The BlackBerry Curve has a 2-megapixel camera with 5X digital zoom (Tip: To zoom in and out when framing shots, simply slide your finger across the track pad.), but lacks a flash and a tiny mirror for snapping self portraits. Overall, picture quality is decent and we’re happy to report it has a fast shutter. You’ll have no problem capturing candid moments with this camera phone. Colors are a little washed out, but details are fairly sharp. Once you snap a picture, you can save it, rename it, save it as a Caller ID photo, delete it or send it. Camera features are a little skim, but you can adjust White Balance, Picture Size, Picture Quality, GeoTagging, and Color Effects (Normal, Black and White, or Sepia).
Additionally, you can view and shoot videos on the cell phone. Shooting videos is pretty easy and the quality is acceptable. While it’s a nice feature to have, you’re probably going to enjoy watching videos you download or stream from the Internet over a WiFi connection. Video is smooth, however, we prefer the sharper screens found on the BlackBerry Tour.
Music: As noted, the BlackBerry Curve 8530 has a music player. You can listen to songs stored in MP3, AAC (Apple’s audio format), and recent WMA (Microsoft’s audio format) formats. There aren’t many music-centric features included in the player, but it has the ones we’ve come to expect: Repeat, Replay, Shuffle, and Playlists (you can even create them on the fly – nice!). You’ll also find a Headset Equalizer option for adjusting bass and treble, and an Audio Boost. Plus, you can save tunes stored in your cell phone as a ringtone. The Curve comes with about 256MB of memory onboard, if you want to store a ton of music get an extra MicroSD memory card. The real story with the music player is the dedicated previous, play/pause, and next buttons at the top of the cell phone. This makes it extremely easy to access and control the music player. We particularly enjoyed starting and stopping music at will while in other applications.
We still commend RIM for teaming up with Roxio to help you get music, photos, and videos from your computer onto the Curve. The software has an extremely intuitive user interface, so you don’t even need to read directions to get started. You can also use this software to turn CDs into MP3s. There’s even an option to sync it with your iTunes application and sync up existing playlists. Another nice feature is the software won’t allow you to transfer music that the Curve won’t play back (that is, protected music that you might have purchased at an online store) onto it, so you’ll never have to wonder why a song isn’t playing. Instead, you’ll get a pop-up that says, “There are no media files in this folder that supports filter settings.” We should note any songs purchased from iTunes with DRM integrated will not be played back on the BlackBerry Curve 8530.
Connectivity/Bluetooth/WiFi:You can do a lot with Bluetooth on this cell phone. Besides easily being able to connect to a Bluetooth headset (we found call quality was decent when we used the Plantronics Discovery 925), you can also use it to sync your contacts if your computer supports Bluetooth. We were able to easily connect to a MacBook Pro via Bluetooth.
This BlackBerry Curve 8530 has built-in WiFi, so you can use this Curve to log onto available WiFi networks to surf the Web or send/receive e-mail. It’s a nice feature and it just takes moments to set up. The only thing you need to know is the WiFi network you want to use and password if needed. (Tip: To connect to a WiFi network, choose Manage Connections from the main menu, turn on WiFi. Once activated, scroll down and select Set Up WiFi Network, choose Next. Then select Scan For Networks. When the WiFi network you want appears, select it and follow the remaining directions for that particular network.) We should note surfing the Web on the Curve wasn’t bad, but WiFi was often faster. Web pages loaded quickly and you could scroll around them and zoom in/out via the trackball, but it’s still not the ideal viewing experience on a cell phone.
Look and feel: The consumer friendly BlackBerry Curve 8530 comes in two colors: black and violet. It also has a few noticeable new design elements. First, you’ll notice the smartphone lacks the trademark track ball; instead, you’ll find a trackpad. The trackpad works a lot like the one found on a laptop except instead of pressing a bar beneath the keypad to make a selection on a laptop, simply press the trackpad on the cell phone. Overall, we can’t say we missed the trackball, though this did take a little practice to master. Next, there’s the black rubberized casing covering the cell phone’s spine and the additional dedicated buttons on the top of the BlackBerry Curve. These dedicated keys are for controlling the music player. You’ll find a Previous, Play/Pause/Mute, and Next keys. The display is bright and quite viewable even in direct sunlight.
Looks-wise the BlackBerry Curve 8530 has all the keys you’d expect. However the main keys (Talk, Menu, Back, and End) aren’t buttons at all. Instead, they are simply part of the smartphone’s design. Although, the side buttons are concealed under the rubberized casing it does seem like this BlackBerry has more buttons than most. Additionally, in order to access the MicroSD card you’ll need to remove the back cover. The good news is that you will not have to remove the battery in order to change the MicroSD card. Additionally, the back case is easy to remove, but not so much that it feels flimsy. Finally, the BlackBerry 8530 isn’t immune to smudges; the screen attracts face grease and fingerprints, but they are only obvious when the display is dark.
Keypad:The BlackBerry Curve 8530 sports raised keys with letters/symbols. Keys representing the numeric keypad have a different color on the top half of the keys. The individual keys all have slightly rounded edges. This aesthetically gives the keypad a bit of a slicker look. Although, the keys are close together there is space between them. Usability-wise we did find the QWERTY keyboard a bit cramped when trying to type messages with one hand and as a result encountered some mis-types when creating text messages. So you’ll definitely want to use two hands on the keyboard. Also, if you have larger fingers, you’ll likely have a harder time mastering this keyboard. While we were able to dial phone numbers with a minimal amount of misdials, we still wish the Alt key was on the other side of the keyboard away from the numbers, which would make it easier to access the numbers for other purposes.We found battery life on the BlackBerry Curve 8530 impressive – even with WiFi and Bluetooth activated. If you use the cell phone frequently to make calls, listen to music, as well as send/receive text messages and e-mail, this Curve will probably last about three days before needing to recharge. However, if you consider the Curve primarily a cell phone and less of a messaging device, you’ll get about four or five days of battery life from it. We should note that listening to music a lot on the Curve doesn’t have an adverse affect on battery life. One plus: When the BlackBerry Curve 8530 is plugged into a computer via USB-to-MicroUSB cable.
