BlackBerry Curve 8320 (pale gold, T-Mobile)

Pros: Excellent design, small form factor, well constructed, great multimedia functions

Cons: Price from T-Mobile is $400 if not qualified for new contract upgrade, what a drag.

Summary: Way back I had the BlackBerry 7100t. I thought that was a great phone. Then last year the Pearl came out, bought that and could not imagine ever selling the Pearl, at least not for a couple years. Alas, the Curve came out with WiFi and here I am with a new T-Mobile Curve 12 months later.

I guess a testament to not regretting selling my Pearl [on eBay for $190] is that I have NOT missed the Pearl one bit since it left via UPS to the new owner. The main reason for not lamenting the switch: the T-Mo Curve is a much improved Pearl.

Without going into tech talk, permit me to explain improvements noted out of the box.

Keyboard - The Curve is the Pearl with a full keyboard.

Those of you who do not like the Pearl's SureType "mini" keyboard will appreciate the Curve's full QWERTY keyboard. Having typed on the Pearl for a year and going back to a QWERTY keyboard, IMHO the Curve's full keyboard is an improvement. I can type a lot faster on the Curve's QWERTY keyboard.

Weight - The Curve, while a "beefed up" Pearl, is almost as light as the Pearl. The weight difference is the Curve weighing in at about an ounce more than the Pearl.

So to get more features, a better built phone, larger display and a QWERTY keyboard with only an ounce weight gain is amazing in my book.

Form Factor - IMHO, the Curve is well-built, way better than the Pearl. RIM listened to the criticisms about the Pearl and made improvements to the Curve.

For example, the Pearl had cheap silver painted plastic side rails [that easily scratched]. The Curve has hearty rubber grips on the sides. Not only do they provide a good gripping surface, but they hold up better in the appearance department.

Another example is the battery cover, aka the back of the phone. On the Pearl users criticized that the cover had a flimsy latching mechanism that unlatched and easily fell off the phone.

The Curve's cover is beefy and latches firmly.

Other improvements in hardware:

Audio Port: The Curve has a 3.5MM audio port [aka earphone jack to laypeople]. What is GREAT about this "standard port" is it allows you to use on the Curve your 3.5MM stereo headsets, earphones, or headphones. [All your headphones around the house have a 3.5MM plug. In contrast, most cell phones typically have a 2.5MM mini-plug.]

Why the switch to a 3.5MM plug? Well, all the hottest cell phones [er, excuse me, smartphones] now have multi-media capabilities. What this means is that people [aka what I call "ROCS" - regular old consumers] are using Curve type phones to play music and movies. Bottom line, people want the ability to use their existing 3.5MM stereo earphones or ear buds, for example, on their multi-media phones. Most people have 3.5MM earphones or headphones around the house. In contrast, most ROCS do not have 2.5MM stereo headsets sitting around.

Display - Without getting into technical specs, just be aware that the Curve's LCD color display is LARGER, brighter and sharper than the Pearl's display.

I play movies on the Curve and the screen is now big enough that you can see all the action and even read movie credits. It's not an iMax experience, but put on some stereo earphones and the Curve on "full screen" mode. You will find that movies are very pleasant to watch.

Stuff - Original Pearl purchasers used to complain, some did anyway, that the Pearl did not come with earphones nor a case. [Mine did not.]

The T-Mo Curve comes with a decent stereo headset and microphone combo. It also comes with a slim case that allows you some protection for the phone, out of the box.

The headset is decent, inasmuch as with the Pearl I paid RIM almost $40 for the same device back in December 2006. It has a button to press so to answer the phone when a call comes in.

While they are not boom box, sub woofer earphones, you can at least start using the Curve's 3.5MM port to listen to stereo music, movies and to make calls.

4GB MicroSDHC Chip - While the Curve does NOT come with a MicroSD chip, out of the box it can handle at up to 4GB MicroSDHC chips.

This is SIGNIFICANT when you consider that 1) the memory is removable, unlike the iPhones fixed, non-removable 4GB or 8GB memory; 2) that this puts the Curve at the same level as the iPhone; 3) that one could take two or three MicroSDHC chips on the road and have 12GB of space for movies, music and what have you; and 4) you can access the chip via USB readers and not be restricted to plugging in the Curve every time you want to put files on the chip. In contrast, the iPhone requires your having to hook up the phone to the PC to access the iPhone's internal 4GB or 8GB storage.

On the Pearl I had installed the latest operating system. I was then able to use 4GB chips on the Pearl.

In contrast, when the T-Mo Curve arrived I immediately installed my Pearl's 4GB chip on it. The Curve recognized the Pearl's chip and fired right up.

Note that the 4GB chips I am talking about are 4GB MicroSDHC, NOT 4GB MicroSD. The "HC" stands for "high capacity." I am not aware that there are 4GB MicroSD chips. 4GB and above are designated "HC" or "high capacity."

Also note that a 4GB MicroSDHC chip will NOT work on most other devices you have, such as cameras and MP3 players. The device's SD or MicroSD slot needs to be "high capacity" compatible or rated.

Since the HC rating is fairly new, most devices you have at home or the office can use 2GB chips at the most.

Bonus Tip: To read the 4GB MicroSDHC chip on your PC, with a USB reader, you need a USB reader that can read HC chips. [Those readers are not expensive, but you need one. Your old USB 2.0 readers won't access a MicroSDHC chip.]

Keep in mind that the Curve can use all your 1GB or 2GB MicroSD chips, it's just that if you want to use 4GB chips, those are designated "HC" or "high capacity" and require special readers and they cannot be used on most devices [those not rated for use of high capacity chips.]

Bonus SideNote: By December 2007 SanDisk is coming out with 6GB [and possibly 8GB] MicroSDHC chips. Rumor has it that the Curve can handle up to 12GB high capacity chips, so how cool will that be, to use an 8GB chip on the Curve. Woot.

WiFi - This was the main reason I got the T-Mo Curve. I needed a WiFi phone so to use T-Mobile's new "hotspot @home service." Without getting into details, hotspot @home allows you to use the Internet to make phone calls or to browse the Net. Calls made with a hotspot connection do NOT count against cell phone minutes. One can talk 24/7 on the phone without paying more than T-Mo's monthly service charge, about $10, but it is rumored to be going up to $20 after the promo price ends.

Camera - The camera is now 2 megapixel. That's not bad. The pictures are decent for a cell phone. If you want to criticize the Curve's camera, remember that this is a cell phone with a camera. You should not expect the same quality pictures as you might get with a dedicated digital camera. Also remember that they are packing a lot of stuff into this 4 ounce device. You can only put so big a camera in the space reserved for a camera. Also, RIM had to keep the price down. Sure, maybe they could have installed a better camera, but at how much an increase in sales price for the phone? So the camera does GREAT when you are in a pinch and need to take a pic.

ROM - The Curve has more internal or "fixed" memory. This is NOT the same memory as that on a MicroSD chip. They are two different things, the ROM is "built into" the Curve, the MicroSD chip is more a storage place for all your files.

I won't go over the specs, just understand that the more internal memory you have the better the phone will operate, the more programs you can install, and the less the phone will crash due to memory being "all used up,"

Software - There are various software improvements over the Pearl, I won't go into them much.

But one that I like is the ability to play videos in full screen mode. One of the complaints about the Pearl was that when playing a movie, for example, there was an annoying on screen user interface [controls for volume, play, stop, pause, etc.] that ate up part of the screen. Well RIM listened, so now the Curve has the ability to fill the screen with the video. I love it. In fact, I consider this one of the main improvements of the RIM operating system. I love playing two hour movies [converted from my DVDs to Curve format] on the Curve, with stereo headphones and in full screen mode.

OS - RIM also improved other aspects of the operating system, but it's beyond this review to go over them. Suffice it to say, RIM listened to our tips, suggestions and criticisms and made many improvements on how we interact with the Curve. For example, there was an issue of not being able to turn off the phone's auto-dim feature. Well, the current OS has the ability to turn that feature off if you do not want to use it.

Another is that RIM disabled the ability to press the trackball to answer incoming calls. There was a problem when this feature was enabled. Basically, the trackball would answer the phone as one was pulling out a ringing phone from one's pocket. But the rolling trackball would select "ignore" on the user interface and basically hang up on the caller. So RIM fixed that issue by disabling answering calls by pressing the trackball.

Net - If one is using a WiFi connection on the Curve, the connection is way faster than on the old EDGE speed. Some people have complained about not having increased speed, but I hear RIM and T-MO are working on it and that by October 22 T-Mo should have the kinks worked out of the hotspot @home service.

Price - Being a T-Mo customer for the past four years and having bought the Pearl at the upgrade price, I did not qualify for the Curve's $250 upgrade price [given with a two year contract.] I did get a discount to $400 [instead of $500.]

Super Bonus Tip: We did get a second Curve for our other T-Mo account. I called T-Mo and asked for a deal. The CSR transferred me to the Customer Loyalty department [some carriers call it Customer Retention].

I explained that I was a good customer, this was a second phone, paid bills on times, etc. So they sold us a second Curve at the $250 upgrade price.

So keep all this in mind when buying the phone. IMHO $400 is still a fair price for the phone, but if one can get it for $250, go for it.

Complaints - I really can't think of many criticisms. Heck, I remember when I used to pay $500 for a Motorola StarTac whose only feature was that at the time it was the world's smallest cell phone.

Now, for $250 to $400 I can get a phone that plays movies, music, checks e-mails, takes pictures, and oh, I forgot, also makes phone calls. Woot.

Lanyard - I use lanyards on all my devices. A lanyard has saved my BlackBerry phones from many a fatal fall.

For some reason RIM eliminated a lanyard hole from the Curve. Not sure why they got rid of the ability to attach a lanyard. But I found a way to do it [I attach a lanyard with a very thin cord via the camera flash hole. Another workaround would be to enclose the Curve in a case and attach a lanyard to the case.]

That's about it. I could go into more detail, about how quality of calls is good, the speaker phone is great, etc. But the above are the main points I wanted to make. Plus I am tired of writing this.