subject: Updating The Curve With The New Blackberry Curve 3g [print this page] Along with its recent announcement of the new Blackberry OS 6.0, Canadian Research In Motion (RIM) is releasing the update to its year-old Blackberry Curve 8520 the Blackberry Curve 3G 9300.
Using what is obviously the same hardware platform and sharing the same dimensions and screen size, design styling and QWERTY keyboard ergonomics of the older Blackberry 8520 Curve, the new Curve comes updated with GPS, 3G and HSDPA. What sets it apart aesthetically from its older sibling is a chrome trim around its body.
Affordability is the hallmark of the Curve line of phones and this new 3G version is no different. Out of the box, the Curve 3G will still be running the older Blackberry OS v5.0 but should be upgradable once the new version is released.
Features at a Glance
With a name that says it all, the Blackberry Curve 3G 9300 gets 3G capability on the tri band UMTS with HSDPA data speeds and a quad band GSM/GPRS/EDGE on the 2G network. Hotspot support is no problem with its WiFi 802.11 b/g/n equipped with UMA (carrier based) capability.
This is also an improvement over the older WiFi on the Curve 8520. Local data connectivity comes with both wireless and wired data transfers from its Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP and microUSB 2.0, respectively. The Curve now gets SatNav support with an integrated GPS and A-GPS support that comes preloaded with Blackberry Maps.
Measuring exactly as the Curve 8520 at 109 x 60 x 13.9mm, the new Curve is 2g lighter than the old at a lightweight 104g despite gaining those new significant features. You also get the same touch-sensitive optical keypad for navigating through the screen menu.
The signature Blackberry landscape display is identical to the older Curve with a 2.5-inch TFT LCD screen that sports QVGA resolution and 65k color depth. Because Blackberry phones have never really aspired to compete with camera phones, the Blackberry Curve 3G 9300 gets a rudimentary 2 megapixel camera with none of the fancy features.
When you see that the highest resolution of a Blackberry smartphone before the Blackberry Torch only goes to 3 megapixels, this is not surprising.
Onboard memory is exclusively reserved to its OS and application files with a 256 MB RAM and 256 MB ROM but user memory is better served with its microSD support for up to 32 GB of external memory expandability.
Almost a Music Phone
Like all Blackberry smartphones, the new Blackberry Curve 3G 9300 still has no FM receiver. As a serious business phone whose secure push email from its BES explains its popularity among corporate executives, it also provides excellent entertainment.
It has dedicated music keys and the competent media players for all the popular audio and video file format support.
Headphone listening is provided with an industry standard stereo 3.5 mm headphone jack while its A2DP support enables wireless stereo listening. Your music listening experience gets 29 hours non stop from its standard 1150 mAh li-ion battery. When fully charged, it delivers 5.4 hours of talk time on 3G and 19 days in standby.
