BlackBerry Curve 8350i (Sprint)

relatively clear. Plus, 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 speakerphone since we were able to speak simultaneously and callers weren’t cut off mid-sentence. Additionally, there was no degradation in call quality when we used a Bluetooth headset, and we could still hear callers clearly 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 using our own 3.5mm headphones as well as the included headphones. While music typically sounds better when the cell phone is faced down (the speaker is located on the back of the Curve), we could only discern a slight difference in audio quality when the Curve is placed face-up on a flat surface. Additionally, the BlackBerry Curve 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. Application icons really pop against the dark blue background. You can use the BlackBerry Media 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. You can store as many contacts as your available memory will allow. Each entry can hold multiple phone numbers, e-mail addresses, birthday and anniversary information, a picture, a slot for both work and home addresses, and a Direct Connect number so you can easily connect with other Nextel cell phone users.

The standard fare of BlackBerry applications are on the main screen, but there are a few extra worth noting: Maps (the Curve can pinpoint your location, so you’ll never be lost again), Sprint store, and Search for easily tracking down calendar appointments, messages and contacts stored in the Curve. You can customize the look of the BlackBerry Curve interface. 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 mini-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.

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 , 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 initial setup of the device by following the prompts on the screen. If you already have a BlackBerry e-mail account and are simply changing devices, you can upgrade the information in the BlackBerry Start menu. Also, if you tend to receive a lot of graphic-intensive e-mails, opt for an unlimited data plan, as downloading graphics can quickly eat up megabytes of data.

Camera/video: The BlackBerry Curve has a 2-megapixel camera and a flash. You can also snap a self portrait and use the tiny square mirror located beneath the lens to help frame your shot. Overall, picture quality is decent when snapping pics using the Curve 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 true and bright even when viewed on a computer; however, it doesn’t capture sharp details too well. 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, Color Effects (Normal, Black and White, or Sepia), and GeoTagging. We’re glad to see BlackBerry left our favorite feature implemented: the trackball integrated with the camera application. While you’re setting up a picture, you can scroll around to zoom or change the size of the image.

Additionally, you can view and shoot videos on the cell phone. Shooting videos is pretty easy, but the quality isn’t fabulous. While it’s a nice feature to have, you’re probably going to enjoy watching videos you download or stream from the Internet more.

Music: As noted, the BlackBerry Curve 8350i has a music player. You can listen to songs stored in MP3, AAC (Apple’s audio format), and 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, Shuffle, and Playlists (you can even create them on the fly – nice!). Plus, you can save tunes stored in your cell phone as a ringtone. The Curve comes with about 128MB of memory onboard, if you want to store a ton of music get an extra MicroSD memory card. However, we should note the BlackBerry Curve comes with a 1GB MicroSD card, that should be plenty to get you started.

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. Another nice feature is that 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.”

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 great when we used the Motorola H700), you can also use it to sync up with your contacts if your computer supports Bluetooth. We were able to easily connect to a MacBook Pro via Bluetooth.

This BlackBerry Curve has built-in WiFi. Besides being able to 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. We should note that surfing the Web on the Curve wasn’t bad, but WiFi was often faster. Pages loaded quickly and you could scroll around them via the trackball, but it’s still not the ideal viewing experience on a cell phone.

Look and feel: The first thing you will notice about the BlackBerry Curve 8350i is its sleek black casing. For some reason it’s just not what you would expect. The yellow Nextel logo and the same color subtly surrounding the trackball really pop against the black. We should mention that although the black plastic casing is attractive it does tend to attract fingerprints; however, you have to really look to find them. The next thing you’ll notice is its colorful display. It’s bright, vibrant, and easy to view in most lighting conditions and really pops in dimly lit rooms and direct sunlight.

Of course, this Curve has that great trackball from the Pearl, which is just super-fun to use. Unfortunately, like many cell phones these days, it attracts face grease, so we occasionally found ourselves wiping off the screen. The amount of buttons on the Curve’s spine is on par with other BlackBerry cell phones. You’ll need to remove the back cover and battery to access the MicroSD card. The good news is that this BlackBerry doesn’t have that hard to use cover for the MicroSD. The bad news is that memory cards aren’t hot swappable – you’ll actually have to turn off the BlackBerry to swap cards.

Keypad:The BlackBerry Curve sports black keys with white letters/symbols. Keys representing the numeric keypad are half black, half white. The individual keys all have slightly rounded edges. This aesthetically gives the keypad a bit of a slicker look. Usability-wise we didn’t have a hard time with the keys. Quite the contrary, we found this keyboard a bit easier to use since the keys were well spaced apart. Although you can type long messages with few misspells, you probably won’t be using it to create long documents. 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 uses besides just dialing phone numbers. One caveat, when using the music application, the side volume keys do double duty for volume adjustments and moving between songs in a playlist. This resulted in accidentally switching songs when all we really wanted to do was adjust the volume.

We found battery life on the BlackBerry Curve impressive – even with WiFi 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 to four 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 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. Plus you can charge the BlackBerry Curve when it’s synching with your computer.

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