RIM Blackberry Curve 8330 Cell Phone
- Installed Memory: 64 MB
- Operating System: BlackBerry OS
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Great Entry Point to World of Smartphones
Pros
Business applications<br>Camera<br>Camcorder
Cons
Expensive Apps<br>Can "freeze"
Recommended it?
Yes
The Bottom Line:
Good choice for the professional's first smartphone
I have owned the Blackberry 8330 for just over a year now so I have come to know its strengths and weaknesses very well. At the risk of not providing you with every nugget of specification for this machine, let's focus on real world experience with this device that can come in handy for a new user.
First let me address the strengths of the phone. As a base model Blackberry Smartphone, price is going to be a key strength. This is one of the models that come 'free' with a lot of plans like Sprint and Verizon when you switch over to that plan. This is the method I aquired the phone by. As a stand alone purchase most sites are advertising them for $199.
A second strength of the phone is the browser and trackball system on the machine. It's very easy to move between functions and applications on the system and it's very intuitive because it replicates the function of a mouse and windows setup that 99 percent of people are familiar with on their home computers.
I also consider the keyboard a strength with keys big enough to type with ease and formatted in 'qwerty' layout for simple transition.
Other Strengths include the camera, a 2 megapixel setup with a 1, 3, or 5 times zoom. The zoom function on this phone is great and while the resolution on the camera is average, having the zoom be up to 5x makes getting solid distance pictures a reality. Similarly the voice recorder and camcorder functions are easy to use and give quality results.
I would also list battery life as relative strength. While all smartphones have less battery life than traditional phones, once I have charged the phone overnight, I can get a 'real world' 2 days of use out of the battery. Many of my friends smartphones don't provide that performance.
Finally when speaking of strengths, I would mention durability. I have dropped this phone on several occasions with no problems reported. One of the times the battery cover popped off, but outside of a scratch or two the phone was not affected. The phone also comes with a protective leather case that for me takes that place of any other protective device. With the case the phone just becomes like another wallet for me and if I receive a call, the phone still easily slides out to take the call with no problems.
Now let me address the 'Eccentricities' and weaknesses. As with any device, there are going to be some of these and the only way to find them is to use the device for an extended period of time (which I have)
One of the main problems I have experienced with the 8330 is a very sporadic "freezing" .NO information is lost but it does call for a battery pull and time and aggravation of turning it off and on. During nearly one year of service I have experienced this twice.
A second phenomenon that I have experienced is that if dust or lint gets into the camera eye and builds up, the camera will not zoom to 3x or 5x. Taking a corner of a damp cloth and dabbing it into the camera eye has been a successful way to resolve this problem.
The third thing that can be annoying is that while checking text messages the phone occasionally with revert back to the oldest text if you bump a button wrong. Then you have to trackball through weeks of texts to get back to the newest ones. This may well be my user error, but I'm sure that other users make the same one regurlary and it can be annoying.
Finally, in general terms Blackberry's NEED MORE AND CHEAPER APPS!...I am amazed by everything my wife can get on her I-Phone and when I do buy an app it sets me back from $2.99-$10 or more. Of course there are some free apps, but compared to the competition they are limited at best.
In conclusion, this is a sturdy phone and like all Blackberry's its a business man's special. For organizing appointments, scheduling and receiving emails and texts, this is a great choice. If your dead-set on music and games look elsewhere.
First let me address the strengths of the phone. As a base model Blackberry Smartphone, price is going to be a key strength. This is one of the models that come 'free' with a lot of plans like Sprint and Verizon when you switch over to that plan. This is the method I aquired the phone by. As a stand alone purchase most sites are advertising them for $199.
A second strength of the phone is the browser and trackball system on the machine. It's very easy to move between functions and applications on the system and it's very intuitive because it replicates the function of a mouse and windows setup that 99 percent of people are familiar with on their home computers.
I also consider the keyboard a strength with keys big enough to type with ease and formatted in 'qwerty' layout for simple transition.
Other Strengths include the camera, a 2 megapixel setup with a 1, 3, or 5 times zoom. The zoom function on this phone is great and while the resolution on the camera is average, having the zoom be up to 5x makes getting solid distance pictures a reality. Similarly the voice recorder and camcorder functions are easy to use and give quality results.
I would also list battery life as relative strength. While all smartphones have less battery life than traditional phones, once I have charged the phone overnight, I can get a 'real world' 2 days of use out of the battery. Many of my friends smartphones don't provide that performance.
Finally when speaking of strengths, I would mention durability. I have dropped this phone on several occasions with no problems reported. One of the times the battery cover popped off, but outside of a scratch or two the phone was not affected. The phone also comes with a protective leather case that for me takes that place of any other protective device. With the case the phone just becomes like another wallet for me and if I receive a call, the phone still easily slides out to take the call with no problems.
Now let me address the 'Eccentricities' and weaknesses. As with any device, there are going to be some of these and the only way to find them is to use the device for an extended period of time (which I have)
One of the main problems I have experienced with the 8330 is a very sporadic "freezing" .NO information is lost but it does call for a battery pull and time and aggravation of turning it off and on. During nearly one year of service I have experienced this twice.
A second phenomenon that I have experienced is that if dust or lint gets into the camera eye and builds up, the camera will not zoom to 3x or 5x. Taking a corner of a damp cloth and dabbing it into the camera eye has been a successful way to resolve this problem.
The third thing that can be annoying is that while checking text messages the phone occasionally with revert back to the oldest text if you bump a button wrong. Then you have to trackball through weeks of texts to get back to the newest ones. This may well be my user error, but I'm sure that other users make the same one regurlary and it can be annoying.
Finally, in general terms Blackberry's NEED MORE AND CHEAPER APPS!...I am amazed by everything my wife can get on her I-Phone and when I do buy an app it sets me back from $2.99-$10 or more. Of course there are some free apps, but compared to the competition they are limited at best.
In conclusion, this is a sturdy phone and like all Blackberry's its a business man's special. For organizing appointments, scheduling and receiving emails and texts, this is a great choice. If your dead-set on music and games look elsewhere.
