I've been an avid Blackberry user for years now. Despite some of the limitations and the fact that it doesn't have the cool appeal of an iPhone, for the combination of business and personal use, speed, efficiency, form-factor and reliability I've yet to find anything to beat it. While my 7290 was getting a bit tired, and historically Blackberry's were not great phones, it was still a great device overall.

With the Curve, RIM has really outdone themselves. I got the 8310 about a month ago now and the only changes have been positive. Internet applications, which I rarely use save for Google Maps when I get confused in downtown Dallas are exponentially faster, the screen is several magnitudes brighter and even the little trackball, which I thought I would be challenging has turned out to be faster and a easer to use than the old scroll wheel with an adjustment curve of about a day. The keypad is still a full QWERTY board but a bit smaller than before so typing is a touch more challenging but it's really a small trade off. If anything, it's encouraged me to be even more succinct it my e-mail and text messages which is probably a good thing.

The 8310 has embedded GPS which I have yet to use and the camera is acceptably good for a phone camera, which I almost never use anyway. I haven't used the media player extensively and don't foresee it replacing my iPod anytime soon but I can imagine it being useful in some instances and I'm glad to have one on-board; it's a feature I've felt belonged on all phones for sometime. The built in speaker-phone is surprisingly clear and loud which again, as a business user is quite nice. It's got push-to-talk, ala the old Nextel phones but I could care less about that.

As mobile devices go you would be hard pressed to beat the 8310 on almost any account so if you have been on the fence about the Curve, I would recommend it. If you are a more casual user and have been pondering an iPhone that might be a preferable choice for you. I'll re-investigate the iPhone once they get it on 3G and speed up the data side. At that point the iPhone could become pretty compelling even for business users but until then, Blackberry still wins.

Labels: product review