Tag: RIM

By August 7, 2013 Read More →

Blackberry Q10 Review

Blackberry Q10 ReviewBlackBerry are trying a new tactic in the smartphone wars with their new operating system, BlackBerry 10, we will talk a lot more in the review.

The first BlackBerry 10 device is the Z10 which is BlackBerry’s flagship device and the Q10 is the more ‘BlackBerry’ BlackBerry with a more conventional look. What I mean is that when you hear someone say ‘I’ve just got a new blackberry’ you expect to see a phone with a smaller screen and a full QWERTY keyboard.

So with that in mind how will this device cope with competing with the full touch devices? And not to mention the Z10 too!

To find out those answers and answers to any other questions then please read on. Not before you’ve watched the BlackBerry Q10 unboxing video from Matt of course.

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BlackBerry Curve 9320 Review

BlackBerry Curve 9320 Review

The BlackBerry Curve 9320 may not be the BlackBerry Smartphone that is hitting the headlines at the moment due to it being a low end, budget device but that doesn’t mean it will not be popular. In fact, here in the UK it is quite possible that the 9320 may be 2012’s best selling Smartphone?

For the last two years RIM have claimed the title of most handsets sold in Great Britain and with the youth of today all carrying a BlackBerry, the Curve 9320 is the perfect successor to the Curve 8520 and 9300 that have proved so popular.

Available sim free from only £130 and on contact from £10.50 a month the BlackBerry Curve 9320 is both affordable and should be the perfect reason to keep the 8520/9300 users on Team BlackBerry.

Running BlackBerry 7.1 the 9320 doesn’t have the highest specs but due to it having the most up to date software it runs like a dream.

If you are in the market for the cheapest, best communication device yet I suggest you read on.

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By January 16, 2012 Read More →

BlackBerry Curve 9380 review

BlackBerry Curve 9380 reviewThe Curve brand has been hugely successful for RIM, especially the 8520 mega-hit; these were the first BlackBerries that appealed to the masses on a budget, allowing the everyman a taste of BBM and the famed BlackBerry keyboard. Alongside the Curve 9360, this is RIM’s take on a modern budget smartphone. As you’ve probably noticed, the 9380 doesn’t have a keyboard, perhaps the biggest BlackBerry selling point. That doesn’t spell doom for RIM though, as full touch phones are obviously the way the market is heading. RIM are no strangers to full touch phones, and the ones preceding, such as the Storm, haven’t been popular to say the least.

But now with the arrival of BlackBerry OS 7 and its user friendly tweaks on this budget touchscreen phone with the Curve branding behind it, could the Curve 9380 be the first touchscreen-only hit for RIM? Check out the full review for the verdict!

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By October 24, 2011 Read More →

BlackBerry Torch 9860 review

BlackBerry Torch 9860 reviewThe BlackBerry Torch 9860 is RIM’s first touch only Smartphone with a capacitive screen. Sure, we have had the Storm and Storm 2 but they didn’t use the same screen technology and I’m not sure if RIM are too proud of those devices. Things have moved on now and the Torch 9860 is running BlackBerry 7 and like its brothers, the Torch 9810 and Bold 9900 it is powered by a 1.2Ghz processor.

These new features bring a new experience to a BlackBerry, but is there a market for a BlackBerry without the well known hardware keyboard and is the Torch 9860 a worthy competitor to all the touch screen Android devices and the iPhone?

You will have to read on for my verdict.

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By August 10, 2011 Read More →

BlackBerry Bold 9900 Review

BlackBerry Bold 9900 ReviewResearch in Motion (RIM) have been getting some pretty heavy criticism recently and it is now time for another flagship device, the Bold 9900.  The previous Bold, the 9780, was just a rehash of the 9700 with a very few improved specs, so it is great to see that things have changed quite a lot with the 9900. Many users of the original Bold, the 9000, loved the device so much due to its size and it looks like RIM have listened to its customers as the new Bold 9900 is very similar with the added bonus of losing the track ball in favour of the track pad and some other great specs including a capacitive touch screen as well as a 1.2 GHz processor.

In North America, BlackBerry sales have been plummeting in with users opting for other platforms such as Android and iOS. That said, worldwide BlackBerry sales are far from doom and gloom. RIM shipped 13.2 million devices in the last quarter which is not bad at all.

There is no doubt that the 9900 will be a huge hit but the big question is will it bring back lost customers to the BlackBerry platform?

Read on to see the full review as well as my thoughts on whether the Bold 9900 can carry RIM through the next year or so as a flagship device.

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By November 8, 2010 Read More →

BlackBerry Bold 9780 Review

BlackBerry Bold 9780 reviewAvailable in both black and white the BlackBerry Bold 9780 is the follow on from the popular 9700 although if you saw my unboxing video you will know that there is not too many things that have changed regarding hardware. A better camera and more memory always help but it is the operating system that excites me most. The BlackBerry Bold 9780 is the first non touch BlackBerry to launch here in the UK with BlackBerry 6.

Sure, I have used it on the Torch but the Bold 9780 will outsell the Torch (so I think) and as far as I am concerned this will be RIMs number one business device for the near future.

Is it worth upgrading or going an buying now? You will have to read on for my opinions.

 

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By June 17, 2010 Read More →

BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 Review

BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 Review-mainThe BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 is one of a few new BlackBerry smart phones we should see this year. The 9105 is pretty unique though. As far as I am aware this is the first BlackBerry with a traditional style keypad. Yes, three letters on each key.

It is however a spin off of the 9100 which also has just been released overseas but this one has two letters per key like we have seen before on BlackBerry Pearls.

It is only the 9105 we will see here in the UK and this is clearly to offer people using a feature phone the opportunity to upgrade to a BlackBerry without them having to use a full Qwerty keyboard which does put some people off.

Is the BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9105 a worthy contender up against all the other dozens of devices out there with a standard keyboard?

Read on to find out.

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By September 17, 2009 Read More →

Blackberry Curve 8520 Review

The Blackberry Curve 8520 (codename Gemini) is the latest device to be released by RIM and it is supposedly a low end handset. However, there are a couple of things which I personally prefer over the popular Curve 8900. Read on to find out what they are……

Blackberry Curve 8520

Blackberry Curve 8520

The ten second review:

Device: Blackberry Curve 8520

Summary: A low end messaging device but does it so well.

Best of: BlackBerry email, WiFi, Superb Keypad.

Worst of: No 3G, No GPS

Price: £224.25

What’s in the box?

  • Device
  • Battery
  • Charger
  • Headset
  • USB Cable
  • Software
  • Manual/Quick start guide

Have a look at Matt’s BlackBerry Curve 8520 unboxing video for more

Blackberry Curve 8520 Gemini Specification:

  • Dimensions:- 109 x 60 x 13.9mm
  • Weight: 106g
  • Battery:- Talk Time: 4.5 hrs / Standby Time: 408 hrs
  • Display:- 320 x 240 pixels/2.46″
  • Network:- GSM: 850/900/1800/1900 (Quad-Band)
  • Camera:- 2 mega-pixels (auto-focus)
  • Video:- Supported formats: MP4, 3GP, H.264, & WMV
  • Music:- Supported formats: MP3, AAC, eAAC+ & WMA
  • Messaging:- SMS / MMS / E-mail (POP3, SMTP, IMAP4, BlackBerry, MS Exchange)
  • Instant Messaging (MSN)
  • Memory:- 256 MB (internal) / microSDHC (external)
  • Navigation:- BlackBerry Maps
  • Security:- Remote Lock / Device and memory card encryption
  • Features :- Optical Pad, Dedicated Media Keys

General

The top of the device contains some rather nice media function keys.

Blackberry Curve 8520 Top View

Curve 8520 Top View

The left side of the phone houses the USB port, 3.5 mm headset jack and also the voice dialling activation key.

Blackberry Curve 8520 Left Side

Curve 8520 Left Side

The up/down volume rocker and a dedicated camera key can be found on the right side.

Blackberry Curve 8520 Right Side

Curve 8520 Right Side

The back of the Blackberry houses only the camera lens.

8520 Back View

Curve 8520 Back View

The front of the handset looks just like you would expect a Blackberry to look.

Blackberry Curve 8520 Front View

Curve 8520 Front

Highlights:

  • Optical Trackpad
  • Blackberry email

Lowlights

  • No 3G
  • No GPS
  • No Camera Flash

Review:

Dubbed as a low end device the Blackberry Curve 8520 is similar to the Curve 8900 in many ways but it is just missing a few things. The main features missing are no GPS, smaller battery and the camera is 2mp compared to 3.15mp on the 8900.

However, this will clearly make the phone cheaper to buy and I think it could do very well as a pay as you go device. It is listed as coming soon as PAYG on the Orange website.

Never owning a Blackberry before I was pretty excited about getting this latest addition to the Blackberry family. I particularly wanted to see what all the hype was about as just a few weeks ago RIM was named as the fastest growing company in the world with its profits up 84% over the last three years!

There is no doubt that the 8520 is a nice looking device. Its pure black, unlike the Curve 8900 which has a silver band around its casing, and oozes the fact that it a Blackberry hardcore messaging device.

It’s smooth and shiny and if it could talk it would probably be saying “Hey, check me out ladies!”

It’s slightly lighter in weight than the Curve 8900 and certainly feels it. So lightweight in fact that it feels a bit toy like. The battery cover in particular feels cheap and I wonder how it will be over months and months of daily handling.

So how did I find using the Blackberry operating system for the first time? It was really simple and I would imagine that is one of the things that attracts and keep Blackberry customers.

There was nothing too complicated and navigating the menus was smooth.

Speaking of navigation, the Curve 8520 has a small feature which sets it apart from the popular previous Curves and the Bold. It doesn’t have a trackball. Instead it has an optical trackpad. Although these have been used by other manufactures for a while I believe this is RIMs first and I think they have made a good choice. When I knew I was getting the 8520 to review I popped down to my local Orange Retail store to have a quick play with the Curve 8900. Not in any great depth but I just wanted to get a feel for the trackball as I knew I would have to compare it with the trackpad.

Now which is better will certainly come down to personal choice but I defiantly would go for the trackpad. I have subsequently had a go on a friends 8900 and again much preferred the pad over the ball.

The speed that the trackpad works can be altered which is nice.

Another thing I was very impressed with was the screen. It’s nice and bright and the images are crisp and bold. In addition, viewing photos that have been taken with the camera look really colourful and bright.

Probably the most important aspect of the device is the keyboard.

8520 Keyboard

The Blackberry Curve 8520 Keyboard

With any messaging device the quality and layout of the keys are paramount. Luckily RIM have made a fantastic job of the 8520. The keys are of a decent size and there is just the right amount of spacing between them. Not only do you feel a click when you press any of the keys but you can also hear it as well which is a feature I like.

Compared to other devices I would say that the keyboard on the 8520 is pretty near the top of the pile. The keys are smaller than on a Blackberry Bold but bigger than on several Palm devices still on the market, including the forthcoming Palm Pre. A few months ago I reviewed the HTC Snap and gave its keyboard a super review. In my opinion I found typing slightly better on the Snap but there is nothing wrong with the 8520 and I was able to compose messages pretty much mistake free. The device allows for easy one handed use as well as two handed which will suit some people. I’m a big fan of slide out keyboards so using the smaller front facing ones is always a bit of a challenge for me!

On to the camera. At 2mp it is never going to be great but as I said earlier, viewing photos on the device is good. Once the photos were on my computer they were actually better than I thought they would be. Still a little grainy but for 2mp not bad at all.

I don’t think that buyers of this device are going to have the camera at the top of there required features list.

Listening to music through the speaker was reasonable. The speaker is fairly loud but a little “tinny” and this made the “Metallica test” not so good. Once the Blackberry headphones were plugged in, this improved things but using my own headphones was better. The supplied ones also look and feel really cheap.

Web browsing on a non touch handset is never something I look forward too but the 8520 was not bad at all. The optical trackpad controls an onscreen mouse arrow and the experience was better than on similar devices. The web pages were a little slow to load and using the menu to select bookmarks etc was also more hassle than on a touch screen device but if you are going to own one of these phones you will soon adjust.

The 8520 does have WiFi but lacks 3G which is a real shame.

The main reason to buy a Blackberry has to be for email. I had a slight problem setting up my email on the device. I couldn’t. After several hours researching on the internet how to do so I discovered that I needed to register the device with my network provider. I didn’t want to use the Blackberry server, just my pop3 yahoo account but that wasn’t easy. After speaking with Orange they told me that the only way they could do it would be for me to sign up for Blackberry Services at a cost of just over four pounds a month. Now normally this would not be an issue but in order for them to do this they would need to remove my existing data package of 500mb and replace it with the Blackberry one (250mb). I didn’t want them touching my existing package as last time they did they forgot to put it back on and I had a bill for £900.00! Of course they credited me but I didn’t want the hassle so I told them I wouldn’t bother.

So, I have not been able to use the email feature myself but I do have a little story about my friend Phil. A few weeks ago Phil came to the end of his mobile contract and decided to switch carriers and get a HTC Hero on Orange. He was pretty happy with the device but eventually decided to order a Blackberry Curve 8900 from O2 to compare and then send one device back. His exact words to me on Sunday were “The Hero is a much better device in nearly everyway but there is just something about the Blackberry”. So the Hero went back and he is more than happy with his Blackberry and the dozens of emails he sends from it everyday.

If your bored don’t worry, that’s the end of the story!

Conclusion:

The Blackberry 8520 is without doubt a decent device. I think it will have a limited market though as it is lacking a few features compared to the Curve 8900, however the new trackpad may just swing it for some people.

I’m sure that the network providers that release it as a PAYG handset will do relatively well with sales but that will obviously be dependant on price.

In this review I have covered the main features/selling points of the device but if you have any questions please feel free to ask using the forum. I will have the device for another week so please register on the forum and I will do my best to answer your questions.

Review by: James

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