BlackBerry Curve 9320 Smartphone - Black

I previously owned a Blackberry Bold 9700, which I unfortunately lost. I loved the Bold, however after 3 years it was starting to run a bit slow, so I was probably going to buy a new phone within a year anyway. I have a great sim deal so I wanted to keep that and buy another Blackberry. I also use Blackberry protect so the thought of being able to restore all my data was a reason to stick with Blackberry, but I am a loyal Blackberry fan whatever the case.I would have happily bought another Bold, but I wanted to save money so I decided to go for a Curve. I was tempted by the 8520, but I'm so happy I got the 9320.PHYSICAL APPEARANCEThe phone looks good overall. The plastic back isn’t as good as some of the sturdier blackberries but it’s still fine. The keyboard is good and initially the raised blackberry, return and call buttons annoyed me but I’ve gotten used to them now. The famous “BBM” button on the side is literally the old shortcut key with BBM written next to it. You can still assign the button to whatever function you want. The screen feels as though it would scratch quite easily and I don’t think the phone would survive being dropped too well (in comparison to my old Bold 9700 which seemed a bit sturdier). I bought a cheap BB leather case for it though and it protects it well. I dislike the lock button on the top of the phone. It’s really easy to touch it by mistake as you put the phone in and out of your pocket, which means often the phone will be unlocked as you walk. You can get round this with a case or by adding a password lock to your screen if it’s a problem.THE PHONE/OSI like OS7, I was used to OS6 on my old bold and OS7 feels a little crisper. A lot of the options and settings are clearer and better divided and there’s more help with setup, security and privacy. Blackberry protect and ID are better integrated into the phone and it just feels like more common sense has been put into everything: there’s an easy option for transferring data to a new blackberry, documents to go is back (I didn’t have it on OS6?) and the setup menu is a lot more user friendly. Email set up and sync works far more efficiently than on my previous phone. I get the impression that someone new to Blackberry would be able to set this up a lot easier than previous blackberries. The signal is really good (I realise that is network/location dependent but I mean there seem to be no problems at the phone end… I have better signal than friends on the same network but who have a different phone). The camera is fine and the flash is a nice addition. Blackberry still haven’t got a great browser though and their app store is nothing compared to Apple or Google, however if you’ve read this far I expect you already knew that.I think a newer version of this phone has been released now hence the price of the 9320 is coming down and shops are trying to get rid of their stock. Don’t let this put you off, I use my phone a lot and this does everything I need at good speeds. If you are deliberating between say the 8520 and this for 20/30 pounds difference definitely spend the extra money!

I used to have sort of a complicated relationship with BBs. I previously owned a Bold 9780 that I found highly disappointing considering its high price tag. When I finally got rid of it I thought I'd never ever get back. I was so wrong!After 6 months of struggling against Android bugs on a QWERTY Samsung Galaxy I finally had to reconsider the BB as a viable option. I needed a phone for texts, chats, mails and all sorts off communications and I hate doing those things on a touchscreen. These are the kind of stuff where the BB OS still has no rivals. Despite all sorts of other flaws, namely the embarassing web browser and the number of useful apps that is close to zero, it is still the best communication OS out there.So this time I decided to go for the cheapest model, and guess what? It rocks!Build quality seems good, the device looks solid and the soft texture of the plastic makes it pleasant to be held in your hand. Moreover, I really like the simple, neat design of it. Despite being the entry level model, it does not look so cheap as previous Curves like i.e. the 8520.The screen is ok, I was aware that the 240x320 resolution would not make it very sharp, the 640x480 display of my previous Bold was gorgeous in comparison to this, but at least on this device the screen is well protected by a robust plastic coating (i.e. you don't see the liquid crystal halo on the screen if you accidentally press it).The keyboard is a pleasure to use. I largely prefer the Curve keyboard, with separated keys, over the Bold one, where the keys are softer and attached.The Camera is ok, it is a 3.2 mpxl with LED flash, but I think it has fixed focus. To be used only if you don't have anything better at hand.Convenience Keys on the side are handy and not too easy to press accidentally. Battery life is ok, the phone makes it to the end of a busy day. Let us say that you can expect to charge it every other day, which is much better than most nowadays phones.The bundle that came with the phone is the standard Curve one: EU and UK USB chargers, USB cable, stereo headset, cd and a couple of leaflets.From the software point of view, OS 7 (this phone comes with 7.1) is virtually identical to OS 6, but it has a few improvements that I appreciate, one above all the Wi-Fi hotspot feature, that I really missed on my previous BB (which had OS 6). It also comes with a DLNA server, for streaming your multimedia stuff over a local network (a feature I am not sure I will ever use, but thanks RIM for the effort). I also noticed some slight improvement in the web browser. It is still pretty clumsy, but I'd say it seems better.Instant messaging apps are as usual very good: I mostly use Gtalk and must say that the BB client is ages better than the original Android one!One thing I hate about this OS is the overwhelming presence of Bing web search. If you want Google, you have to add it manually, to both the web browser and the Universal Search.The phone comes with Office To Go preinstalled for viewing (and editing, I suppose) Office documents. Have not used it so far, but in case you need to open an urgent attachment, you will be able to do it.Apart from these remarks, OS 7 is nothing more and nothing less than its predecessors, which means: an efficient and intuitive interface designed to be operated through the optical scroll device (no need for a touchscreen, really), excellent for communications (texts, emails, IM), ok as a media player, ok for Twitter, poor for Facebook, poor for web surfing.The annoying things are still there too: you still have to pull out the battery to reboot the device, it still takes ages to reboot and you still have to reboot it after most app updates. Shame on you RIM, this feels like Windows 98!By the way, once you install Google Maps, Opera Mini, Dropbox and Poynt you are probably ready to get the most from this device.At this price point I believe this model is good value for money. In my opinion, more expensive models are not worth the premium price tag. I am really satisfied with the build quality of this phone and how it is designed to make you do (most) things quickly. Blackberries have their limits however, so make sure you know what you want from it before buying one.If what you want is an excellent communication device, then go for this one, definitely!

It's a good product but not as easy to use as I expected, the screen doesn't have touch function, you have to use a tiny touch pad instead, so compared to touch screen phones it's a step backward. I like the keyboard though, I'm not sure if newer, more expensive Blackberry phones have the touch screen.