| Blackberry to Curve its way to smartphone success? |
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| by Alex Zaharov-Reutt | |
| Friday, 04 May 2007 | |
  
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It was quite a departure from the traditional Blackberry, with the QWERTY keyboard, thicker casing and side scroll wheel that favored right handed users over lefties, and remains one of Blackberry’s most popular models to this very day. Not too long after came the Blackberry 8800, sporting the QWERTY keyboard many Blackberry users had in older models, making the 8800 a necessarily wider device than the Pearl. It kept all the multimedia features, save for the digital camera, introduced a built-in GPS function and naturally featured the now de-rigeur Pearl trackball which lit up in white depending on the level of available light. Now only a few months after the successful introduction of the 8800 comes the next model – the Blackberry 8300, which is also known as the Curve. Giving devices snazzy names such as ‘Curve’ is very important – think of the iPod. It’s not the FX232, XR-1993Z or Q45-P3. It’s the iPod. Often, companies forget that people really don’t remember weird model names and numbers that easily. “Everyone” knows the Blackberry Pearl. Few know the Blackberry 8800. So, despite the Blackberry 8300 having a number, calling it the ‘Curve’ is a smart idea that should prove very successful for Blackberry. Mike Lazaridis, President and Co-CEO at RIM is naturally very excited about the latest Blackberry to pop out of the R&D ovens at RIM. He said that: “The BlackBerry Curve offers a unique blend of communications, multimedia and web features to provide people with an exceptional mobile companion for both work and leisure. The BlackBerry Curve delivers RIM's industry leading email and messaging capabilities in a highly approachable smartphone design that is packed with consumer-friendly features including a 2 megapixel camera, enhanced media player and high-performance browser.” So, what makes the 8300, aka the Curve, different from the 8800? Well, both have the QWERTY keyboard that Blackberries are famous for. The Curve is slightly smaller and thinner than the 8800. It comes with a 2 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom, a built-in flash, a mini self-portrait mirror and full screen viewfinder. As expected, you can share photos instantly by email, MMS or BlackBerry Messenger. They can also be transferred over wireless Bluetooth or by USB cable. Naturally, you can set photos as a unique caller ID or you can make them your “Home Screen” or desktop image. It has a slightly smaller battery, meaning slightly less talk time, and it removes the GPS receiver, although it still retains mapping software. Dimensions are 4.2'' x 2.4'' x 0.6'' (that’s 10.7 x 6 x 1.6cm in metric measurements) and the unit weighs approximately 3.9 oz (or 111g in metric once more). The display is ultra-bright so images and videos look clear and sharp, has a resolution of 320x240 resolution and includes RIM's light sensing technology that automatically adjusts backlighting levels for indoor, outdoor and dark environments. Videos can be played in full-screen mode if desired. The unit has built-in speakers that you can use for speakerphone, or to listen to music, it has a 3.5mm headphone socket that works with standard iPod or Walkman headphones, and the Bluetooth profile included supports A2DP and AVRCP, meaning those nifty Bluetooth stereo headphones with pause, play, rewind, fast forward and volume control buttons direct the on-screen music controls – something that iPods still can’t do. The media player on the BlackBerry Curve has also been refined, allowing you to search for music by simply typing the title, genre, artist or album name. In addition, the microSD socket supports 1Gb, 2Gb and upcoming 4Gb cards that will arrive later this year, letting you carry quite a selection of digital music and media with you wherever you go. The Curve also has an improved web browser and full phone capabilities including Voice Activated Dialing, quad-band capabilities, and is GSM, GPRS and EDGE capable. All-in-all, it’s yet another step on the Blackberry’s path to ensuring their phones are as digitally savvy, stylish and as easy to use as possible. With competition such as the multi-talented and extremely impressive Nokia N95 and also the upcoming Apple iPhone, Blackberry has simply done what they needed to do: make the Blackberry ever more digitally capable and desirable. For consumers and corporates who love the Blackberry, the Curve will be very welcome, with customers able to choose the trackball equipped Blackberry that suits them best, be it the Pearl, the 8800 with built-in GPS, or the new Curve. Naturally, Blackberry can’t rest on their laurels, as Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, LG, Apple and others scramble to release ever better models. But for now, the release of the Curve shows RIM have the goods to keep Blackberry in the ring as a solid contender. {moscomment} |
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