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Blackberry Curve 8520
| Caractéristiques | |||
| Camera sensor | 2 MP | ||
| Weight | 106 grammes | ||
| Dimensions (mm) | 109 x 60 x 13.90 mm | ||
| Talk Time | 14.5 hours | ||
| Standby Time | 17 days | ||
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| Internal Memory | 256 MB |
| Memory Card | Micro SD and SDHC |
| SAR Level | 1.02 W/kg |
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Florence Legrand
Test date: November 19, 2009
Test date: November 19, 2009
The Curve 8520 as a phone
As we've already seen, the Curve 8520 only has a minimum of connectivity options. Though it doesn't have 3G or 3G+, it does have WiFi, which can help gain valuable seconds when downloading e-mail attachments.
There's nothing to complain about when placing calls, with good, clear audio, recognisable voices and good reception.
You can provide a lot of information about contacts in the address book, and, of course, synchronise them with Microsoft Exchange, which is especially useful for professional users. The calendar is also pretty advanced, and the Push Mail is as useful as ever. In short, it might not shine everywhere, but the Curve has plenty of useful features that will win over pros.
There's nothing to complain about when placing calls, with good, clear audio, recognisable voices and good reception.
You can provide a lot of information about contacts in the address book, and, of course, synchronise them with Microsoft Exchange, which is especially useful for professional users. The calendar is also pretty advanced, and the Push Mail is as useful as ever. In short, it might not shine everywhere, but the Curve has plenty of useful features that will win over pros.
RIM is continuing its incursion into the world of mass-market smartphones with the new Curve 8520. It isn't touchscreen, but it still has some interesting features.
You'll need to get used to the fact that its performance is as lightweight as its price in some areas, especially due to the lack of 3G or GPS, for example, or the camera, which only has a 2 Megapixel sensor.
It also has a new trackpad for navigating through the menus, so it's goodbye to the little rolling ball, and hello to a small touch-sensitive square. Is it any good?
Stylish good looks and a great keyboard
Looking very much like a typical BlackBerry, the Curve 8520 has a good quality finish, despite the fact that, unlike the classier Bold, it's mostly made of plastic, save for a little bit of rubber around the outside. It's light for a smartphone, easy to hold in your hand and won't take up too much space in your pocket.
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Despite looking rather ordinary, there are a few nice little details that we like on the new Curve. There are some controls on the side of the phone, for instance, for adjusting the volume or the zoom and they're covered with the same black band that goes all the way round the outside of the phone. We're also glad to see that the buttons to control the multimedia audio and video features sit within easy reach on the top edge of the handset. It's a handy solution that means you don't need to delve into the menu to change the tack you're listening to.
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Let's have a look at the keyboard. At first sight, we were worried that our typing would be full of errors given how close together the keys are and how small they are. You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, though, as we found out: we hit the wrong key very, very rarely, if ever. It makes writing text messages and e-mails a real treat, once you've got used to holding down shift to get punctuation. We also liked the very useful spell checker.
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The excellent keyboard makes writing e-mails a breeze
A speedy smartphone
It all starts when you switch it on: your Curve 8520 is ready to go in under ten seconds! The majority of today's smartphones don't manage to be so fast, and take between 25 and 45 seconds before they're fully operational. But we can't forget the TG01 which took almost 1 minute 25 seconds …
While we're still on the good news, let's look at the new navigation system, which uses a small square trackpad, which has done away the famous ball which propelled the early success of the BlackBerry before migrating to the HTC Hero. This small touch-sensitive pad is just as useful, accurate and sensitive as the ball was. It makes navigating through the menus very easy.
If you don't already know the way the menus work on a BlackBerry, there are one or two things you need to learn. Once you're used to them, though, the logical layout that RIM has adopted becomes a real bonus.
The menus are very well-organised, but you can't really customise them
When you see it for the first time, the BlackBerry interface can seem rather austere, especially compared to some of its competitors like HTC's Sense interface, the OS on Apple's iPhone or even in the in-house software found on Samsung and LG mobiles. Nevertheless, it's easy to use, especially as the handset is very fast. Some features could certainly be easier to access, rather than being hidden in sub-menu after sub-menu There's a simple shortcut to learn, though: if you press and hold the BlackBerry key, a menu appears giving direct access to five key features like the home screen, a list of recent calls and messages.
If you ask us, the real problem is that you can't really personalise this phone. While some smartphones offer several customisable home screens, the interface on the Curve 8520 is still rather rigid. All you can do--and it's still useful--is choose the six icons that appear on the homescreen based on the features that you use the most.
If you ask us, the real problem is that you can't really personalise this phone. While some smartphones offer several customisable home screens, the interface on the Curve 8520 is still rather rigid. All you can do--and it's still useful--is choose the six icons that appear on the homescreen based on the features that you use the most.
Forget about photos and and get used to waiting for the web
We already know that the number of pixels on a camera's sensor isn't always a guarantee of good quality photos. However, two Megapixels is pretty stingy this days, so we have to say that you'll find better cameras on other phones, especially as the flash is pretty useless. You can sum up the photos taken by the Curve 8520 in two words: acceptable (but much less so in low light levels) and noisy.
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Compare the BlackBerry Curve 8520 to other digital cameras and mobile phones in our Product Face-Off
Audio and video performance is about average for this type of equipment. Note that the location of the standard-sized headphone jack isn't that great as it's on the side of the handset; we would have thought that the top would have been more logical …
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When surfing the web, you'll you need to make do with waiting a while, depending on the site you're trying to look at, and viewing it on a 2.6'' display with a resolution of just 320 x 240 pixels. That means both the cursor and the zoom control both see a lot of action.
There are already over 3000 apps available in the BlackBerry App World,
including free content from social networking sites and paid-for apps
Pluses
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Good quality hardware
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Switches on in around 10 seconds
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Very practical keyboard
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Sensitive, accurate trackpad
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Four days of battery life
Minuses
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No 3G/3G+
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Not much room for customisation
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Web browsing: better, but still not perfect
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Mediocre camera
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Not much internal memory
If you don't need an entirely touchscreen phone, but do want a great physical keyboard, good battery life and a chance to try a BlackBerry without breaking the bank, then the Curve 8520 is a great choice. The design isn't that exciting, and surfing the web without 3G can sometimes be painful. The photos aren't great, either, and there's no GPS. But the things it can do, it does well, so it's up to you to decide what you really need!
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