RIM – BlackBerry Curve
I’ve mentioned a few times about what I do, as Director of Customer Service and Operations I manage a team of 30 people in a few different areas. One of my key responsibilities is to provide support and be in touch with the office. When I first started, I had a plain-jane cell phone. Nothing very cool. I was then upgraded to a Blackberry.
First few weeks I ended up getting Blackberry thumb. My thumb ached from using the scroll wheel on the side. Eventually I got used to it. It was a great phone, just bulky.
Most recently the company phones came up for upgrades through our cell carrier, so I was given a few choices:
- BlackBerry World Phone
- BlackBerry Curve
I ended up picking the BlackBerry Curve.
Initially I wasn’t quite sure about it since it’s a bit wider than my old BlackBerry but it is much thinner and it had a few great features that my old BB didn’t have:
- Email and Text Messaging
- Instant Messaging
- Organizer
- Browser
- Advanced Phone Features – Voice Activated Dialing
- Advanced Phone Features – Quad Band SmartPhone
- Camera – 2mp with built-in flash, 5x digital zoom
- Video Recording
- Media Player
- Social Networking
- BlackBerry Maps
- GPS – subscription service
- Wi-Fi
- Expandable Memory – I added 2gb mini-SD
- Trackball
I’ve tried most of the features on the phone. Love the camera and video recording – quality is not bad for a phone. The voice activated dialing is GREAT! Works with my Bluetooth headset, though I always try not to take or place calls when I’m driving.
The GPS subscription service is good, but I’ve noticed that it is a bit slow at times and sometimes you get the weirdest directions. My favourite is:
- Go .5 km and make a u-turn
The problem is the road that I was on doesn’t really permit u-turns as it’s pretty damn busy!!! Got a chuckle out of those… Otherwise the GPS system is great, however at $10.00/month you are better off buying a dedicated GPS unit for your vehicle. Of course the advantage with having everything on your phone is just that – ONE DEVICE, not phone + GPS + PDA etc.,
Text messaging is as you would use it on any other phone – but having a full QWERTY keyboard is a godsend (ok, so I exaggerate…). But seriously, it’s much better than hitting one key a million times to get a different key.
I’ve also used the Instant Messaging to keep in touch with my team, and a few of the guys in IT that I work with regularly.
I like this phone so much, I am seriously considering getting one for my wife. She has a LG slider and the battery just sucks on the phone.
The only thing that I don’t like is the cheap, vinyl case that RIM packages. Surely a company that is on top of the world can afford to provide a better case? It’s a $200.00+ phone and to give you a $24.99 case (which probably costs them $0.50 each) is kind of cheesy. The case that they provide for the World Phone is much nicer…
Otherwise I’m pretty happy with the BlackBerry – the Curve is a great phone!
RIM – BlackBerry Curve
