I was recently sent a review unit of the BlackBerry Curve 8900, which is an update to a very popular line.  To me, it’s the “in-between” BlackBerry when compared to its larger (Bold) and smaller (Pearl) brethren.

Overall, I’m still impressed by what BlackBerry does with its phones.  The Curve is another great example of a process that BlackBerry has refined.  If you want a great QWERTY keyboard, the place you’re going to find it is on the blackberry.

So let’s get to the review.

The BlackBerry Curve 8900 (image courtesy BlackBerry)

The Curve measures 4.29″ x 2.36″ x 0.53″ and weighs 3.87 ounces.  Compared with the Bold (4.48″ x 2.6″  x 0.59″, 4.8 ounces), it’s smaller in every way. But its certainly larger than the Pearl (4.2″ x 1.97″ x 0.55″, 3.4 oz).  To me, the Curve was a great fit.  I liked the way it felt in my hands.  The keys are hard plastic and have a good amount of punch to them.  I’d rank the keyboard right behind the Bold, which is still my favorite keyboard and slightly ahead of the Pre, the device I own.

On a device like this, text input is the most important part.  I can report that the Curve delivers.  I actually referred a co-worker to pick one up who was looking for a new phone (he declined, instead going with a normal, non-QWERTY phone, the jump to a full keyboard and trackball was too much for him).  I think this is a great phone to make the jump to though, if you’ve never had one before.  Its keys are pretty spacious, there’s definitely more room on the Curve than there is on my Pre.  It’s a fantastic setup, though now that I have dedicated @ and . keys on my Pre, I kind of wish that they were on the BlackBerry keyboards as well.

Texting and emailing is helped by the massive dictionary of words on the Curve.  It basically knows what I was trying to type, and will make sure to alert me (complete with red squiggly lines underneath).  This is something that’s just not there on the Pre, and a clear advantage for BlackBerry.  It was disappointing to return to my own device and not have the great dictionary on the Curve.

Now if  there’s one place I’d want the Curve to improve, it’s the browser. In a world of (now) two top-tier mobile browsing experiences (Mobile Safari and WebOS), BlackBerry needs to improve the experience.  Now don’t get me wrong, it’s more capable than some, and uses the scroll whell effectively, but the bar is so high now with the multitouch interfaces that it’s tough to compete.  The Curve does command the powers of WiFi though, so when you are browsing on a home or work network, it’ll be blazing fast compared to the cell speeds.

That being said, email is one thing that BlackBerry does better than anyone else.

The camera on the curve is superb.  It’s a 3.2MP with a flash.  This is nearly becoming the standard out there for cell phones, but there are some that still come equipped without a flash (iPhone 3GS!) or with a paltry 2.0MP sensor (many others).  It’s also capable of video recording (another one-up over my Pre), and the camera has auto focus and image stabilization.   All of those features would be useless without MMS, but thankfully the Curve is MMS-capable.

Battery life was pretty impressive.  It’s rated as 5.5 hours of talk time and 356(!) hours of standby time.  The battery is rated 1400 mAHr.  It’s also removable, which means if you’re carrying a backup battery you won’t have to worry about it.

One thing that I’ve come to really like about BlackBerry devices is their incredible load times.  “Another high point for the Bold is its incredible boot times.  I noticed this while reviewing the Storm.  Both phones go from off to on faster than any other I’ve used.” I wrote that a couple months ago after reviewing the Storm and Bold, and the trend continues.  From off to on, there’s no faster boot that I’ve had on a smartphone than a BlackBerry.  It was made even more noticeable when I had to wait almost a minute for the Pre to turn on one day.  There are no such wait times for the Curve.

Gaming on the Curve will not be like gaming on the iPhone.  There is no store that’s as big as the App Store, but that won’t stop you from downloading some cellphone classics.  Games like Tetris aren’t meant to be played on a touchscreen, they’re better with some tactile feedback.

As far as media options go, it’s capable, but not wonderful. The Curve has a microSD slot, which means you can toss in a cheap card and have as much memory as you want.

AT&T offers the Curve 8900 for $399.99 but with a 2-year contract the price drops to $149.99.  As far as BlackBerry’s go, I like it a lot.  It’s a good phone with a great keyboard.  If you’re looking to text and email a lot on the go, then this could be the phone for you.  Make sure to check features and contract prices though, if you’re going with AT&T, I’ve heard and seen a lot of good things about the iPhone 3GS.

Have questions about something? Post a comment or email me at matt(dot)schuler(at)woodtv(dot)com. And for more, shorter updates, check out my Twitter by clicking on twitter.com/mattschuler.