Customer Reviews:
 BB Curve vs. TMO Dash - Blackberry wins! July 12, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
Now that the price has come down, this is just a fantastic bargain for a very full-featured phone.
First of all, the connectivity is impressive. WiFi and stereo Bluetooth, and it even supports VOIP (i.e., Tmo's @home service). Email and messaging is superb, I do lots of txt and get IM notifications, plus all my IM clients on this phone and the conversations are all integrated into one list, very handy. I have the Blackberry Unlimited data plan + unlimited texts, which i consider necessary because this slick messaging interface tends to lead to excessive messaging. But that's why you get a Blackberry, right?
I had a Tmo Dash before this, and this just blows it out of the water. They have a similar feature set, but the Dash's camera is all but unusable, takes lousy pictures, the screen is hard to see in bright daylight, and the Blackberry OS makes Win Mobile seem clunky and confusing by comparison. It would be nice if the BB took video too, but cell phone video kind of sucks anyway.
If you're one of those highly connected social networking types, there is a Facebook app, numerous IM clients, and a Flickr uploader that makes posting pictures effortless. I installed Google Maps, and even though the Tmo version of the Curve has no GPS, the gMaps application gets it close enough by triangulating your location. It won't give you turn by turn nav but it really helps if you're lost, plus it's close enough so that using the traffic overlay is very helpful to avoid delays. The internet browsing is very satisfactory and superior to the Dash's mobile IE. Also, installing all these add-on apps is extremely easy. There are even some cool free versions of games that are quite fun to play with the little trackball.
I keep logged in to all these different things, and Bluetooth running all the time with WiFi wherever available - this is one busy little phone - but the processor is more than adequate to the task of keeping up, and the battery life is impressive with all these things running. With the Dash, "out of memory" errors trying to run the worthless camera were common, and the WiFi, Bluetooth, and any kind of multimedia usage would drain the battery way too fast. With the Dash, I had to constantly make sure I was being conservative with what I had running, and that's just no fun at all.
Multimedia capabilities are very nice, I have a 4 gig micro SD and some stereo bluetooth peripherals (i recommend Altec Lansing T515 Portable Speaker for Stereo Bluetooth Phone) and you've got a very slick portable entertainment system.
The little scroll wheel was a bit awkward for me at first, but now when I try to navigate other phones, I really miss it. If you've not had a BB before, it's a good idea to run through the tutorial when you set it up, there are some very very handy keyboard shortcuts that will make things much easier.
All in all, this is a fantastic smartphone that can actually keep up with me, and that's saying a lot.
 Beware of cheap plastic trackball "collar" on Blackberry Curve 8320 June 25, 2008
8 out of 14 found this review helpful
Beware - Blackberry Curve 8320 design flaw!!!! The cheap plastic collar (ring) around the track ball will fall out and when you try to replace it, if not done precisely, you will break the little "legs" that are supposed to hold it in place. The track ball does not move easily as it is and really lacks any precision. When the collar piece finally is broken to the degree that it cannot hold the track ball in place, Blackberry will tell you you caused the physical damage and will not replace the phone under the warranty!!! It's their design flaw - but they will not own it! Very convenient for them to deny responsibility for this flaw. With a phone costing as much as this one does, why is this cheap little plactic piece used at a place on the phone where most of the work is done - mousing! If you have this phone, please return it under the warranty if you have the least little problem with the track ball - before it gets to the point where they can contrive any excuse to deny your claim!!!! And T-Mobile is not helpful at all on this subject. I used to hold T-Mobile in high esteem. This is not the case after my conversations with their representatives last evening after I took the Curve out of it's leather holster and the track ball fell out of the phone!!!
Great smart phone June 20, 2008
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I love this BlackBerry. The wifi card is huge for me - don't have to pay for my minutes when I talk at home. I get very poor cellular signals where I live so this phone allows me to get reception anywhere in my house since I am connecting over wifi.
I might wait to see how the iPhone 3G is once it comes out. The application store on the iPhone is going to be great.
But I still dont know if that will be better an the great keyword on this Curve.
Joel Simkhai
 Great phone!!! June 19, 2008
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
I just got this phone and for the money(or should I say lack of money since you MAKE money on this phone) it's awesome!! In the store it costs $150 where here at Amazon you make $50!!! This is my first blackberry and I will admit it does take some getting used to coming from a non smart phone. But after a day or two you get real used to it and now I love it!! I love the keyboard and autotext is great!! I pay the 9.99 for email only (when you get this phone on Amazon they make you get either the email (9.99) or email/unlim internet (19.99) and I love having my email pused to my phone. I don't use my text anymore and have gotten most of my friends to use email all day instead of texting to stay in touch. The unlim email is cheaper than unlim text!! And paying only $10 more to get the unlim internet is not too shabby either (compared to other carriers this is a steal actually) The reason I don't pay the extra ten is cause it has wi-fi so I can browse w/ that if I need to. Just gotta find a wi-fi signal tho. Haveing the wi-fi is awesome too cause you can use UMA. I used to have the ATT Curve and it didn't have wi-fi but GPS. It would be awesome if this phone had GPS also, but for it all you'll have to wait for the Bold. But you can buy a GPS puck for prolly $50 and link it to your phone w/ bluetooth and get unlim GPS also! Now here are my few complaints about this phone: 1) after I had it about a week it started to creek, like it's made of cheap plastic; I now use my OEM skin and have applied a Best Skins Ever also, 2) the alarm function on the phone sux; it works but very basic; 3) no HTML email (even tho this will come w/ OS 4.5). Besides those things I love the phone!!!
Very satisfied June 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This phone is amazing. Even the small quarks people complain about are being fixed with the new OS update, 4.5, and aren't even that bad. Whether it be the great 2 mp camera, or the very high quality speaker, one of the best for any phone, this hand-held device clears out all the rest. Even when being compared to devices like the iPhone, without the price being a factor, this phone wins hands down. You can buy added flash memory if needed, and the software that comes with allows you to quickly back up all your information on to your computer, freeing up tons of space. The navigation and operating system is smooth and easy to use. A free, but not very good, maps service is installed, with no GPS, but it is still handy and going to be improved with the OS update. Video and picture recording with the 4.5 OS, and a great appearance leaves this one of, if not the best, phone out there. Soon to be replaced and competing with the BlackBerry Bold, this phone will hold its ground to the newest RIM device, sporting a clean and appealing look, as well as interface. It seems, the more you get to know this phone, the more you like it. All the options available, the only complaint left is the simple, no SMS signature installed. After market programs allow you to fix even that problem. There is a minor media player problem where some of your songs don't show up, but that is going to be fixed along with 4.5.
There is not much else to say after that other than, I Love This Phone.
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