July 20th, 2007

Rating:  

Sensual, sleek, cool … unlike previous generations of blackberry handhelds, the 8300 Curve delights, with many new features and a full keyboard. The Blackberry 8300 represents everything that the 8700 was and was missing.

Blackberry is the most popular business PHONE out there — for good reasons. They work! And the interface is straight forward to use with the side “wheel” acting like the mouse on your computer.

While Blackberry hasn’t always excelled when it comes to being a cell phone — it evolved from a PDA into a cellphone — it has consistently improved it’s Voice capabilities. With the 8300, the phone capabilities have clearly caught up with other phones that “morphed” into PDAs. The voice reception and sound quality is very solid and with AT&Ts service, I rarely have dropped calls. (I originally was a cingular subscriber and when AT&T took over, I have not experienced any decrease in the level of service). You can use it without a headset which feels a bit clunky — but when you lose bluetooth headsets at the rate I do, it is nice to know that when all else fails, it is very functional by itself.

As a PDA — this is where Blackberry really outshines its competition. It is the most widely supported Enterprise-wide email. It integrates with Outlook which is pretty much a necessity if you live in the corporate world. Now with the addition of GPS, Blackberry solidify’s it’s desire to be a “grownup” phone/device.

To me, a PDA/Phone should help you get through your day. It should tell you where you need to be next. Help you get there. Tell people if you aren’t going to be there. Keep in touch via email when you are there.

I don’t need it to play music — I’ve got my car stereo for that. I don’t need it to take pictures. When I’m at work, there is very little I want to take pictures of — certainly not my coworkers :-O. When I’m waiting in a doctors office — the browser is adequate to kill some time though I generally plan ahead and bring an old-fashioned analog book — you know the type — the one with pages and real ink on it. If you have a notebook, this phone also makes a pretty handy wireless modem — though it is rather slow. That way, you don’t have to worry about where the nearest Starbucks is to connect to the internet.

So I guess it boils down to what do you want your phone to do. If you want it to be a phone and be straightforward to use, then Blackberry is the perfect device. It will keep you connected to home, office and places in between, Blackberry 8300 is what will serve you best. 
 

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