This BB's way up the learning 'Curve'

The BlackBerry Curve 9220 is a highly affordable smart phone for staying connected with friends through the famed BlackBerry Messenger service.

Retailing for just Bt5,990 – half the price of BlackBerry phones of the past – the Curve 9220 still has everything you need for the social networks, apart from a 3G connection. In place of that you can hook up with Edge and Wi-Fi.

I tested this out and found that the Edge connection was sufficient to keep Facebook and Twitter running, to check e-mail and to browse the Web pages without extensive graphics. But if you want to watch YouTube clips or upload or download files and applications, you’ll have to find a Wi-Fi hotspot.

For BBM fans, the 9220 comes with a dedicated BBM button on the left side of the screen. Press that and you’re ready to chat. It runs on the new BlackBerry 7.1 OS, which integrates the BBM with other popular applications for optimised socialising. You can easily link to Foursquare, for example. Check in somewhere via with Foursquare and the application can automatically alert your BBM friends.

The new BBM is also integrated with the Wikitude World Browser, an “augmented reality” application pre-loaded with the Curve 9220, so it can tell you which BBM friends are nearby.

All this in a sleek, slim, black body with grey edging. It’s 12.7mm thick and weighs only 103 grams.

I found the full qwerty keyboard easy to type on despite the tiny keys and my stubby fingers. The 2.44-inch display above the keyboard has a screen at 320x240-pixel resolution, perhaps too small screen for some eye-strained people, but surely not teenagers.

The tracking pad worked fine during the test, smoothly moving the cursor around.

While checking the Edge connection I had no problem posting to my Facebook wall, checking feeds from other online friends or checking the mail. Once connected to my home Wi-Fi router, YouTube clips played without a stall.

Facebook and Twitter apps are pre-loaded, as is the new Social Feeds 2.0 app, which lets you post updates to various networks simultaneously and collect RSS news feeds, other social apps and instant messaging apps – all in one consolidated view.

The Curve 9220 also has a built-in FM radio, as well as long battery life, about seven hours of talk time and up to 28 hours of music playback or radio listening.

 

        Key specs:

_ Platform: BlackBerry 7.1 OS

_ Network: GSM 850, 900, 1800, 1900MHz

_ Memory: 512MB RAM, 512MB onboard storage, expandable with microSD card up to 32GB

_ Camera: Two megapixels

_ Display: 2.44-inch TFT LCD with 320x240-pixel resolution

_ Connectivity: Wi-Fi, 802.11 b, g, n; Bluetooth 2.1, microUSB

_ Battery: 1450mAh Lithium Ion with seven hours’ talk time, 18 hours’ standby

_ Dimension: 60x109x12.7mm

_ Weight: 102g