The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 is a great messaging device but lacks quality in other departments, so don’t look to it if you want a well-rounded device. It is thicker and heavier than its GSM counterpart owing to the 3G chip, but the extra heft in hand was barely noticeable. The Curve 8330 offers a lot of the much-loved features of a BlackBerry, including its tried and tested messaging platform, but the lack of little extras like wi-fi rankles when competing smartphones are quick to readily offer it up. The display is a standard 65k color TFT screen and a resolution of 320x240 pixels. It is equipped with a light sensor that adjusts the backlight depending on ambient light, which is a nice touch and the display is crisp and viewable, although a bit less so under direct sunlight. Like most other BlackBerry’s, this has a trackball located right below the screen and the menu and back buttons have a concave shape and aren’t  [...]

This is not a new phone in our labs, we previously reviewed the RIM BlackBerry Bold 9650 from Sprint. But now we got a Verizon Wireless handset in our labs and thought of doing a separate review since the service provider gave it to us in our labs. There are no drastic changes done to this phone but some subtleties are apparent like Wi-Fi, optical touch pad and more internal memory. We have written this review for Verizon's model only and we will feature on the performance and features by the service provider. If you are looking for a detailed review, check out our Sprint's RIM BlackBerry Bold 9650. Verizon Wireless is selling this phone for $149.99, it comes with a 2 year contract and after $100 mail in rebate. This smartphone now offers world roaming capabilities and you can also unlock the SIM card. The design of the phone makes it comfortable to hold in the hand. There are a few downsides though, the browser is not that good. BlackBerry phones have never been browsers,  [...]

Last summer, RIM and Sprint promised us Wi-Fi enabled BlackBerry Tour and here they are with RIM BlackBerry Bold 9650. The Tour has been dropped from the name but this phone still is a better device than Tour, it now has Wi-Fi and the onboard memory is also doubled. You favorites like compact QWERTY design and world roaming capabilities are still there. This is definitely not the most cutting edge or exciting smartphone that is out there in the market but it is definitely a good choice especially for globetrotters. This phone will put you back with $199.99 and you have to sign a two year contract with the service provider after $100 mail in rebate.  This phone has a lot in common with Tour and we are not just talking about the looks or design. The internal features too are a lot similar. One thing that we would like the change here is the Web browser. It is very clunky. BlackBerry’s biggest weak point is its browser. There might have been changes done to over the years but it is still  [...]

RIM BlackBerry is one of the most famous manufacturers in the smartphones business. Now, the company has released RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 for Verizon Wireless. It does not have some high-end features of BlackBerry Tour 9630 like high-resolution display and world roaming. The design and basic features of the Curve 8530 are similar to RIM BlackBerry Curve 8520 from T-Mobile. However, the Curve 8530 also offers some more features. The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 has various upgrades over its predecessor BlackBerry Curve 8330, like dedicated media controls, optical track-pad and latest processor. In addition, the Curve 8530 has Wi-Fi that was not present in the Tour 9630. RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 costs $99.99 with a two-year contract from Verizon Wireless, which is $30 less as compared to price of the Curve 8520 for T-Mobile. The phone feels a bit cheap in the hand due to the plastic exteriors. We also didn’t like the fact that you cannot save applications to the phone’s internal memory.

RIM’s first touch-screen smartphone was not a great success. RIM BlackBerry Storm had various performance issues and bugs, which were resolved later by installing latest software updates. However, the original Storm still had numerous issues which remain unattended. Research in Motion (RIM) has launched the successor to Storm, which is RIM BlackBerry Storm 2. We agree that the BlackBerry has made a lot of changes to make it a better phone than the previous Storm. It offers a SurePress touch-screen with inbuilt BlackBerry OS 5.0 to provide better user experience. The additional features include Wi-Fi, more memory, enhanced core functions and a more stable system. RIM still falls behind in the areas of internet browsing and usability. Storm 2 has to face tough competition from Verizon’s other touch-screen phones including Motorola Droid and Samsung Omnia 2. The RIM BlackBerry Storm 2 is available for $179.99 with a two-year contract and after a $100 mail-in rebate. The Storm 2 is the  [...]