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The BlackBerry Curve definitely served as an evolution to the handset, merging in business functionalities with the latest multimedia aspects like the camera. The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8310, is among the offerings of the Curve series, retaining the usability of the BlackBerry with an additional twist: the inclusion of a built-in GPS.

The 8310 sports a dimension of 4.2 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches and a weight of 3.9 ounces, reminiscent the same dimensions and design of the Curve 8300. It is available in red, titanium and grey and black colors. Below the 2.5 inch screen is clickable trackball and four navigation buttons. At the backside of the phone is where the microSD card is buried beneath the battery. The 3.5mm headphone jack and the Push-To-Talk button are on the left side. The mute button is on the top brim. The volume controls and 2-Megapixel camera launcher are on the right side. The signature QWERTY-keypad remains the same and has been boasted to more thumb-friendly this time. The fact that the camera is included in the BlackBerry Curve series is a sign of BlackBerry’s taking over the ordinary users’ delight. The 2-Megapxel camera of Curve 8310 has built-in flash and 5X digital zoom.

Pictures taken by the camera look decently and indoor shots taken even with a flash still looked flesh-toned and outdoor shots remained clear. Provided the camera can also record video, then this phone is definitely a multimedia treat. Watching videos with 8310 is possible with the presence of a 2GB miscroSD card, although the video files must be converted first to MP4 format. Listening to music doesn’t have qualms with 8310 as it can play MP3, WAV, MIDI, AAC, and WMA files and has enjoyable sound quality. It is also the first RIM phone that supports AT&T Mobile Music that offers services such as XM Radio Mobile and eMusic Mobile and Napster Mobile.

The addition of GPS is what separates 810 from other BlackBerrys. This feature enables the phone to act as a handheld navigation device. Navigation software like Google Maps for Mobile and TeleNav are software that includes color maps and guides, driving directions and local search.

Connectivity features in 8310 includes Bluetooth and EDGE. The former allows its users to connect to wireless headsets, Bluetooth stereo headsets, and hands-free kits. There’s also a support for object exchange and dial-up networking, transforming the smartphone into a wireless modem for laptop. A probable disappoint with this version is that Wi-Fi is not included. Surfing the Web is greatly on AT&T’s EDGE network’s hand. E-mail capabilities of 8310 basically remained the same, and it’s still one of the best and leading features of BlackBerry phones. The 8310 is also a quad-band world phone and it also includes a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing and speed dialing on its features.

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Research In Motion Ltd, or RIM, has attempted to bridge the gap between the casual buyer and the corporate world with the new Blackberry 8800. The new smartphone is still aimed at business moguls but RIM gave it a little twist for the tech savvy yuppies who are also always on the go. Blackberry 8800 is more like a combination of the strictly business 8700 and the consumer-oriented Pearl.

The Blackberry 8800 is stylishly designed with its thin and sleek built, measuring 114 x 66 x 14 mm and weighing 134 g including its battery. Sure, it’s a little longer than the 8700c, but it’s unquestionably thinner. It is easier to slip into your purse or pocket. However, the phone is considerably wide, making it awkward to hold it to your ear during a call. Its smooth and glossy appearance matched with a bright color screen would surely catch your eye. It is coated in a deep midnight blue and chrome accents, giving it a sexy allure.

This blackberry unit sports a stunning 2.5 in. screen with a 320 x 240 pixels and 65,000-color primary display resolution, which has a light-sensing technology feature that adjusts the backlighting of the screen automatically depending on your location—indoors or outdoors.
With the said technology, texts and images are remarkably clear and vibrant even under harsh lighting. The light-sensing feature also adjusts the backlighting of the keyboard and trackball as well.

The 8800 is just the right size for comfortably typing with both thumbs on its full QWERTY keyboard and the same time, small enough for single hand typing whenever necessary. This is remarkable as most QWERTY type phones cannot pull this off. However, people with large hands may find it a little cramped and too small for their thumbs.

As a rip off from the Blackberry Pearl, this unit also sports a glowing pearly white trackball instead of the jog dial that most businessmen have gotten used to. Yes, it make some time getting used to but we must admit, a glowing orb is definitely more attractive than a primitive jog wheel on the side. Don’t you just love having a pearl to slide your thumb onto? This elegant trackball offers five-way navigation, making paragraph and specific letter navigation a lot easier.

Blackberries have been famous for its superb email capability and the 8800 is of course adequately equipped with the famed push technology. It can also sync with the Blackberry Enterprise server of your company supported by IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange or Novell GroupWise for real-time delivery of corporate email. What’s more, the unit can support up to 10 email accounts, which can include POP3 and IMAP4. However, its wireless option is limited to Bluetooth 2.0 and there is no A2DP support for stereo headphones. The device also has no Wi-Fi capability and 3G connectivity. It operates on EDGE for net surfing, which supports HTML Web browsing.

The quadband (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; EDGE) smartphone also has built-in GPS and Push-to-Talk (PTT) feature—added functionalities that can be extremely useful to people who rely heavily on electronic gadgets.

As it this smartphone is a crossbreed of business and leisure, the 8800 included built-in media player which supports MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and MIDI formats for music and MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 files for videos. However, as it still more business-focused, it excluded camera in its list of features.

The Blackberry 8800 comes with a 64MB of flash memory but a separate microSD card would come in handy if you plan to use it for your daily commute playlist of songs. RIM promises a 5-hour talk time and up to 22 days standby time on this device.

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While some have dubbed that the RIM BlackBerry 8703e the best last generation BlackBerry, it’s safer to say that BlackBerry has been very consistent in offering the best set of gadgets that will cater every corporate users’ needs and every new release means that there is something new to offer. Released by Verizon Wireless, 8703e retains BlackBerry’s strong foundation in e-mail support with a number of other offerings.

The design of 8703e is reminiscent to that of the GSM BlackBerry 8700g, with a dimension of 4.3 x 2.7 x 0.8 inches and a weight of 4.7 ounces. 8703e is quite bulky as compared to the Pearl series but it is advantageous in the sense that it features a full QWERTY keypad unlike the SureType which has been source of complaint by many Pearl users. It features a large 2.5-inch diagonal QVGA display, showing 65,536 colors TFT at a 320 x 240 pixels resolution. Texts, images and videos can be viewed at its best in 8703e, as they appear sharp and bright. Automatic backlighting adjustments are also included. Font size and some other options can also be adjusted in the Options menu. Aside from the QWERTY keyboard, the phone also includes a Talk and End Buttons located below the display.

There is also a middle button which can be programmed that will launch other application. On the left side of BlackBerry 8703e is the 2.5mm headset jack, a mini USB port and a customizable soft key. The top portion is where power button and mute key are located, while the back side is where the speakerphone is located. Blackberry 8703e is perfect for everyone’s e-mail needs as it is compatible with Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino or Novell GroupWise servers and send and receive e-mail in real time. Setting up an e-mail account is also possible in 8703e by going to the E-mail setting utility on the device and entering the e-mail address and password. The phone also has the capability of opening attachments of any popular file formats like Word, Excel, Power Point, PDF and JPEG. However, it doesn’t have any preloaded instant-messaging clients although it still supports SMS and MMS.

Connectivity features of 8703e includes 3G that enables users to connect and browse the Web at speeds up to 2Mbps. Bluetooth 2.0 is also integrated, but is limited to synching Bluetooth-enabled PCs, headsets and hands-free kits. The unit can also act as a modem for a laptop using a USB cable only if the user is signed up for Verizon Wireless’ BroadBand Access Connect service.
The big drawback with 8703e is that it doesn’t have any multimedia capabilities like audio, camera or video player. The unit does include a single game, Brick Breaker. Nevertheless, these lacks may still not raise a big issue among strict corporate users.

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