BlackBerry Curve 8900 review: Curved right

Gsmarena have posted their review of the Blackberry Curve 8900. Here are the key features, main disadvantages and final impression.

Key features:
2.4" 65K-color TFT landscape display with a resolution of 480 x 360 pixels
Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard
Quad-band GSM support
Wi-Fi
BlackBerry OS v4.6
Trackball navigation
Built-in GPS and BlackBerry maps preloaded
3.15 MP autofocus camera, LED flash
512 MHz CPU, 256 MB RAM
Hot-swappable microSD card slot
Good build quality
DivX and XviD video support
Compact body
Good web browser
3.5 mm audio jack
Nice audio quality
Smart dialing
Main disadvantages:
No 3G
No email support without BlackBerry Internet Service account
Mediocre camera
No FM radio

Bottom line: the BlackBerry Curve 8900 is less controversial than the TouchBerry Storm. It comes to update the Curve line and it does its job quite well. We guess only the missing 3G won't let us call the 8900 Curve the perfect upgrade. Anyway, on home Blackberry turf the Curve 8900 certainly holds a high position.

As to reaching outside the BlackBerry realm, the Curve 8900 does have the looks and some of the skill to try and earn new customers for the company. But the very concept of the closed BlackBerry ecosystem is a limitation.

In our case, the Curve 8900 is not a bad phone, but once the BlackBerry Internet Service account is out of the equation, it is much worse a deal than what the competitors can offer.

The Nokia E71 costs less than the Curve 8900 and puts HSDPA on the table. It also matches the document editing of the Curve and has the solid metal feel that some will sure prefer. While the lighter weight of the BlackBerry shouldn't be underestimated, the E71 is still the slimmest smartphone to-date and is by no means less pocketable, which makes it quite the better deal.

Windows Mobile QWERTY devices are also likely to be picked over the Curve 8900 for offering a much greater variety of 3rd party applications to choose from. While there certainly are a number of apps for the BlackBerry too, they are merely a drop in the bucket compared to the software available for WinMo.

So all in all, we're gonna leave pricing and features somewhat aside now. We guess the most important thing here is that - like all BlackBerries - the Curve 8900 is more the carrier's than the end user's type of phone. With that in mind, comparison with competing smart QWERTY messengers is not quite fair but in our humble reviewer's opinion it's not in favor of the BlackBerry Curve 8900 either.