Just as Sprint has been long overdue for the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330, so has Verizon Wireless. However, the time has come for the carrier, and we're happy to say it was worth the wait. With its full QWERTY keyboard and well-rounded feature set, the BlackBerry Curve 8330 is a nice compromise between the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 and the RIM BlackBerry 8830 World Edition. The smartphone also has integrated GPS, Bluetooth, and a 2-megapixel camera. We are slightly miffed that Verizon has once again stripped out any support for its V Cast multimedia services, especially since Sprint's Curve offers such capabilities. However, in the grand scheme of things, this is a minor issue. The Curve delivers where it counts--voice and messaging--and all with a great design to boot, so we give it a big thumbs up. The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 for Verizon Wireless is available now for as low as $149.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts.
Design
In terms of design, the Verizon Wireless RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 doesn't differ from the rest of the Curve series. It more closely resembles the Sprint Curve with its slightly bigger build (compared with the AT&T and T-Mobile versions) since it also has a built-in 3G chip. It does, however, come in a silver casing and features Verizon's interface by default. For more information about the Curve's design, please check our review of the Sprint RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330.
The Verizon Wireless RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 (left) shares a similar design to Sprint's Curve.
Verizon Wireless packages its RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a wired headset, a protective case, a software CD, and reference material. For more add-ons, please check our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.
Features
The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 offers Verizon customers a nice compromise between the RIM BlackBerry Pearl 8130 and the RIM BlackBerry 8830 World Edition, providing a full QWERTY keyboard for easier messaging over the Pearl and a more affordable alternative for users who don't need the world-roaming capabilities of the BlackBerry 8830.
The Curve's full QWERTY keyboard makes it a better messaging device than the BlackBerry Pearl 8130.
Starting with the messaging features, the Curve 8330 offers synchronization with your company's BlackBerry Enterprise server with support for Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise for real-time corporate e-mail delivery. You can also use the BlackBerry Internet Service to access as many as 10 personal/business POP3 or IMAP4 e-mail accounts. There's a built-in spell-check function for e-mails (but not text or multimedia messages) and you also get an attachment viewer that opens popular file formats, such as Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Corel WordPerfect, PDF, JPEG, GIF, and more. Unlike, the Sprint version, Verizon only offers the proprietary BlackBerry Messenger. Finally, another differentiating factor between the Sprint Curve and the Verizon Curve is that this model offers AIM, Yahoo, and Google Talk instant-messaging clients in addition to BlackBerry Messenger.
Phone features include a speakerphone, voice dialing and commands, conference calling, text and multimedia messaging, and call audio enhancement, which lets you boost the bass or treble of sound. The address book is limited only by the available memory, and each entry can hold up to eight numbers, work and home addresses, e-mail and Web addresses, company information, and notes. For caller ID purposes, you can assign a photo to a contact as well as a group category--business or personal--or one of 45 polyphonic ringtones.
The Curve also has Bluetooth 2.0 for use with mono and stereo headsets, hands-free kits, and dial-up networking. If you want to use the Curve as a wireless modem, you will need to subscribe to one of Verizon's BroadbandAccess plans, which start at $15 per month. It does not support the object exchange profile. On the bright side, you won't have to invest in a Bluetooth GPS receiver, since the smartphone has a built-in GPS radio. You can use this with a location-based service, such as Verizon's VZ Navigator, or other mobile navigation software to get real-time tracking, directions, local search, and more.
The Curve 8330 is also an EV-DO capable for data speeds of around 300Kbps to 600Kbps with the potential to hit 2.4Mbps. This means you should enjoy faster Web browsing, downloads, and smooth media streams. Once again, however, Verizon Wireless chose not include support for its V Cast music and video services on the smartphone. Given its more corporate-centric features, Verizon seems to think business users won't want the streaming media services, but hey, why not give us the option? Sprint does.
Fortunately, there are other avenues for multimedia on the Curve 8330. The smartphone's built-in media player supports MP3, WMA, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB, and MIDI music files, and MPEG4, WMV, and H.263 video clips. You have the capability to search for songs on the smartphone, create playlists on the fly, and shuffle and repeat songs, and there's a full-screen mode for video playback. The included software CD also contains a copy of Roxio Easy Media Creator, so you can create MP3s from CDs and add audio tags. There's 96MB of flash memory onboard, but we'd load multimedia files on a microSD/SDHC card to conserve storage. The expansion slot can accept up to 8GB cards.
On back, you'll find the Curve's 2-megapixel camera along with a flash and self-portrait mirror.
The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 also features a 2-megapixel camera with video recording capabilities. In regular camera mode, there's a 5x zoom and flash, as well as three picture sizes and three quality options. You also get white-balance settings and several color effects you can add to the photo. Video options are bit more limited with just two video formats (normal or multimedia message), three color effects, and a video light. Picture quality was OK. As we found with the Sprint Curve, objects had sharp definition but there was a slight grayness to the photo.
Aside from the grayish color tone, the Curve's camera took sharp photos.
Other applications on the Curve include a calendar, a tasks list, a memo pad, an alarm clock, a password keeper, a calculator, a Brickbreaker game, and a voice recorder. Of course, you can add more applications to the BlackBerry, depending on your interests. For suggestions, check out CNET Download.com.
Performance
We tested the dual-band (CDMA 850/1900; EV-DO) RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330 in San Francisco using Verizon service, and call quality was good--better than Sprint's model. We enjoyed clear audio with very little to no background noise or distortion while we were talking to friends and using an airline's voice automated response system. On the other end, callers had similar praises though they said our voices sounded slightly tinny. Audio quality diminished slightly when we activated the speakerphone as voices sounds just a bit garbled; that said, we were still able to carry on conversations. We were able to successfully pair the Curve with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset or the Motorola S9 Active Bluetooth headphones.
The Curve 8330 was generally responsive with minimal performance delays. Thanks to Verizon's EV-DO network, surfing the Net was relatively painless and swift. The Curve's improved Web browser, which features a mouse-like cursor, also does wonders for making page navigation easier than previous BlackBerrys. Multimedia performance was OK. We transferred several songs and videos to the smartphone, and as expected, music playback through the phone's speakers was mediocre but much improved when we plugged in a decent pair of headphones into the 3.5mm jack. Videos also looked a bit blurry, but sound audio and picture were synchronized. We are currently waiting for VZ Navigator to be activated on our review unit to test the GPS capabilities, and will update this section soon.
The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330's 1,150mAh lithium ion battery has a rated talk time of 4.3 hours and up to 11 days of standby time. In our battery drain tests, we were able to get 5 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge. According to FCC radiation tests, the Curve 8330 has a digital SAR rating of 1.54 watts per kilogram
