Updated 14 Feb, 2012, 6:01 pm IST

REVIEWS / SMARTPHONES / KASPERSKY LAB

BlackBerry Curve 8900 Mobile Phone

30 Apr, 2009, 10:43 am IST | Shayne Rana | Smartphones

Business Features
Connectivity �
Like most BlackBerrys’, you have the option of using either BIS (Blackberry Internet Service), Wi-Fi or good old EDGE for all your data connectivity related requirements. What’s missing is 3G. We didn’t miss it. But with the dawn of 3G on the cusp, (Delhi already going 3G and all) we think that excluding it was nor really in keeping with a long term perspective in mind. The browsing speeds were nevertheless as good as the earlier BlackBerrys.
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Wi-Fi was great as we were able to browse and download at really awesome speeds, In contrast though BIS wasn't too great when it came to meeting the speed requirements which we had in mind. It was in no way slow, don’t get us wrong, but after testing and using quite a few BlackBerry’s with BIS the slight speed cut was just something that we noticed. Perhaps Vodafone was just having a couple of off days. Obviously, you can download the IM clients like Gtalk, Yahoo messenger and Windows Live for the Curve 8900 without a glitch. The best option is Fring, on which we were able to make VOIP calls on Wi-Fi. We are convinced that the handset can easily give a better performance on Wi-Fi without actually chewing too much of your battery life. With full support for Bluetooth using a Stereo Bluetooth headset made for a great audio experience. Data transfer by the same medium was no problem and the same goes for its USB connectivity.
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The support of HTML Web browser with support for RSS feeds and streaming media is a real bonus. Which brings us to a specific point actually - we tried to view a YouTube video, but for some reason it took an atrocious amount of time to stream and play which we found a bit unusual as it had never happened with other handsets. In these cases Wi-Fi really is handy. Browsing is good as long as you are not visiting a very cluttered website like yahoo.com as the browser looks very confused and does become sluggish at times. There’s still no Flash Support.
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Email and Productivity
Some things never change especially when it’s the emailing functionality on the BlackBerry. Thank goodness for that. We’ve have used so many handset from the likes of Nokia, Sony Ericsson and even Windows Mobile based handsets but when it comes to the BlackBerrys, it’s that smooth and sleek feeling of email functionality which comes only by owning one. We’re not exaggerating here, but emailing is just brilliant on the BlackBerry and the 8900 extends the legacy of the IMAP4, POP and BES (Blackberry Enterprise Service) emailing systems. So like the other BlackBerrys, the 8900 can sync with your company's BES, with support for Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino, or Novell GroupWise, to deliver corporate e-mail in real time. You can also set up 10 email accounts in seconds (literally) by just typing the email id and password and you are done.
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The BlackBerry Curve 8900 comes with an updated feature which can now enable you to edit Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files, thanks to DataViz's Documents to Go Suite. But of course you can’t create new documents but of course you can purchase the Documents to Go Premium version for about Rs.350 for full functionality.

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With regards to the handset’s productivity aspect we found all the basic applications which always tend to be handy like the Calendar, Task List, Memo Pad, Voice Recorder, Calculator, a password keeper, Encryption services, Zip services, archiving services etc. There are loads of other applications which you can check online and download for the 8900 it’s just that they are 3rd party apps so be careful.

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Tags: BlackBerry , QWERTY , 3 megapixel

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