RIM continues to expand its offerings with the Curve 8330. Being released through two carriers, Sprint’s version supports its high-speed EV-DO network as well as its over-the-air Sprint Music Store and Sprint TV multimedia destinations. Add in GPS support and video recording capability, and you’ve got a handset that’s nearly perfect for business users looking for some fun on the side.
Sprint Curve 8330 Design and Interface
While its physical stats remain mostly unchanged from the original Curve 8300, the titanium-colored Curve 8330 is one of the best looking BlackBerrys we’ve seen. We love the sleek black keypad’s look against its smoky gray surface and black screen accents. Like its predecessor, the Curve 8330 sports a bright 2.4-inch, 320 x 240-pixel display and an easy-to-use trackball for navigating menus. The device measures 4.2 x 2.4 x 0.6 inches and weighs 4.0 ounces. That’s slightly heavier than the Curve 8300, but the difference is nearly impossible to notice.
The Curve 8330’s microSD slot remains hidden under the battery, which is frustrating when you want to add songs on the go. Thankfully, it has a 3.5mm headphone jack for listening to tunes and watching videos with your standard headset. The QWERTY keypad remains the same as other Curves, and each key has great pop. The keys are spaced out more than on other BlackBerry lines, making for a near-perfect typing experience. We appreciated the tweaked Return and Berry buttons, which have a slight indentation in them for easier thumb presses.
There’s a quick-launch button on the left, which is programmed to launch a voice-command feature, and a microUSB port for charging and data connections as well. Two silver volume buttons are on the right side, along with another quick-launch button for the camera. On the back, you’ll find the 2-megapixel camera lens, which has a flash and supports video recording with a microSD Card. The Curve 8330’s power button is on top.
The user interface (BlackBerry OS 4.3.0) is the same as on other Curves and remains, for the most part, unchanged. Sprint’s custom theme offers a few folders for Communities and Instant Messaging, and the native icons sit atop a black background with Sprint’s gold sun logo.
E-mail and Instant Messaging
It’s immediately obvious that Sprint had the consumer in mind with its version of the Curve 8330. After booting the device, you’ll quickly notice an Instant Messaging folder with shortcuts to install AIM, Google Talk, and Yahoo Messenger. BlackBerry Messenger is also included in this folder and is already installed. A second folder, called Communities, includes a Facebook app. Of course, you can typically sideload these apps onto most BlackBerrys, but we appreciated that the Curve 8330 had them preloaded.
You can load up to ten e-mail accounts on to the 8330, including favorites like Gmail or Yahoo, or corporate software like IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange, or Novell GroupWise. We set up our office account, which is based on Google Apps’ Gmail, in about five minutes. While you’ll love sending off SMS texts on the oft-praised Curve keyboard, you’ll be limited to sending pictures via BlackBerry Messenger or through e-mail.
Speedy EV-DO Web Browsing
While it lacks the Wi-Fi capability we loved on the 8320, the Curve 8330’s EV-DO connection on Sprint really stood out while we surfed the Web. We loaded CNN.com in just 6 seconds and ESPN.com in a speedy 8 seconds. Laptopmag.com, which isn’t formatted specifically for mobile devices, loaded in 18 seconds. AT&T’s Curve 8310, by comparison, loaded CNN.com and ESPN.com in a slower 12 seconds over its EDGE network. However, Verizon Wireless’ Curve 8330 boasted better times, loading CNN.com in a speedier 5 seconds and ESPN.com in 6 seconds. Handmark's Pocket Express software is also preloaded on Sprint’s Curve 8330. It’s free and provides quick access to news, sports, weather, stocks, entertainment, 411 search, travel information, and more.