Disclaimer: This is about as far from a neutral, objective review as you will ever see. I love BlackBerries. Been using them since 2000. Have used 10+ models starting with the 957. Plus, I used to work for RIM. So, please do not expect this review to be impartial or objective. BTW, I have to use other smartphones for work now(mostly a Nokia E61i); but I go back to my Curve whenever I can.
Here are the things that I like about the Curve(8300):
Keyboard. I type a lot on my BlackBerry, sometimes in my car on bumpy roads in Kolkata. The Curve has the best keyboard among all the BlackBerries I have used. Way more usable than my wife’s Pearl. To be fair, the Nokia E61i has a good keyboard too. But I am not used to it yet.
Screen: Bright and true colors. I have displayed the same picture on my Curve and on my 1450x900 laptop side-by-side, and I like the colors and saturation on the Curve more. BTW, the camera on the Curve is nothing to speak of. But then, maybe I am comparing this to my Nikon D70.
MP3 and headset: Excellent sound quality, and battery usage is acceptable. Love the headset that comes with the Curve.(BTW, the headsets between my Curve and my wife’s Pearl are not interchangeable. Why, RIM?) I rarely use my Motorola Bluetooth headset. It works fine with my Curve, but I like the Curve headset because it naturally resumes mp3 after a phone call.
It is a BlackBerry!: Push email, solid, reliable. What more can you ask for. You will get more features for the same money from Nokia/Samsung/LG/. But, my money is still on BlackBerry.
Now, on to the things that I do not like:
Airtel Coverage: On multiple occasion, I have not been able to place a call on Airtel when people around me have been able to use Voda or BSNL. I am talking Kolkata proper, not some remote part of India.(BTW, BSNL rules in remote parts. I went to North Sikkim last fall. Only BSNL. No Voda or Airtel.)
Spurious GPRS bill from Airtel: This did it for me. Both my wife and I have the 15p/KB BlackBerry plans from Airtel. We don’t browse on phone(too painful). Email usage amounts to less than 1MB/month. So, I figured we will be better off with 249+150 than with the 1099 unlimted plan(which, BTW, is a huge rip off.) But, on two occasions, Airtel bills have shown huge data usage at a time when we were not using the phone. This month, for example, I see about three pages of tiny(1-4KB) GPRS events that add up to about 0.8MB, and one single GPRS event of 9MB! I called Airtel 121 to point out that we did nothing unusual at the time of this event on this bill - no browsing, no email attachments, no unusually large amount of email. The Airtel 121 people told me to call Airtel 7070, the Airtel BlackBerry Support line. I call Airtel 7070, and they tell me to call Airtel 121. The worst part is that this is the second time they are doing this to me.
Anyone want to buy a six-month old BlackBerry Curve that is SIM-locked to Airtel? BTW, I bought my wife’s Pearl at EBay.in, and that is not SIM-locked to any carrier.(Hint: O2 sells SIM-unlocked devices in Belgium).
Go ahead. Buy a BlackBerry. Just do not buy it from Airtel. Voda and Reliance sell BlackBerries. Better yet, buy a SIM-unlocked BlackBerry at EBay.in. Just be careful when you use it on Airtel: Check every line on your bill, and do not expect any help from Airtel Customer Service.