The popular BlackBerry Curve series of mobile smartphones is now available for free with certain fees. In this, the first of two articles, we take a look at the communication and connectivity features of this business-oriented cell phone.
Designed and manufactured by RIM (Research in Motion), the current Curve model sports an updated look with a sleek titanium-style finish and chrome accents, making it the thinnest and lightest BlackBerry smartphone with a full QWERTY keyboard.
Communication and Connectivity
Although the cell phone works on the standard GSM 850/900/1800/1900 networks, it also supports high-speed mobile data functionality (including Internet access) that allows the user to use full picture and video messaging and enjoy high-speed web and browsing. access to email, all made possible by BlackBerry’s Internet service and its famous push email technology. This allows your email to find you without initiating a connection. Once you’ve received your email, you can view attachments in all popular formats, including MS Word, Excel, Corel WordPerfect, and Adobe PDF, as well as many graphics format files. Built-in software allows you to edit Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files. Common features like copy, paste, font size, font color, bullets and numbering are available and even zip files can be extracted without the need for any additional software or BlackBerry apps.
Potential users should note that the Curve 8900 does not support 3G, which may rule the phone out if this feature is important to you. As a result of this bypass, data transfer speeds are limited to GPRS or EDGE technologies.
BlackBerry Internet Service allows business users up to ten email accounts from most popular providers. Also included is BlackBerry Enterprise Server, which enables advanced security features and IT administration, all performed within Microsoft Exchange, IBM Lotus Domino or Novell GroupWise software.
Voice-activated dialing allows the Curve 8900 user to initiate a cell phone call simply by saying a name from their contact list (this information can be obtained through the built-in speaker or via an optional Bluetooth headset). Once the call is connected, echo and background noise cancellation technology allows both parties to clearly hear your business conference.
Built-in Bluetooth enables A2DP stereo music streaming, AVRC remote control, HSP (as used in Bluetooth headsets), HFP (as used in hands-free car kits), dial-up networking, FTP file transfer and PBA contact transfers.
A good traditional USB 2.0 cable comes with Curve for data transfer in addition to the various wireless methods employed. Note that the 8900 has a micro-USB port instead of the mini-USB port more commonly found on other BlackBerry phones. The new USB 3.0 technology (USB3) is not supported.
This concludes our look at the communication and connectivity specifications of the BlackBerry Curve 8900. In the second part, we look at the multimedia capabilities and general specifications of the mobile phones.
