BlackBerry is said to be an indispensable tool for the suit-clad executives and businessmen. But for the past few years, RIM has found youth as a new target market in developing countries such as India due to its BlackBerry Messenger Service (BBM). To cater to the same crowd, RIM has come up with the BlackBerry Curve 9320 that carries an affordable price tag and a dedicated BBM button. Is it worth it? We take a look.
Design:
Design-wise, the BlackBerry Curve 9320 does not have anything new to offer. It has the same ubiquitous BlackBerry design with a decent 2.44-inch non touch QVGA display, a QWERTY keyboard, trackpad and call/end/menu/back buttons on the front; a dedicated BBM button on the left along with the microUSB port, a convenience key and volume rocker buttons on the right hand side; and a 3.5mm headphone jack and lock button on the top. The back sports a camera and a LED flash.
The Curve 9320 is small as well that measures 109x60x12.7mm in dimensions and weighs 103g.
Overall, the design is pretty much like the other Blackberries and frankly nothing to write home about.
Keyboard:
Blackberries are touted to have the best in class QWERTY keyboard and the latest offering is no different. The keyboard on the Curve 9320 is comfortable to type on with good tactile feedback. However, some users with large hands may find the keys a bit small.
Software and Performance:
If Curve 9320 fails to excite on the hardware front, it tries to make up on the software. BlackBerry Curve 9320 is one of the first few devices to run BlackBerry OS 7.1. BB OS 7.1 brings in many new features like mobile hotspot functionality, FM Radio with RDS, DLNA and lots more. Although the user interface is pretty much similar to the previous iteration of BlackBerry OS, there’s a noticeable improvement in speed and performance. Despite the 9320 having a modest 800MHz processor, there’s no sign of lag or irresponsiveness when trying to execute a command.
The support for mobile hotspot is a welcome addition since most other competitive operating systems have started offering it. Activating mobile hotspot is a breeze and the functionality even works when your SIM is activated with a regular data plan. All you need to do is insert the proper APN to get it working.
RIM calls the DLNA as Media Server and it works with most DLNA-enabled devices. I tried out using the Media Server service with Samsung’s Galaxy device and it worked pretty well.
Curve 9320 also integrates universal search, Social Feeds that pulls all the Twitter and Facebook updates in one view, App World, BlackBerry Protect to wipe or remotely lock or backup content. BlackBerry OS 7.1 also features Parental Controls that allows to control incoming and outgoing calls and other BlackBerry services.
Camera and Multimedia:
Curve 9320 features a 3 megapixel fixed-focus camera and frankly, offers a mediocre performance. Due to lack of autofocus, macro shots can turn out to be blurry. The camera also supports geo-tagging and various scene modes like face detection, landscape or portrait mode.
Video recording is below par that supports videos at VGA resolution.
As far as its audio prowess goes, the 9320 can play MP3, eAAC, OGG, WMV, FLAC files with ease and decent audio output. Video player compatibility is excellent as well and supports MP4, AVI, 3GP, WMV files.
Battery Life:
Curve 9320 features a 1450mAh battery and given the tight integration of software with hardware, the battery life is really good for a smartphone. The phone lasted more than a day on 3G and almost two days on 2G.
Conclusion:
Curve 9320 can be termed as a decent BlackBerry smartphone but when you compare it with the competition running Android, the BlackBerry device may come off as lacking on some fronts like screen resolution and even camera. However, a decent BB OS 7.1 experience and great battery life entices you, the Curve 9320 sells for Rs. 15,500.
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