The BlackBerry Curve

Picture an 8800 with its tie loosened and a couple buttons undone, and this here is pretty much what you'd get. Hot on the heels of the aforementioned 8800, RIM has officially taken the wraps off its hotly anticipated (and well scooped) 8300 "Curve," a device that takes the standard QWERTY BlackBerry formula and throws in a handful of consumer-friendly features for good measure. Clearly at the top of the list is a 2 megapixel cam with integrated flash -- but other goodies include comprehensive media support (WMA, WMV, and H.263 all make the cut), stereo Bluetooth, a true 3.5mm headphone jack, microSD expansion for when you exhaust (quickly) your 64MB of internal ROM, and a 15.5mm thick shell that's pretty stylish by RIM standards. Now that the phone's official, we're hoping to see it hit AT&T -- among other carriers -- in the coming weeks.

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

[Tmoore113 @ Mar 23rd 2008 11:09PM]

I am looking for Blackberry Curve software, or suggestions, that will allow me to easily locate the contacts I have downloaded from my Outlook using the Outlook "File As" field. The Curve software only sorts Contacts using First name, Last Name or the Company filed. I have over 3,000 contacts and there is no one field I use to sort the Contacts.

[Beerhead500 @ Apr 4th 2008 1:39PM]

Wow, you sound like a dick. April 20th Sprint is coming out with the Curve. Nice work a hole

[David @ May 4th 2008 1:51AM]

We get a lot of searches on our site for blackberry screen replacements and also for cradles so I figured it would be helpful to show share with engadget readers the blackberry curve 8300 usb cradles.
http://cases-cradles-cables.com/130/blackberry/blackberry-cradles/

[wes_hickey @ May 3rd 2007 8:10AM]

3g? or Edge?

[tphil9 @ May 3rd 2007 1:44AM]

does anyone know if this will be Apple compatable?

[Zentinel @ Mar 24th 2008 6:56PM]

PocketMac :)

[Scooter @ May 3rd 2007 3:11AM]

nice looking phone and the camera is a nice touch vs the 8800, but it is a pity they took out the GPS.

[kadajawi @ May 3rd 2007 3:53AM]

Ok, brains I understand, but where's the beauty? Reminds me of the Motorola Razr...

[matthew m. barnes @ May 3rd 2007 10:04AM]

so weird that you would post this...

i just got home from a Hollywood party and i saw Paris Hilton using a Blackberry i didn't recognize... it was that one.

just in case you were wondering, she is not very attractive and she is not a very nice person either... but she does have that phone.

[grilla @ May 3rd 2007 10:14AM]

and with the apple phone coming out june 11 i bet they sell at least a dozen of these phones. look at the new blackberry that was released about a month ago. cingular could have them for free with a two year contract and they would still sit on the shelves.

[Adeel @ May 4th 2007 5:44AM]

im waiting for a pda with a at least a 3 megapixel camera

[Bryan VanAlmkerk @ May 3rd 2007 8:40AM]

will it be for sprint? i need a bb soon so I am hoping for new models to be added to sprints lineup, the two current bb's on their site are old and outdated

[Vision33r @ May 6th 2007 1:32PM]

Have you realized maybe Sprint is "old and outdated?"

[Derek @ May 3rd 2007 9:14AM]

Man some of you guys are really god damned lazy!

If you actually check the specs here:
http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/device-detail.jsp?navId=H0,C221,P483#tab_tab_specifications
you'll see clearly that it's quad-band and supports EDGE. And Bryan, how in the hell do you figure Sprint's going to have it anytime soon when it says "GSM/GPRS"? Does Sprint have a GSM network? NO.

Some of you morons really need to be kept away from posting comments on Engadget until you know enough to actually post intelligent questions.

That being said, this should have HSDPA. Rogers is rolling out their HSDPA network now and it'll hit my area soon, so I have no reason to pick up the Curve.

[Natasha @ May 4th 2007 12:33PM]

You said it, right on. Lazy indeed. Good looking out on the link.

[Frank @ May 7th 2007 3:56PM]

Wow...you need to get out a bit. He had a simple question, you don't need to bite his head off. I was curious myself about the availability for Sprint. Not all of us are born geniuses like you Derek.

[SprextelUser @ Jun 28th 2007 9:27PM]

>>>Some of you morons really need to be kept away from posting comments on Engadget until you know enough to actually post intelligent questions.

[AirTimeManager @ May 3rd 2007 9:46AM]

We have been testing a pre-release version of the 8300 for a short while now. We hope everyone appreciates that due to NDA we have to sit back tight lipped while the speculation and grainy leaked photographs make their way around the internet, but we’re convinced that the new BlackBerry 8300 will have been worth the wait.
See full review:
http://www.airtimemanager.co.uk/BlackBerry/Enterprise/BlackBerry_8300.aspx

[Derek @ May 5th 2007 4:04PM]

How can you justify saying the Curve is worth the wait when it doesn't even have 3G (whether EV-DO or HSDPA) even while most of Europe has 3G rolled out and all of the Canadian carriers, RIM's home, are rolling out 3G?

That just doesn't make any sense.

[randy @ May 3rd 2007 11:31AM]

Pretty soon these things will come with a hinge so you can see the display more visibly as the machine sits on the table. And a slightly larger keyboard would be nice too.

[Charley @ May 3rd 2007 12:01PM]

I would probably hop on this (or any other BlackBerry model) if it had number keys separate to the QWERTY keyboard similar to the Hiptop/Sidekick.

[Bud @ May 3rd 2007 10:18PM]

uhg I'm sick of Verizon always getting the crapped out version of these

[Jim Beau @ May 3rd 2007 5:55PM]

he, now all they need to do is find a way to engineer it so you can read the freakin' numbers to actually make a PHONE CALL! now there's a concept. i want my iPhone and I want it tomorrow...but with a flash slot, 3g, a more impervious case/display, a camera on the FRONT for conferencing...and, oh neverrrrrr mind!

[Michael Locker @ May 4th 2007 1:26PM]

Nice.

Michael Locker MD

[tom.dunmore @ May 4th 2007 2:05PM]

We've just posted a video review of the Curve over at stuff.tv. We likee.

http://stuff.tv/video/id-5853/default.aspx

[Philip @ May 16th 2007 6:32PM]

You can't compare the Blackberry to the iPhone. The iPhone is going to be bought by all of the scene people and preppy whores whereas the Blackberry is going to target the sophisticated older people who know what a good phone is.

[Chris M @ May 5th 2007 3:09PM]

Blackberry?

Good call, Philip, good call.

-Chris

[christopher @ May 14th 2007 8:09PM]

by "preppy whores" i sure hope you are not referring to preppy people.
because if so you are pathtic and disgusting implying that just because
your jealous of "preppy" people does not make them any "dumber" by your
standards. i dress "preppy" and i am a genius, literally.

[paul oberman @ Jul 30th 2007 5:01PM]

you have to be joking? "preppy"? what year is this?

the iphone is so much more sophisticated than the blackberry interface. in it's first incarnation they have surpassed the blackberry on so many levels, that it is just funny.

wait until the second iphone comes out with all the missing features, including chat and video conferencing.

they will be leapfrogging every phone on the market, by version 3.

sometimes i just don't understand people who think that if something is revolutionary, it must be directed at shallow or young people.

[Vision33r @ May 6th 2007 1:35PM]

"How can you justify saying the Curve is worth the wait when it doesn't even have 3G (whether EV-DO or HSDPA) even while most of Europe has 3G rolled out and all of the Canadian carriers, RIM's home, are rolling out 3G?"

It just sounds like you never owned BB before. This is a BB not just any other phone. 3G or EV-DO all nice to have but unnecessary when most BB users just want their Push email working, thats all we care about, everything else is secondary. Having a 2mpixel camera is a nice touch to mock those Treo users who always had their 1.3mpixel camera.

Reason why RIM is making tons of money and don't have to update their phone to the latest and greatest because PUSH EMAIL > all other phone features.

[Derek @ May 6th 2007 3:58PM]

The problem with your statement about push e-mail is that the BlackBerry Pearl and Curve are being marketed more as CE devices, not purely to business users. And in fact, I'm very interested in owning a BlackBerry for push e-mail reasons, but I receive enough attachments that being able to utilize a 3G network is important to me.

If all you're receiving is e-mail, good for you. If you work for a company that has unified messaging, like mine, than this is useless without 3G in my opinion. Push e-mail !> download speeds when you start marketing your devices at everyday consumers.

[Ketel @ May 7th 2007 3:25PM]

When was the last time anyone actually dialed using numbers? I normally call only within my contacts. Even when I do add a contact it generally comes over from my lappy via bluetooth as a v-card.

Also- while I am disappointed that this doesn't have 3G, I don't believe it is a big enough factor to not buy it. Between the added camera and other CE features, I can finally justify purchasing a blackberry for a non business phone. The only reason 3G > Edge is for dl'ing pr0n. Do you really need to do that on your phone? You should probably check into getting psychiatric counseling if you are that hard up for it....

[Charlie @ May 7th 2007 4:09PM]

The other thing about the blackberry loyalty is that if your company has a Blackberry Enterprise Server then all of your contact, email, and calendar info is all synched automatically and instantly over the air. I have never connected my BB to my PC for anything other than charging. I can also look up any contact in my 7000+ person organization in about 10 seconds, and store it in my address book.

So for me, if this will play some tunes, I am on board! Put itunes on the Blackberry and you would sell a million of them.

[Jason @ Jul 10th 2007 3:33PM]

pathetic*******

[Glenn @ May 26th 2007 10:08AM]

Check out T-Mobile's German site....

[Glenn @ May 26th 2007 10:12AM]

Sorry, forgot this.. http://www.t-mobile.de/shop/handy/0,4855,2963-_7044-0-1-0,00.html

[william @ Jun 1st 2007 7:00PM]

Yes, the Curve is Apple compatible. You can download either "The Missing Sync" or the one RIM supports, "PocketSync". The Missing Sync is around $35, and PocketSync is free.

[dion roy - AMP3 PR @ Jun 30th 2007 7:15PM]

Meant to reply to you -

DO you know if theres a Mac version of Roxio Media Mangler :) ?

[Rick @ Jun 5th 2007 12:20AM]

Anyone know if the Curve software is Vista or Office 2007 compatable?

[dion roy - AMP3 PR @ Jun 30th 2007 7:14PM]

Pocket Sync is nice, but how about the Media Manager. ITs made by Roxio and I havent seen a MAC version floating around or even mentioned.


I convert my files with QT pro anyway, just as long as I can add them Ill be happy but if Roxio made a Mac version that would be even nicer.

Thanks!
Dion - AMP3 Public Relations

[socalfrank @ Sep 23rd 2007 2:19PM]

I just got an email from T-Mobile, the Blackberry Curve will be released on the 24th of Sept. and will be UMA compatible, so it will work on Hotspot@home

[tigerspy @ Oct 2nd 2007 11:52PM]

This phone will live on it's look and feel alone, perhaps..it's obviously a nice looking phone, but it's important to realize this is NOT a 3G phone.

Remember, this is a GSM phone not capable of UMTS or HSDPA.

Maybe this isn't important? I don't see too many reviewers knocking the Curve for this, but it seems obviously huge, since there are models such as the 8830 that are running 3G 1xEV-DO... is anyone satisfied with GSM Edge for Web and Internet apps? If so, try EV-DO then let me know.

[David @ Nov 22nd 2007 11:11PM]

The screen on the curve can be readily replaced without calling in an expensive technician as indicated on this post:

http://cases-cradles-cables.com/42/blackberry/how-to-remove-and-replace-blackberry-curve-8300-screen/