BlackBerry 9380 Curve review

April 22, 2012

The BlackBerry 9380 Curve is the first Curve device to boast a touchscreen. BlackBerry's Curve line-up is RIM’s interpretation of an affordable mobile phone while offering the full BlackBerry OS 7 experience at the same time.

Key features of the BlackBerry 9380 Curve

• 3.2" 16M-color TFT touchscreen of HVGA resolution (360 x 480 pixels)
• Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA
• 800MHz CPU
• 512MB RAM
• BlackBerry OS v7
• BlackBerry’s proprietary email service and data security
• Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity
• GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded
• 5 megapixel fixed-focus camera and a LED flash
• VGA video recording @ 30 fps • 150MB of inbuilt storage
• Four physical buttons at the bottom
• Optical trackpad
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• DivX and Xvid video support
• Office document editor
• 3.5 mm audio jack
• Smart dialing
• Ultra-fast boot times
• Solid build quality

Camera

The BlackBerry 9380 Curve is equipped with a 5 megapixel fixed focus camera – one of the best cameras offered with any BlackBerry device. There's a bright LED flash too! The shutter key is surprisingly comfortable – this is the quickest and easiest way to shoot images with the BlackBerry 9380 Curve. Alternatively, you can still capture photos the traditional BlackBerry way – by pressing the trackpad. Oh, and because it’s a touchscreen device, there is a virtual shutter key as well.

What we liked about the BlackBerry 9380 Curve

The web browser. It's fast, quick to respond, and a nice improvement on the old BlackBerry platform. It supports multi-touch zooming, text selection and cursor placement. 

Faster processor. Multitasking is handled a lot better compared to previous Curve devices. The 800MHz processor tries its best to process multiple apps with minimal noticeable lag.

Wrap-up

For a Curve device, we are quite impressed with the BlackBerry 9380. It has the quickest processor in the Curve range, which caters well for multitasking and touch input. Ultimately, it's the BlackBerry 9860 Torch’s junior sibling...the only differences being the screen size and processor clock speed. It was designed as an affordable phone for those wanting a full touchscreen and possibly the use of BlackBerry Messenger (without having to spend an arm and leg). If BlackBerry is going to be your next platform, the 9380 Curve won’t be a disappointment.

BlackBerry 9380 Curve deals and specials

Check out out BlackBerry 9380 Curve deals, contracts and specials on Vodacom, MTN and Cell C.

Naman Singh

www.dionysuscellular.co.za

BlackBerry 9380 Curve