Review Blackberry Curve 8520: DivX and XviD video support

Key features

* 2.46" 65K-color TFT landscape display of QVGA resolution
* Comfortable four-row full QWERTY keyboard
* Quad-band GSM support, Wi-Fi connectivity
* 2 megapixel camera with fixed focus
* 512MHz CPU
* BlackBerry OS v4.6 with responsive trackpad navigation
* Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
* 3.5 mm audio jack
* Decent audio quality
* Nice web browser
* Office document editor
* Smart dialing
* Dedicated music keys
* DivX and XviD video support

Main disadvantages

* Many features are unusable without a BlackBerry Internet Service account (plan)
* BlackBerry OS offers basic text-only submenus
* Mediocre camera performance and features
* No FM radio
* No 3G support
* No TV-out functionality
* Music keys are stiff and unresponsive
* No built-in GPS receiver
* Back panel is a fingerprint magnet

With so many shortcomings and so little nice surprises to offer in return, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 isn't an easy handset to recommend. Maybe if the BlackBerry service is essential to you and your budget is so limited that you cannot afford the better looking Curve 8900 or the more functional Bold 9700 then this may be your only option.

Yet we cannot see anyone who will pay hundreds of dollars in monthly payments over the year or two of their contract as being so cash-strapped. And that certainly won't be anyone who does need the extreme security or the extensive functionality of the email client. After all, if your email is so important to you, you'd be wise to get something better than a handset that tries to break the habit and fails.

And if you are looking for a new mobile user experience and are researching the BlackBerry smartphones we would suggest that you keep looking. A new experience it certainly is, but we don't think it's something to write home about.

And just to give you an idea of the bang-for-buck ratio of the BlackBerry Curve 8520 we will try to give you a few alternatives that you can get for about the same kind of cash.

There isn't much more we can say. Ultimately you know how much you need the services offered by BlackBerry and whether its worth all the compromises the Curve 8520 brings to have them. Some may say that if a BIS account is a must-have it doesn't make a difference which BlackBerry phone it comes with. It's exactly the kind of attitude that fails the Curve 8520. Instead of widening the RIM appeal and demographics, the Curve 8520 struggles to come to grips with its own identity. An affordable QWERTY messenger with an ear for music is not the most compelling brief to begin with. An affordable (sort of) BlackBerry device with music keys and downgraded looks and specs isn't really going to any exciting places.