Digital Trends

BlackBerry Curve 8320 February 4th, 2008 | by Damon Brown

Price

T-Mobile’s Blackberry Curve 8320 retails for $499.99 USD, which may be a little cheaper than one expects to pay for a phone with the Blackberry name. T-Mobile has a $150 instant rebate and a $50 mail-in rebate, making it around $250 USD – and excellent price for this phone.

As with most T-Mobile phones, the Curve is compatible with the multi-tiered MyFaves plans that allow you to pick five numbers for unlimited calling. However, online multimedia is a la carte. Phone service and unlimited multimedia access can be purchased together through two plans: the $70 and up Blackberry Enterprise Server Plan, which will synchronize to your computer’s Blackberry software, or the $40 and up Blackberry Internet Service Plan, which will push up to 10 of your e-mail accounts to the phone. And, as mentioned earlier, it can be part of the T-Mobile@Home VoIP plan.

It comes with a microSD card, which you may want to upgrade depending on the amount of email, pictures and other multimedia expected to be stored.

Conclusion

The Blackberry Curve 8320 is light, smooth and very easy to use on all counts. It is very much in-between audiences: casual Smartphone users may find the $500 USD (without rebates) tag prohibitive, while grizzled Blackberry businesspeople may be looking at more sophisticated models. With rebates, however, the Curve is a great steal for both groups.

Pros:

• Good price with rebates
• Responsive mouse/keyboard
• Smooth online experience

Cons:

• Without rebates, still too high for average consumers
• Not a revolutionary leap for Blackberry veterans