The mobile phone market isn’t the same as it once was. People have come to expect a lot of fringe features from their mobile of choice; where once they were satisfied to make phone calls and send texts, now they rely on their phones for internet access, editing photographs, and eating away their lunchtimes. (Don’t deny it – you wolf down your sandwich to get to Angry Birds, too!) However, for the discerning consumer who’s not looking to spend hundreds on a state-of-the-art Smartphone, there are few better choices available in the feature phone market than an entry-level BlackBerry. And you’re in luck, because a new one has just debuted: the BlackBerry Curve 9320.
In terms of aesthetics, you’re not going to see much difference from its progenitor, the Curve 9300 (also known as the BlackBerry Curve 3G): it has the same small casing (60mm across, 109 tall, and just under 100g in weight), the same modest screen size, and the same QWERTY keyboard, eschewing touchscreen interaction in favour of ease of use. There are some subtle differences, though. The headphone jack is now located at the top of the device, instead of the side, making it easier to listen to music on-the-go; and the formerly flattened keyboard is raised up slightly, to enable both easier typing and swifter complex key movements (such as copying and pasting, or undoing). Really, though, that goes without saying – sans touchscreen, the Curve 9320 needed to makes its input as intuitive and painless as possible.
Despite its compact size, the battery size is 1450 mAh, permitting an impressive 432 hours of stand-by, which is approximately 5 hours of talk-time, and over a day of music playback potential. But, of course, there are some trade-offs for the casual user: the much smaller screen size (comparative to the larger Smartphones) means a pixel density of only 164 ppi, at around a 320 x 240 resolution. Additionally, you can expect to run out of space much faster, with only 512 MB of storage – on other mobiles, the SD card slot is an optional extra, but on the Curve 9320 it’s a practical necessity, if you’re seeking any kind of information storage whatsoever.
With that said, you can’t reasonably expect a feature phone to have anything like the range of options offered by a Smartphone. If you preorder the Curve 9320, you’ll be shelling out less than £200 for a device that still possesses Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and its own radio. Other phones may be stronger, faster, and even better looking – but, to a man, they’re all a lot more expensive. For a stripped-down experience that’ll take you right back to the mobile market of old, it’s hard to see how a casual consumer could go wrong with the BlackBerry Curve 9320.
In terms of aesthetics, you’re not going to see much difference from its progenitor, the Curve 9300 (also known as the BlackBerry Curve 3G): it has the same small casing (60mm across, 109 tall, and just under 100g in weight), the same modest screen size, and the same QWERTY keyboard, eschewing touchscreen interaction in favour of ease of use. There are some subtle differences, though. The headphone jack is now located at the top of the device, instead of the side, making it easier to listen to music on-the-go; and the formerly flattened keyboard is raised up slightly, to enable both easier typing and swifter complex key movements (such as copying and pasting, or undoing). Really, though, that goes without saying – sans touchscreen, the Curve 9320 needed to makes its input as intuitive and painless as possible.
Despite its compact size, the battery size is 1450 mAh, permitting an impressive 432 hours of stand-by, which is approximately 5 hours of talk-time, and over a day of music playback potential. But, of course, there are some trade-offs for the casual user: the much smaller screen size (comparative to the larger Smartphones) means a pixel density of only 164 ppi, at around a 320 x 240 resolution. Additionally, you can expect to run out of space much faster, with only 512 MB of storage – on other mobiles, the SD card slot is an optional extra, but on the Curve 9320 it’s a practical necessity, if you’re seeking any kind of information storage whatsoever.
With that said, you can’t reasonably expect a feature phone to have anything like the range of options offered by a Smartphone. If you preorder the Curve 9320, you’ll be shelling out less than £200 for a device that still possesses Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and its own radio. Other phones may be stronger, faster, and even better looking – but, to a man, they’re all a lot more expensive. For a stripped-down experience that’ll take you right back to the mobile market of old, it’s hard to see how a casual consumer could go wrong with the BlackBerry Curve 9320.
View/Leave Comments
