BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300

Woohoo! It's the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 ..

If you need the functionality of a business handset but still desire the entertaining feature set of today's smartphones then the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 is the perfect mid–range choice.

A full QWERTY keyboard has been engineered into the well crafted and palm friendly design and the optical trackpad saves a lot of button pressing making the menu system easy to explore. BlackBerry's own operating system controls the Curve and ensures a superior experience.

Further business features include Wi–Fi for hotspot locations, Bluetooth for wireless connectivity with other devices, email, instant messaging, voice memo recording and of course an organiser to help keep track of appointments. The curve can also be connected to a computer via a microUSB lead and the internal memory can be increased via a microSD card, with up to 32GB supported.

BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 Specifications

• Size: 109x60x13.9mm
• Weight: 104 grams
• Screen Size: 2.64 inches TFT
• Screen Resolution: 320x240 pixels
• Camera: e megepixels
• Talk time: 330 minutes
• Standby: 348 hours
• Operating System: Android
• Video recording?: Yes
• Video Streaming?: Yes
• Compatible Video: MP4/H.263/H.264/WMV
• Internet?: Wi-Fi, HSDPA
• Browser: HTML
• Memory: 265MB/microSD
• Music: MP3/eAAC+/WMA/WAV/FLAC
• Email?: Yes
• Video Calling?: No
• GPS?: Yes, A-GPS
• 3.5mm Audio Jack?: Yes

BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 Review

Research In Motion's (RIM) new BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone is the latest in the line of Curve series of BlackBerry smartphones. The phone looks similar to BlackBerry Curve 8520, however, it has many welcome features under the hood. Let's have a look what this sleek and beautiful phone has to offer:

CPU and Memory:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone is powered by a snappy Marvell PXA930 CPU clocked at 624 MHz which ensures smooth performance. The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 has 256 MB of flash memory accompanied by 256 MB SDRAM which takes good care of all the multitasking needs. The phone also supports microSD cards with capacity of up to 32 GB.

Operating System:

The cheap BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone runs RIM BlackBerry OS v 5.0.0.832. However, the great news is that you can easily upgrade the firmware to BlackBerry 6 OS from RIM's website.

The BlackBerry 6 OS feels more modern and clean than BlackBerry OS v 5.0. BlackBerry 6 OS really spices up the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone with its new skin and icons. The BlackBerry 6 OS also has a new WebKit (same technology that powers Apple's Safari browser) based browser which features easy tab switching. There is also a new media player which allows you to easily browse album art. Some of the other notable improvements in the BlackBerry 6 OS are H.263, H.264 support, social network integration, RSS feeds integrated into inbox, Universal search, multiple customizable home screens & menus, Pictures application, BlackBerry Messenger, new Podcasts application and YouTube application.

Display:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone has a 320x240 pixel TFT LCD display capable of displaying over 65,000 colours. Videos and pictures look crisp on the screen; doesn't matter whether you are browsing through photos, watching a video stored on the phone or watching a YouTube video.

Camera:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone features a 2.0 MP camera with support for fixed focus, digital zoom and video recording. The camera is good for recording video clips on the move and the pictures taken by the camera are pretty good; they certainly dont look cheap.

Multimedia Support:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone (when upgraded to BlackBerry 6 OS) has improved media player that supports playback of MPEG4, H.263, H.264 and WMV9 video formats. The audio formats supported are MP3, AMR-NB, AAC-LC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, Flac and Ogg Vorbis. The sound from the integrated speaker and is sufficiently loud and clear. The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone also has support for 3.5 mm stereo headset. With support for most of the popular multimedia formats and YouTube you are sure to be entertained on the move.

Connectivity:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone supports tri-band UMTS 3G [(800/850)/1900/2100 MHz or 900/1700/2100 MHz] and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900MHz) networks. Thus, the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone brings the much needed 3G network support to the BlackBerry Curve family.

Besides this, the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone has 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth v2.1 + EDR with stereo Bluetooth (A2DP) support. The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone also supports tethering, a much welcome addition.

Applications:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone brings an enriched user experience with BlackBerry 6 OS and following notable applications – Email and text messaging, BlackBerry Messenger, Instant Messaging, New Browser, New Media Player, Organizer, BlackBerry Maps, Pictures, Podcasts, YouTube, Social Feeds, and BlackBerry App World 2.0 which provides access to thousands of BlackBerry applications.

Other Features:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone has built-in GPS functionality which is utilized by BlackBerry Maps.

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone has a full QWERTY keyboard with backlight. The keyboard is very comfortable and you can easily achieve good typing speeds once you get used to it.

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone also has a trackpad located in the front of the phone which enables fast scrolling and easy navigation.

The body construction is sturdy and features a streamlined bezel without any separators for Call/Menu and Back/Hang-up keys. On the top side of the phone, there are 3 multimedia control keys - Previous, Play/Pause and Next. On the back of the phone, the battery cover has an enhanced pattern which gives you a good grip on the phone.

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone has a micro-USB 2.0 port for data transfer.

Battery Life:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone is powered by a 1150 mAHr lithium ion battery which gives you talk time of 4.5 hours for GSM networks and talk time of 5.5 hours on UMTS networks. The standby time is 19 days on GSM networks and 14.5 days on UMTS networks. The music playback time is 29 hours. In short, the phone battery will easily last for 2 days with moderate use.

Size and Weight:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone is sleek and very light. It weighs just 104 grams (3.7 ounces) and is 13.9 mm thick with 109 mm height and 60 mm width. The phone fits easily into your hand and you get a good grip thanks to the pattern on the battery cover.

Conclusion:

The BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 phone is a cheap smartphone from BlackBerry which is BlackBerry 6.0 OS ready, has much needed 3G support and represents a very fine blend of business and multimedia features. It is a good upgrade for BlackBerry Curve users who are looking for 3G and BlackBerry 6 OS upgrade. For those of you who have not used BlackBerry before and are looking to try a BlackBerry phone, this is the ideal phone which will give you a great all round BlackBerry experience.

We've compared the cheapest BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 deals from all the leading UK retailers. And the results are in below..

The BlackBerry Torch Black is also available in the following colours:

PURPLE VIOLET PINK BLUE WHITE RED BLACK