The optical trackpad is successful at re-inventing a way to navigate around the BlackBerry - allowing you to scroll smoothly through menus. Like the Pearl, you can press down on the trackpad to select an item. For those people who have been using a BlackBerry with a Pearl, it may take a little time to get used to the experience, but soon you'll find it's more responsive.
The keyboard is a joy to use. The keys may be small, but they're also slightly tilted, and raised, so your fingers can find them without much issue. One thing that will really strike you about the BlackBerry Curve 8520 is at just 106g, it's the lightest BlackBerry yet. It's also slim and perfectly formed, ensuring your pockets won't be bulging. Inside the BlackBerry, there's nothing missing to cause concern. Even Wi-Fi is onboard, although there are no 3G capabilities when away from a hotspot. EDGE is available but it is not much faster than GPRS.
A great feature of the BlackBerry 8520 is the battery life. The 2.6-inch screen is just as large as on the higher-end devices such as the Bold, and even with its lower-resolution screen (320 x 240 pixels compared to 480 x 320 pixels), it's equally as crisp, vibrant and clear.
Features of the BlackBerry 8520 include:
- 2 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom
- Video camera (320 x 240 pixels)
- Internal display: TFT, 240 x 320 pixels (2.46 inches), 65,000 colours
- Media player (MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA formats)
- Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant messaging, push email with attachment viewer
- Built-in speakerphone
- Voice dialling and voice memo recorder
- MP3 ringtones & LED call indicator
- Personal organiser functions
- Vibration alert
- Internet: Web browser, GPRS, EDGE
- Connectivity: WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 +EDR, USB, modem, 3.5mm stereo headset port
- Memory: 256 Mbytes plus microSD memory card slot
- Size: 109 x 60 x 14 mm
- Weight: 106g
- Quadband
- Talktime: 4.5 hours
- Battery standby: 400 hours