BlackBerry Curve 8520 cheaper but in some ways better

One of the latest entries in Research in Motion’s (RIM) line of business-focussed, full qwerty keyboard-equipped mobile phones has been reviewed in a new article for infoSync this week.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 was noted as a lower-end alternative to its Curve 8900 sibling and although it was said that there had been some changes that reflect this, the new design could be seen as something of an improvement.

Gone is the chrome lip that features on the latter and instead it is said RIM has equipped the former with “glossy black plastic with rubberized sidewalls” that give away its status as a cheaper device but actually work in its favour.

Also missing is the trackball system familiar from the other handsets in the BlackBerry range and instead the gadget comes with the same kind of optical trackpad that has been seen on the likes of the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520’s 320 x 240 pixel QVGA display is described as “nice and clear”, although the article advises that this is around half of what one would expect from its classier sibling.

Voice calling was “very good” and the site went on to praise “the great messaging capabilities of the best BlackBerry phones” that have also been included on this particular entry into the range.

“For multimedia playback, the BlackBerry Curve is actually better than most other BlackBerry devices, thanks to the new hardware controls that line the top of the device,” the review added.

In addition to its full qwerty keyboard, RIM announced in July that the device would feature 256MB of flash memory, Bluetooth v2.0 support, a 3.5 mm stereo headset jack and a hot swappable microSD/SDHC memory card slot.