Research in Motion(RIM) recently released the BlackBerry Curve 8520 in the US with high hopes of putting up a decent fight to regain the smartphone market from IPhone.The “Curve” brand was one of the most popular smartphone before the IPhone 3G came through.Now RIM is trying to regain the top position in the US markets with the improved BlackBerry Curve 8520.Now,RIM has landed the Curve 8520 in India with a tie up with Airtel.

After trying out unsuccessfully to move away from the traditional BlackBerry heritage design with the BlackBerry Pearl Flip,RIM has gone back to its traditional ways.The BlackBerry Curve 8520 looks quite similar to the BlackBerry Bold and the Tour but is much lighter and slimmer giving it a much more compact and sleek look, and that too without compromising on the BlackBerry signature.The changes on the exterior is very much evident in that the phone features rubberized edgings that cover the side buttons.Also,the multimedia buttons-play,pause,back and forward buttons have been placed on the top side of the phone.The QWERTY keyboard follows the traditional looks of the earlier BlackBerry phones and no touchscreen to provide you with an alternative keyboard.A change can be seen in here too as the classic BlackBerry trackball has now been replaced by the track-pad,which is supposed to make the navigation much more easier.

The device features a 512 MHz processor loaded with a 256 MB RAM.The BlackBerry Curve 8520 also boasts of an easy to set up Wi-Fi network and rich office features and applications like the Gmail,Yahoo among others.

The BlackBerry curve 8520 comes in a 2.5 inch TFT screen with resolutions up to 320 x 240 pixels.A 2 MP camera has been integrated to the phone which is rather disappointing,since the main competitor IPhone has moved away from 2 MP cameras to integrate a 3.2 MP camera in the new Apple IPhone 3G S.So if RIM expects to put up a good fight,the camera should also have been considered.The BlackBerry Curve 8520 has a standard 3.5 mm jack and a good audio interface.

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 also lacks some of features that may hurt their ambitions of’ regaining the market.The new Curve is not 3G enabled and has a very disappointing browser that is not flash enabled and supports only standard mobile-only sites.The BlackBerry Curve scores over it rivals when it comes to the price factor.It will cost only $130(@ T-Mobile).In India,it will be available with Airtel and will cost only around Rs. 16,000,again really affordable,especially for a BlackBerry.A new monthly BlackBerry Service plan of Rs. 299 has already been announced by Airtel as the result of the tie up to offer BlackBerry Curve 8520.

Whatever be the price and other features,the BlackBerry curve 8520 doesn’t seem like one that could take on the IPhone 3G S and maybe RIM will do better with their next phone.

Specifications

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