Unlike the many different Blackberrys before it, the Blackberry Curve isn’t meant to be the kind of smartphone you find at business meetings and conferences. After many years of building a reputation for providing sophisticated smartphones for the business user, the Blackberry Curve is part of the company’s plans to make their phones appealing to a much wider audience. The increase in demand for smartphones has presented Blackberry with an opportunity for its unique looking phones, but can the Curve make the most of it?

The Curve looks unmistakably Blackberry, with its wide body and the trademark full QWERTY keyboard laid out over dozens of keys. While this may be an acquired taste, it does mean that the Curve has a decent sized screen, and unusually for the majority of phones on the market, it’s landscape layout gives it quite a nice widescreen appearance. To help convince consumers that the Curve doesn’t take itself too seriously, it comes in a variety of different colors, although most will probably want to stick to the basic black.

If you put the new Curve next to some of Blackberry’s business phones, you’d also notice a few other subtle differences. The chrome trim on the business versions has been replaced with rubber edges, and the trackball has become a track pad. Designed to cut costs as well as make the Curve a little more down to earth, the phone still looks and feels like a quality smartphone.

What the Curve lacks in connectivity features, it makes up for in usability. It has WiFi but no 3G or GPS, however this is Blackberry’s entry level smartphone, so it would almost be unfair to expect everything you’d find in the top mobiles. What the Curve does do well, is provide features that make the most of that QWERTY keyboard. Setting up one or more email accounts is simple, and using the Curve’s applications to keep in touch with your social networks couldn’t be easier.

Navigating around the Curve is nice and simple, thanks to Blackberry’s operating system and the user-friendly interface. You can add to the pre-installed apps thanks to the App World, and the music player is better than many would expect - the Curve even includes dedicated music control keys, to make it more appealing to consumers.

For those who are looking for a quality smartphone that does all the basics well, and at a price that doesn’t hurt your pocket, the Blackberry Curve has a lot to offer. The features that made Blackberrys popular amongst business users, will also appeal to the social butterflies who want a smartphone that means they are never out of touch.

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