RIM BlackBerry Curve 8310 - Features
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Features
GPS Capabilities
Probably the most notable new feature of the Curve 8310 is its GPS functionality. This BlackBerry comes equipped with full-color maps with text-to-speech navigation when used in conjunction with a location-based service (LBS). AT&T offers their own LBS, called TeleNav GPS Navigator (see performance results in "performance"), which will give you voice-guided directions at a monthly charge of $9.99 for unlimited trips and $5.99 for up to 10 trips per month. You can use a different LBS as well, such as Google Maps for Mobile. Overall, the GPS feature is extremely useful for traveling professionals or for people on vacation who don't want to carry around their dedicated portable GPS device.
2 MP Camera
The 2 megapixel camera will not replace a digital camera, but it works well in situations where you don't have a camera. The 8310's camera features 5x zoom with built-in flash. There are a few manual controls, such as white balance settings and various color effects, as well as various photo size options and quality options. CNet commented that the 8310's camera produced good quality images when compared to other smart phones. They said, "...the quality was better than a number of other camera-equipped smart phones we've tested recently."
Messaging Options
The BlackBerry Curve 8310, like other BlackBerries, is an exceptional email device. This phone is capable of supporting as many as 10 email accounts, including corporate email accounts on BlackBerry's Enterprise server, along with POP3 or IMAP4 web accounts. The 8310 features an easy to use set-up wizard that will guide you through the email set-up process.
This BlackBerry is also able to open email attachments, such as Word, Excel, PDFs, and JPEGs. Other messaging options include text messaging and instant messaging. The instant messaging is limited to BlackBerry's proprietary messenger client.
Internet
While the 8310 does provide Internet access via AT&T's EDGE network, it's not the greatest wireless network in the world. This is one area where the Curve 8320 excels over the 8310, because the 8320 offers Wi-Fi capabilities. Reviews of AT&T's EDGE network all point to the same issue--slow performance. Here's what CNet said about browsing the Web with the Curve 8310: "Web-browsing definitely could have used a speed boost, and the BlackBerry Web browser isn't the sleekest, so the Curve isn't exactly a standout in this category."
Despite the relatively slow speeds of the EDGE network, it still allows you to connect to the Internet to check stock quotes, weather, and news. You can also use the 8310 as a modem to connect your laptop to the Internet via the EDGE network. The same speed issues apply when using the 8310 as a modem for a laptop.
Multimedia Features
The Curve 8310 is more than just an email device; it also supports a variety of music and video formats. For music, this Curve will support MP3, AAC, MIDI, and WAV music files; for video, it will support AVI, MP4, MOV, and 3GP formats. The music player is pretty basic, but it works well. The LCD screen will display song information, including album art. The 8310 gives you the ability to create playlists, shuffle, repeat, and more. One of the cool features of this phone is that it will automatically stop the music when a phone call comes in, and after you hang up the call, the music will start back up where it left off.
The video player is very similar to the music player and it provides a relatively good quality picture on the 2.5 LCD display. CNet said this about the video player's performance: "Video clips were smooth with synchronized audio and images, but as expected, there was some pixelation of the picture during action sequences."
Next: Performance >>
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