The emergence of the Blackberry, or “Crackberry” as it has been dubbed by email addicts, has been key to the emergence of the two-phone culture, whereby Blackberries are used for email and a second phone for voice calls. Thankfully, the latest generation of Blackberry handsets work just as well as phones, so this is the only piece of kit you’ll need.
Previous models have been on the chubby side, but with the Curve there has obviously been a spot of dieting. It’s a slick, rounded device, and feels great to hold – better than any other handset here. The keyboard is superb and you quickly become proficient in typing almost as fast as on your desktop.
The Curve has wifi and GPS but, rather annoyingly, leaves out 3G. This is particularly noticeable if you’re receiving big emails with attachments, which can take a while. The 2.4-inch, 480 x 360 pixel, 65,000-colour screen is excellent, and the latest version of the Blackberry operating system runs quickly and smoothly. There’s also an impressive 3.2-megapixel camera and a decent MP3 player, although it’s not going to rival the iPhone in that department.
Blackberry fans will need no convincing and for email addicts this is arguably the ultimate handset.
Pros Great keyboard and looks
Cons Multimedia features not strong and no 3G
Free on contract
