Blackberry 9300 Curve 3G

Description

Blackberry 9300

Global Description

Smartphones have come a long way in a short time and Blackberry have always looked to be at the forefront of innovation, so it should be no surprise that the Curve 9300 has some neat upgrades on its predecessor, even if it does lack the cutting edge of a brand new model. Essentially the 9300 is a supercharged version of the 8520, the main addition being 3G connectivity, something which is standard with all smartphones these days. If you're new to Blackberry then the 9300 will give you everything you need without being too overpowering.

It may not be the smallest model available but you will find the 9300 is packed full of apps to get you through the day, and whether you're an office worker or music lover the mobile has something to offer. The Qwerty keyboard makes texting and emailing easy and Blackberry's own instant messaging means you can chat to any other Blackberry owner across the globe for free. 256 MB of memory can be upgraded with a bigger card if you want to pack in more music, videos and photos, and social media fans will enjoy the Facebook and Twitter apps.

With all this going on you might expect the battery life to be relatively short, but surprisingly you can get up to three days out of it with light usage, around five hours of talk time or up to 29 hours of constant music playback. Despite this the 9300 isn't anything special as there are plenty of smaller, prettier phones out there that will do the same, but Blackberry have come up with a user-friendly model that does what you'd expect.

Features/Characteristics

When you first get your Blackberry 9300 the sheer number of features might seem quite daunting and take some time to figure out. Upon opening the menu dozens of slightly dull-looking new options appear, but once you've spent some time getting to know them you'll be multi-tasking at light speed, although even hardened pros will still get frustrated by how often the trackpad doesn't do as it's told. There are even hundreds more apps to download from the Blackberry App World, although they tend to be more expensive and less exciting than those featuring on rivals such as the iPhone.

As mentioned, the main original selling point of this model was the 3G, and it does deliver a quality web experience that allows you to browse freely. However the screen is a touch on the small side if you're looking for the full online experience, and trying to watch clips online is a frustratingly slow process. To make up for this you can have up to ten email accounts on the device to separate your work from leisure, and for those with work on their minds you can download and edit Word documents and view jpegs and PDFs out of the office.

On the media side the handset performs well and Blackberry have one of the best systems around in the smartphone market. After syncing the media player with your iTunes you can play all your favourite tracks courtesy of a standard 3.5mm headphone jack and skip tracks, pause videos and mute calls with dedicated media buttons along the top of the phone. Snap away on the two megapixel camera and then upload your photos to Facebook and Twitter instantly or share them with your friends via Bluetooth. If you're out and about use the GPS tracker to find out where you are and how to get where you're going, and with the help of a memo pad, task list, calendar and password keeper you'll never forget anything important.

The main downside with the 9300 is that it doesn't like pay-as-you-go and high street SIM cards. Without a Blackberry contract you'll struggle to do anything with it and all these pretty features will be lost to you. Ultimately the handset is a little bit dull compared to some of its competitors, a fact which is epitomised by the menu screen and contacts list, but it still has all the characteristics and functions you need and will rarely let you down for performance.