Layout
The biggest change to the device layout is moving just about all of the keys to the right side of the device. It feels unnecessarily crowded now that all tasks involving the headphone jack, volume controls, convenience key and microUSB slot happen in the same area, while the left side only has a single convenience key occupying it. It’s difficult to fathom what RIM’s reasoning was for this design change; maybe they’re presuming most folks will hold the device with their left hand while manipulating controls and plugs with the right, although that certainly hasn’t come up during my time with the Bold, which spreads things more evenly.
The battery door latch is looks a little different than the original Curve, but still the same idea: a single clip between the two bottom charging contacts lets you pop it off. Under the battery door, the BlackBerry 8900 has a similar SIM and memory card layout as the Storm: hot-swappable microSD slot and perpendicular battery placement with grips on either side, but the SIM card doesn’t load in sideways anymore.
Screen
The BlackBerry 8900 manages to squeeze in an extra 20 pixels over the Bold (which set RIM’s new gold standard in screen quality), clocking in at a 360 x 480 QVGA resolution. Sharp as it may be, it’s still 2.44 inches, down from the Bold’s 2.75 inches. Believe it or not, that difference really changes things around – the entire 8900 UI is scaled down to fit, and you can really tell that the icons are smaller. Still, the screen maintains the same excellent level of sharpness, and as a result you’re by no means squinting to figure out what’s what.