Verdict
$129.99 is a reasonable opening price for a phone of this calibre, but I really see it shining once the price drops under $100 and starts getting into the hands of enterprise. This BlackBerry 8520 strikes me as a cheap, dependable, yet modern-feeling BlackBerry that the corporate rank-and-file would be happy to use, even without the bells and whistles. My gut tells me that consumers who are looking at all of their BlackBerry options will be sooner pulled towards the more robust BlackBerry Tour or Bold, although the 8520’s trackpad and pricetag will certainly catch their eye.
The 8520 honestly reminds me a lot of the Pearl Flip – they both have all the amenities of the modern BlackBerry OS, rock a brand new, one might even say, adventurous style, while still cutting the necessary corners to keep costs down. The sacrifices made (camera, flash, GPS, screen resolution) are all laid out flat on the table, and whether or not you can live with those gaps is a question every potential buyer should be asking themselves before signing a contract.
If the Curve 8520 had GPS, a better camera (or at least a flash), and a display on par with the latest BlackBerrys, it would merit four stars out of five. As it is, the 8520 is aiming for a more budget-conscious crowd, which certainly earns it some brownie points on the price front, but it feels like just a bit too much was left out. It’s still a stand-up BlackBerry, and will handle e-mail, music, basic browsing and the odd application just fine, just don’t put your expectations too high for anything beyond that.
Update: I’ve had some time to play Verizon’s BlackBerry 8530, and it does have a few things going for it that the 8520 doesn’t. The two biggies are GPS and 3G, but the icing on the cake is that now that it’s been a few months, both models are now well into the $49.99 range, making some of the otherwise subpar features totally forgivable. Combined with the finer nuances of OS 5.0 (which have only found their way to the 8520 by way of leaks) and Verizon’s top-notch coverage, the 8530 easily earns another half star. The worst thing that I could say about it is that the trackpad assembly isn’t quite as snugly installed as on the 8520, but it operates just fine. For the entry-level weight class at which the BlackBerry 8530 is punching, it earns four out of five stars, and will do a great job spearheading RIM’s efforts in emerging markets.
Height:
4.29 inches (109 mm)
Width:
2.36 inches (60 mm)
Depth:
0.54 inches (13.9 mm)
Weight:
3.73 ounces (106 grams)