The BlackBerry has thrived solely on its slick mobile email and messaging capabilities. But as its latest model, the Curve, suggests, it’s time to embrace the mobile multimedia world it has so far neglected.

Also consider
HTC S620 (aka the T-Mobile MDA Mail, BT Office) is a Windows-powered messaging device with a full QWERTY keyboard. It does have the bonus of Wi-Fi and faster EDGE capabilities, but falls short in the camera department with a 1.3-megapixel shutterbug.

The story of how Research in Motion (RIM) has sewn up the mobile email market with its BlackBerry devices and slick push-email solutions is well told. Any business bod wanting to access email on the fly chose BlackBerry because it was easy to set up, user friendly and messages were sent straight to the handset. But a new chapter in its evolution is about to begin. BlackBerry is finally trying to find its mobile multimedia mojo.

It started with the recent launch of the stylish slimline BlackBerry Pearl 8100, signalling RIM’s intentions of grabbing a slice of the consumer mobile market and taking BlackBerry into a new direction. This handset was born from ‘CrackBerry’ addicts finally demanding more from their device than just email and PIM functionality. Others were having fun with their stylish multimedia smartphones – listening to music, taking photos and playing videos – and BlackBerry users wanted to do the same.
While the Pearl looked gorgeous, it was far less convincing as a multimedia device. You could tell that RIM, forever entrenched in a business email mindset, hadn’t got its head around the whole mobile multimedia thing. Its latest model, the Curve 8300, takes the BlackBerry to the next level.

Nice curves
Dubbed the Curve for its shapely silhouette, this moniker is perhaps a little misleading. Its newfound curves and ever-so-slightly bowed torso are very subtle and, to be honest, don’t deviate much from previous BlackBerry designs. However, it is the smallest and lightest full QWERTY BlackBerry to be released and compared with fellow Berrys like the 8700 and recent 8800, it’s incredibly compact. Of course, this size reduction means there is less space to fit the full QWERTY keyboard, but RIM has done a sterling job to keep the key size manageable. It isn’t a perfect compromise and the fat-fingered fraternity may struggle, but it’s still very usable.

On the ball
Navigation is centred around the trackball, which first appeared in the Pearl and subsequently the 8800. RIM ditched the side
jog-wheel in favour of the trackball and the transition has worked well. You can tailor the ball’s sensitivity to suit your preferences (70% feels like the right balance between speed and control) and once you’ve gauged its mood, the trackball is incredibly lucid to thumb.

Alpha mail
Despite the new multimedia injection, BlackBerry’s famed email performance is still at the core of the Curve. Setting up email is a cinch and you can add a further 10 email accounts, including most popular ISP clients, online. We easily integrated our Google Mail and Madasafish accounts just by giving up our email address and password. If you own the Curve through work, then the handset is able to hook up with the dominant email exchange server solutions like BlackBerry Enterprise IBM, Lotus Domino, Microsoft and Novell GroupWise.
Full HTML web browsing and emails arrive over a GPRS connection and RIM strangely continues to shun 3G and Wi-Fi. GPRS speeds are just about sufficient (web page loading was sluggish), but the Curve could have been elevated in our estimation if 3G and Wi-Fi connections were present.

Tutti frutti
An integrated 3.5mm headphone jack and bundled Roxio Easy Media Creator 9 software indicate RIM is serious about making the Curve multimedia potential. The convenient headphone jack is a real boon, while the Roxio desktop music software is pretty straightforward. You get access to your PC’s existing digital library and you can drag and drop your tunes into the Curve’s memory card folder. You even get the choice to encode your files for optimum playback on the Curve or keep it in its native format state. The Roxio software will even tag your tunes via the online Gracenote CD database, while you can manage your videos and photos via the software. A microSD card slot sits under the rear bonnet and is on hand to store all your multimedia gubbins.
The music player itself is pretty basic. It’s bereft of any sound enhancements or equaliser (repeat and shuffle functions are your lot), while controlling the player is a bit disjointed (a combination of the trackball, letters ‘N’ and ‘P’ on the keyboard, side volume keys and the top mute button deal with play, stop, pause and skip tracks). The audio quality just about makes up for these disappointments and sounds quite dynamic, especially through a pair of Sennheiser headphones. Alternatively, you could hook up the Curve with a pair of Bluetooth headphones for wireless music streaming.

Camera two
The Pearl was the first BlackBerry to sport a camera, but its 1.3-megapixel lens felt timid in today’s camera phone climate. The Curve ups the ante to two megapixels, but again, even this falls short of our expectations. While it may lack auto-focus and a Xenon flash (it does pack a crude LED light), it still takes decent enough snaps in a 1600x1200-pixel resolution. Sadly, like the Pearl, the camera lacks a video-recording facility, which is disappointing considering it promotes video playback (MPEG4, WMV and H.263 formats are supported) in multimedia mode.

Verdict
The Curve is a mixed multimedia bag. It is undoubtedly the best BlackBerry to date, but RIM still hasn’t advanced enough to really excite and rival other top multimedia smartphones. A BlackBerry with 3G and Wi-Fi should be next on the agenda, please RIM.