BlackBerry 8300 Curve

The Curve sticks to GPRS and EDGE, so there's no HSDPA or Wi-Fi. Unlike the 8800, there's no GPS either; although you do get the BlackBerry Maps application, you have to tell it where you are or use a Bluteooth GPS receiver. RIM's automatic compression means that email and Web pages still download speedily and battery life is as impressive as other BlackBerrys. We saw double the promised four hours of talk time and for a mix of calls and Web browsing with constant email you can still go three or four days without a charge. Most HSDPA smartphones only have 36-48 hours of battery life if you're using push email with Windows Mobile 5. Both the screen and keyboard are backlit but they adjust automatically to ambient lighting, so the screen is easy to read even in bright sunlight.

As usual, the Curve is a quad band handset with a full set of phone features, from the mute button on the top edge to the speakerphone, voice dialling and MP3 ringtones. It also has built-in noise reduction and the volume automatically increases in noisy environments, which saves you fumbling for the volume control or sticking a finger in your ear.

The smaller size, lighter weight and improved multimedia make the Curve more attractive as your only phone; earlier BlackBerry models were either too bulky for many people to use as a phone comfortably or swapped QWERTY for SureType keyboards with half the keys and predictive input to get the size down. As a phone and a smartphone and an email phone and an entertainment phone, the BlackBerry Curve hits the sweet spot.

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