You may say that the blackberry curve looks identical to other blackberry models such as 8900 but with this model you now have an optical navigation pad instead of it's original roller ball navigation, this feature is a much better feature than the roller ball, it's touch pad therefore making it easier and you can navigate more accurately. However I believe blackberry has put too much effort and design into this feature and haven't concentrated on other aesthetics of the blackberry such as the back plate, It's made of plastic and the blackberry logo is only stickers so due to wear and tear stickers come off and can make it look tacky. It's also very delicate and very easy to crack, other blackberry models have a metal plated back which is more durable and more resistant to damage. The screen is a nice size standing at 2.5 inches however it isn't touch screen other features such as the QWERTY keyboard which isn't the biggest of keyboard but practicable and the optical navigation pad proves successful as using it is simple and efficient, however the screen can be damaged easily, such as scratches and by sitting on your phone leaves dark marks across the screen, i sat on my old blackberry and have a bubble dark mark on the center of the phone but faded when turned on and visibility of the display was still very good. This blackberry have soft top media buttons on the top also which can lock the keypad however due to the uniquely curved small size of the blackberry, if you haven't locked your blackberry and placed it in your pocket and accidentally hit the media button, songs can be played out which happened to me and proved embarrassing. There are side buttons to the blackberry for voice command,volume up & down and also camera. I personally really dislike the quality of the camera, it's picture is very poor. Newer models cameras are slightly better however if you are looking for a phone with a good camera i'd highly suggest you look elsewhere. Blackberry's only have 256mg of RAM which isn't a lot considering (around about 10 photos) but buying a Micro SD chip can increase the memory, inserting the memory card is very easily as it has it's own slot next to the sim and battery. Blackberry doesn't have the feature of having GPS or 3G, so this device wouldn't be able to be used for a satellite navigation system or use web browsing out and about however the device does have wi-fi. There are many apps on the apps store however there isnt many well known apps such as Angry Bird and Tap Tap made famous by the Apple Store. Texting is very easy due to the qwerty keyboard and with the Ios 5 update the texts show up as a conversation. There aren't many different features on a blackberry it has the usuals you get on other phones such as calculator etc but nothing out of the ordinary apart from the famously known blackberry messenger.


Personal comments : I've had the same blackberry for 3 years, however i did have a few technical problems i was able to over come them with the help of websites. My blackberry did have a lot of cosmetic problems but it didn't bother me too much and i have dropped, thrown and chucked it down the toliet and no maintenance was needed to repair it. I believe the blackberry curve is a nifty device and is very easy to use its perfect for boys and girls and would recommend for ages between 10 - 50 years.