I've had my blackberry curve for almost a year now, and it was my first foray into the smartphone world. However, I think its about time that I moved on.

As far as phones go, its fairly easy to use, with the trackpad very responsive and natural. The phone is well made with a solid build. The apps are easy to get on, and blackberry appworld has apps for what you need, but nowhere near the amount found on android or iphone. And a lot of apps don't seem to be made with the trackpad in mind.

The wifi connects easily and speeds up the internet considerably. Relying only on the 3G network is fast in strong signal areas, but in weak areas (such as where I live) the internet is terrible. I was very dissapoined with the native broswer, as it has trouble loading web pages of any considerable size. However this is easily corrected downloading opera mini from the appstore. So overall the internet works fast.

Having had it under a year, I'm dissapointed in saying that I've had to leave it into the shops twice for repair. The first time, the trackpad stopped working, and the second time, it wouldn't charge. To thier credit, the phone was replaced with no questions asked, replaced with a new phone. All data, such as contacts, is lost when this happens, but if you regularly back it up with blackberry protect this isn't the end of the world.

Not a lot to say about the camera, decent but nothing special. Wouldn't use it to capture life's special moments.

So, a good, affordable smartphone, but far better options out there.