Blackberry Curve 9220 Review: Hardware, Interface, Apps, Price and Verdict

Browser

The browser is good for basic tasks but not for very multimedia heavy sites. It automatically force loads the mobile version of your site if it’s on a sub-domain (e.g. m.nothingwired.com). The first landing page has the bookmarks and history for easy navigation. It supports tab view. The address bar doesnot support search so you will have to enter the full URL to go to a site.

BBM and AppWorld

They are usual, but the dedicated BBM key makes it easier to stay connected.

Camera and Video recording

The 2MP camera is not much to rave about, but it clicks better than what you would have expected from a basic fixed focus 2MP camera – especially when you click portraits. This camera is decent for your everyday family photos, but make sure you have enough light as there’s no LED flash.

Video recording is average but will give you good enough quality, so don’t hesitate to use it in those situations when you don’t have another option.

Multimedia

Gallery has the photos arranged in list mode. Not much to talk about here. You can share photos via Bluetooth and social media sites, or assign it as wallpaper or contact picture.

The music app sorts in artists, genres, playlist and connected services. You can add equalizer effects only in earphone mode. The audio output with earphones on is pretty good – crisp and bassy. Even the output with speakers is crisp enough with deep bass. The volume doesnot go too high to maintain the bass level, but you can activate an audioboost mode that goes beyond the maximum. Try both to see which one suits you.

The video app can play 720p videos smoothly. No video editing app but you don’t expect that also at this price point.

The FM radio doesnot play without earphones plugged in.

Other tools

Other tools and apps that come with the Blackberry Curve 9220 are Maps, social feed aggregator, two games, Facebook an Twitter apps and Youtube.

Performance

RIM is pretty tight-lipped about the processor it uses. We know about the 512mb RAM and same amount of ROM. The phone performs the general tasks very smoothly and in over a week of heavy multi-tasking – I’m yet to see any lag in transitions. BB OS 7.1 is truly a big step towards achieving this.

Battery

This is a real high. The 9220 gave me about one and half days of heavy usage with Wi-Fi switch on all the time and connected for about 10-12 hrs. But the lack of 3G and GPS is actually helping in this long battery life.

Verdict

The Blackberry Curve 9220 retains Blackberry legendary mail and organizer services but still not there as far as multimedia is concerned. It costs a bit more compared to some other devices in terms of features purely – but what about the aura it oozes out? The looks are premium enough for you to flaunt it and unless you specifically worry about 3G, the GPRS works just fine on the not so advance browser and other connectivity apps.

We recommend it if you have been using your Blackberry 8520 or other entry-level model for a long time, or want to have a secondary phone along with your iPhone or One X or Galaxy SIII purely to talk, message/mail and long battery life.