Complex Review: T-Mobile Blackberry Curve 8900

The new Crackberry drops today! See some photos and read our official review to find out what's changed and if it's worth picking up.

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Complex Original

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Today, T-Mobile and Blackberry team up to launch the Blackberry Curve 8900. By launch, we mean, you can go and buy this thing right now (unless you live in NYC, where it sold out in 30 mins this morning. Look into ordering it online). The O.G. Curve was great, but who doesn't want an upgrade, right? The 8900 is slicker, faster, and cooler. If you sign on for a 2-year contract, you can cop it for $150, which is sweet.

Read on for our in-depth review and some closeup photos of the 8900...


SIZE
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On its website, Blackberry states that the new 8900 Curve is the thinnest and lightest full QWERTY keyboard phone to date, and that its "striking 480x360-pixel screen offers up crisp on-the-go video, images, text, maps and more. With a refined design, the BlackBerry Curve 8900 smartphone is an easy-to-use device that delivers expanded functionality and reliable results." All of this is true. The screen is crisp, it's thin, and the phone is dope.

NEW VS OLD
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Here's what the 8900 Curve looks like compared to the O.G. Not too different. The 8900 is a bit more beveled, so it seems smaller, but after you start using it for a bit, we doubt you'll notice the change in size. The menus and functionality are fairly similar, still great as far as we're concerned. This phone has GPS, Wi-Fi, and mobile streaming. It's not 3G, so you're going to miss lightning-fast downloads, but the software is streamlined a bit and in our use, online aps worked more quickly than on the earlier Curve (maybe because our Curve is shitty and beat up though).

CAMERA
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The new camera on this thing is pretty solid. Blackberry pumped it up to 3.2 megapixels, and it takes photos sharp and fast. Like all phones, the lens is still the size of a pin, so you will never get camera-quality photos, but its great to have the bump up when you're trying to show your mom "how cute this dog was" or your friends "how amazing this chick's body was".

CONS
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There are two minor downsides to the new Curve. For some reason, Blackberry decided to change the charge portal (seen above) on the phone, so it doesn't work with your old charger. If you don't misplace these things, good for you, but we've bought many replacement chargers and now they're sitting all over the place. It would be great to use them when we lose this one's charger. Oh well, not a huge deal. The other thing is the SIM card mount on this thing is a huge pain in the ass to get your SIM card out of. Again, not a big deal, especially if you "set it and forget it," but just something we noticed.

SUMMARY
All in all, the 8900 is a re-tooling of the old Curve, designed to allow people on T-Mobile to stop bitching about Verizon and Cingular getting the new devices. The phone is cleaner looking, works a bit faster, and has a lot of "Oh I was hoping they'd do that." If you need a new device, go and get this one, but if your Curve works fine, wait for the limited color editions that will drop in about six months or so.

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