Everyone is talking about the Apple iPhone these days; the types of applications you can get on it, the things you can accomplish with an iPhone (“almost anything” they will say), how wonderfully easy it is to use and how cool it will make you look.

The iPhone is seen as a flashy, futuristic and fun product but is heavily reliant on third-party software to make it successful.

Most treat it as a replacement for an MP3 player and a portable game console, like a Sony PSP and Nintendo DS,

It’s more of a tool for fun and play rather than for serious communication which is what a BlackBerry is essentially famous for. When BlackBerry first hit the market, it was targeted at those involved in the higher echelons of management and the like.

Since they were on the go quite often and needed to make swift decisions due to market trends for example, the BlackBerry offered them the ability to receive and reply to e-mail instantly anywhere in the world.

Research In Motion, the company behind the BlackBerry made sure that the product and service they provided was efficient and secure which made it a very attractive tool indeed.

It became a mobile office and was branded as the tool that solders you to your job 24/7.

More so though, it became a status symbol, one that almost meant that if you had a BlackBerry you were somebody important and productive.

It did not help that celebrities started to use it too, to communicate to the myriad of people they worked with, be it studio and record executive chiefs or their managers or even just to each other.

US President Barack Obama is a known BlackBerry addict and used it heavily while on his campaign trails. Even now, he has one specially designed for him with special encryptions to further secure it.

The 411

The fad trickled down to the common folk and there has been a rise in users even though rate plans and price for the BlackBerry are higher than most.

It is inevitable though since in this day and age when communicating via e-mail messages, SMS and online chats are seen as the norm, the BlackBerry is almost a mobile extension of that lifestyle.

With the introduction of the Curve 8520, an attractively priced BlackBerry, Research In Motion further hopes to appeal to the regular consumers.

First off, it is slightly more compact than previous BlackBerry smartphones and comes in various colours like blue, red and black.

It is well built and made of sturdy plastic which means it is quite light too. It feels solid enough but to some it may feel like a toy.

Also, it actually looks quite feminine with its rounded corners and sexy shiny exterior. Previous BlackBerry smartphones had chrome and metal finishes which gave it a more masculine appeal.

The Curve 8520 sticks to the full Qwerty keyboard style designed to make messaging and replying to e-mail messages quick and easy.

The buttons are raised high enough so that typing is actually quite a joy on the Curve 8520.

The optical trackpad is probably the phone’s most attractive feature. It is the first of its kind on a BlackBerry, as previous models had touchscreen or used a trackball.

The trackpad on the Curve 8520 is a flat square button in the middle of the BlackBerry that makes navigation through the menus a breeze and very smooth.

Basically, your finger lightly glides over the trackpad to steer you through the menus and once you have selected what you want, you simply press down on the trackpad to click the chosen application. It is really quite revolutionary.

Aside from the trackpad, the BlackBerry Curve 8520 also offers dedicated media keys at the top of the smartphone, something similar to those found on the Nokia or Sony Ericsson handsets for easier access to the media player.

Remember, the Curve 8520 is directed at casual consumers rather than business users. But why can’t business users enjoy music once in awhile, right? So, this is definitely a plus point.

On top of that we have WiFi which is always a good thing anywhere and everywhere. It will take some getting used to since the Inbox experience is very different from what we are used to with common mobile phones since the Curve 8520 uses it to also store e-mail and chat messages. But the Curve 8520 handled everything smoothly and quite efficiently too.

Downside

Although the Curve 8520 has incorporated media player functions, the camera is only 2.0-megapixels so this limits the camera in some manner.

Speaking of limited functions, it also does not come with a GPS which means the Curve 8520 will not be able to pinpoint your exact location but only give a vague idea of where you are based on telecommunication towers.

And the biggest downer of all — the Curve 8520 does not have 3G. The EDGE network is alright, since the e-mail messages still reach you and applications connect and refresh quite fast but there have been times when the it has problems getting EDGE signal while in a building.

This defeats the purpose of a smartphone which is meant to allow you to retrieve information any time anywhere.

But when it is working, EDGE is sufficient for the Curve 8520. The blame here can be on the network rather than the phone though.

The messenger

RiM has its own official store, BlackBerry App World, which has at least 500 various applications to keep you in touch and in the loop.

Otherwise, you can simply search online for other third party applications that are not found in the store.

Do not fret, there are official applications for Yahoo!, Google, Facebook and MySpace and there are unofficial but splendid free applications for Twitter and other social networking sites.

Also, due to its popularity, a lot of websites have optimised their pages for BlackBerry users so web browsing is quite natural.

It must be mentioned that one of the main selling points of a BlackBerry is the BlackBerry Messenger or more fondly known as BBM or BB Messenger. It is a free application that allows you to communicate to other BlackBerry users for free or at a negligible cost.

Conclusion

The BlackBerry Curve 8520 is affordable and allows you to receive e-mail messages on the go without accessing a computer.

It really is just as good as its predecessors because you can do essentially the same things with it.

Now that local telecommunication companies are offering BlackBerry prepaid plans, hopefully there will be a spike of BlackBerry users. Overall, sophistication is what makes the BlackBerry stand out.

Pros: Affordable; light, sturdy and compact; BlackBerry App World
Cons: No 3G and GPS

BLACKBERRY CURVE 8520