BLACKBERRY CURVE 8900

 News of the Blackberry Curve S900 (previously codenamed 'Javelin') was a surprise to many people, quietly slipped out, as it was, between other launches.

The device is a lower-cost implementation of RIM's new design principles and latest software, and borrows heavily from the Blackberry Bold.

Both smartphones use the same software revision and colour scheme, the grey plastics of previous Curve models being replaced by chromed silver and gloss black. The keyboard is very much a Curve model, rather than the superior Bold incarnation, but it, too, has been tweaked to be more responsive.

The Curve 8900 is slightly smaller than the Bold, measuring 60mm (width) by 13.5mm (depth) by 109mm (length), and weighs llOg. It is also more plastic-looking, but retains much of the sleek, almost iPhone-inspired, design of its bigger brother. Otherwise, it looks much like any other Blackberry from the past couple of years, with the now commonplace trackball and centre-line of buttons for menu navigation and call handling.

There are also buttons down each side of the device to control earpiece volume and access to features such as the camera. Two of the buttons can be customised to launch your preferred applications or they can be disabled altogether.

On the back, you'll find perhaps the strongest feature of the Curve 8900 - the 3.2-megapixel camera, with LED flash, that also features autofocus and image stabilisation that really works.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this BlackBerry is that it is not a 3G device; as with previous Curve units, the 8900 will offer only GPRS and EDGE data connectivity.

There is support for 802.11 b and g variants of Wi-Fi when you are in range of accessible wireless hotspots and this will deliver faster downloads and uploads. So the Curve 8900 will be a lot slower in terms of data downloads in the field than either the Bold or the Storm, but it has one key advantage - stunning battery life.

BlackBerry battery life is good at the best of times - even the 3G Bold offers standby time that most handset manufacturers would kill for. So, by trading off 3G support, RIM has created a modern-looking device that can still offer more than seven days of uninterrupted standby time between charges for users who don't need high-speed, high-volume web browsing. Quoted battery figures are 5.5 hours of talk time and 356 hours of standby.

That said, all the spoils of the HSDPA-capable BlackBerry devices are still on offer in the Curve 8900, including full-page web browsing and a variety of third-party software, from Facebook to instant messaging. It also has integrated GPS and the BlackBerry Maps application pre-installed. However, with only GPRS data connection, downloading map data to match up with the GPS signal won't be as snappy as it is with the Bold or the Storm.

Also not overlooked in the Curve 8900 is media playback. It has the same capabilities as the Bold in terms of stereo Bluetooth support, OivX/Xvid playback and support for every ringtone format known to mankind.

Which begs the question, if the Curve 8900 shares so many similarities with the Bold, what is the point of it?

Well, some people prefer its keyboard and slightly smaller/lighter build, and it delivers the best battery life of the current range. For network operators, it's also cheaper to buy, which means -on less expensive contracts - it can be subsidised down to free.