GOOD TO KNOW:
•    Track-pad navigation
•    Wi-Fi capable, with EDGE
•    Blackberry OS version 5.0
•    Extended battery life
•    Built in navigation through maps


Picking up the 8520 as a BlackBerry fan, one immediately knows it's a BlackBerry Curve. Despite the visual changes and addition of the optical trackpad, it maintains that user-friendly feeling and form factor made popular by the Curve 8300 and 8900.

In my snapshot review I suggested that this phone was aimed at the working girl (or guy) with a flair for Social Media mixed with some business to keep things interesting and I haven’t changed my mind.  This phone has only increased my love for the BlackBerry brand and has also successfully driven my boyfriend away from me in disgust at the fact that the phone gets preference on my pillow over him, at night.  

To say that the BlackBerry 8520 is a ‘smart phone’ would be an understatement.  Although the 8520 is aimed at the lower-end market, this phone is friggin’ genius!  It does all the usual things of awesomeness that everyone who is anyone needs (user-friendly e-mail, web-browsing, social networking, blogging and instant messaging) – and of course, those tasks that we always forget about when marveling over a phone’s abilities - making calls and sending text messages happen almost like magic, the way only BlackBerry can.

The 8520 runs on BlackBerry OS version 5.0 that is, for me, a totally smooth and fast-paced user experience. The older version of the OS used in previous models would fall over, completely hamstrung quite often and nothing but rebooting the device completely and having to wait the five minutes to start up again, would fix the issue – which is, as you can imagine, painful if you have something superrightnowurgent you need to do.  I’m happy to report that only when I really taxed the 8520 by running multiple apps and performing numerous tasks (and usually only once I’d had a few drinks) did it start to hang.  I'm tempted to say that this device seems to have a built in sensor that can tell when the user is pickled because it suddenly stops functioning and decides just to not work.  But, truth be told (and this is between you and me, mind you) it’s probably because I’m trying to simultaneously tell Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and all my IM contacts what a good time I’m having – you’d imagine why my BlackBerry might struggle with that ginormous-destined-to-fail-epically task.

The user interface has really changed since my previous Curve 8350.  The default theme installed is neat, organised and after my initial skepticism, I got used to it and didn’t even feel the complusive need to download an alternate theme.  Although the sub-menus are the have the same substance, I definitely prefer this version.  It’s much quicker to browse and is customisable to the nines, too.

Wi-Fi capability is a bit of a strange one in South Africa; I really don’t see the point of it for our country.  Most open Wi-Fi networks are super slow and  secure networks require an FBI security hacker qualification to connect to in public places. This leaves only leaves your home Internet to hook up with if necessary. I hardly see the point of this capability when my (and yours too, probably) service providers gives me kick-bum BIS access for a small fee every month that allows me to surf questionable websites to my hearts’ content. So, yeah, I didn’t see the point to Wi-Fi for my personal usage, but maybe it’ll be different for other users.  

This brings me to my next point, and my first bit of real criticism; the EDGE functionality.  It sucks, quite honestly.  It drops at the first sign of any interference with cell towers and switches to GPRS which is decidedly slower and much more painstakingly annoying.   Although I haven’t seen a high peak in my phone’s airtime, it does seem to cost me over and above the monthly fee for BIS, which is just not cool.  

Another negative would be the web browsing.  The bog-standard BlackBerry browser on the Curve 8520 seems to have two options:
consisting of: tiny and illegible display OR (wait for it) bigger, unwrapped display which means that you have to then scroll sideways right and left to read anything which is extremely frustrating. I have given up on trying to browse any websites that aren’t straight-up mobile-friendly. So, as you can imagine, I’d like to suggest that BlackBerry should to work on their browser scrolling, display and zoom capabilities - now that they've perfected their OS (for now), maybe it's time to get down to polishing the details. Starting with that browser, please.

On to happier things - the push e-mail experience is awesome.  I’ve actually noticed that often the e-mails come through to my phone before they do my Gmail account.  Also, it might be my imagination but I swear that the email search functionality has improved too.  I’ve gone from never being able to find results, to searched items being found, with minimal effort, within seconds - handy for me as I get a couple of hundred emails in a week.  

One of the highlights for me, the same thrill I’ve received from all my BlackBerry devices would be the BlackBerry Messenger.  It allows you to chat to other BlackBerry owner friends for free, including sending pictures, videos and voice notes.  No doubt I save myself a ton of money this way where I’d otherwise be paying a small fortune to send an MMS. This makes it a hands-down winner. Of course, the phone is application-friendly to the max as well so apps like Nimbuzz, MSN Live, Google chat and Facebook and Twitter all come for free from the BlackBerry Application Centre.  Another positive about the 8520 is the dedicated media buttons it has on the top.  Perfect for those looking to use their phones as iPods.  The sound is not too bad either.

To tie together everything I’ve been trying to say: I think this Curve would be perfect for those not quite as obsessive as I am with multitasking Social Networks and SMS and browsing and IM-ing all whilst driving, smoking and singing on top of my voice to the songs I’ve stored within the media centre.  It’s just a teeny-tiny bit too slow for me, personally.  Despite that, I would absolutely recommend the 8520 to anyone looking to break into the BlackBerry market to find out what a real smartphone is all about.


Turn ons:
•    The track-pad. It is heaven in the form of a square little optical navigation button.
•    Dedicated Media buttons on top of device for easy navigation in Media Centre
•    Improved OS v5.0 (much better interface than previous models)
•    Perfect device for breaking into the BlackBerry market

Turn offs:
•    No flash on camera, difficult to capture photos at night or in bad lighting
•    Multitasking is limited when running too many apps at once
•    Buttons are very small and almost impossible to use when typing with short nails

Overall rating: 3/5

SRP: R3500.00