Hands-on with T-Mobile's BlackBerry Curve 8900

Without touching, feeling, caressing, and loving the Curve 8900 in one's own hands, it's hard to understand why so many people seem to be stoked about losing the Bold's 3G and going this route instead. Once you pick it up, though... well, it's a different story. For anyone familiar with the Nokia E71's wiles, the 8900 strikes a similar tone with a svelte, sexy body that betrays BlackBerry's down-to-business aspirations (no complaints there). Don't get us wrong, the Bold looks great, but seriously -- if you can put HSDPA aside and work off EDGE and WiFi alone, the Curve's your hookup. Check out a few shots (including a touching Storm side-by-side) in the gallery!

Hands-on with T-Mobile's BlackBerry Curve 8900

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 8th 2009 1:45AM]

OMG!!!

[Omagus Posted Jan 8th 2009 3:09AM]

Although I already have a Nokia E71, I'm considering this phone because I'd really like to take advantage of the T-Mobile at Home service. I've never had a Blackberry but if this is drawing up positive comparisons to the E71, I have to strongly consider it even more.

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 8th 2009 10:00AM]

Svelte alright - BUT passing on the 3G might come back to bite you if the recent rumors about AT&T moving EDGE to the 1900mhz band are true (read: won't work indoors very well).

[(Unverified) Posted Jan 8th 2009 11:13AM]

I've been following these rumors too. I have an E71-2 on AT&T and don't have the signal strength issues that others have reported. But it was always going to be a temporary placeholder until the 8900 came out for AT&T. But now that we hear they're 'throttling back' the EDGE speeds, and using the 1900 MHz spectrum, which they lease to T-Mobile anyway, I'm wondering if it'll be a huge step back in terms of call quality and web browsing speed.

[AbhishekVerma Posted Jan 8th 2009 11:09AM]

Actually, I was just having a discussion about this phone with a friend of mine.

I have the AT&T Bold, and what kills the battery is the constant searching for 3G signal, or repeatedly fading in and out between EDGE and 3G. I never really understood the whole hoopla over 3G anyway. Matter of fact, if I'd known that the 8900 is coming to T-mobile, I would've held off renewing my contract with at&t.
2G was fine with me. Most of the time my phone is on 2G anyway (in the bldg, on the way to work). I wouldn't have minded the BOLD had at&t not done away with the toggle switch between 2G and 3G (it's present on the ROGERS Bold and the unlocked BOLD's straight outta RIM, but not on AT&T BOLD). On top, I believe this device will be slimmer than the Bold as well.
Additionally, 3G is negated by the fact that most of the new phones which are 3G-enabled have bigger screens and better resolution and greater pixel-density..so hence the web-pages take almost the same time to load up as phones which're a couple of years old on 2G. Of course, there's the added advantage of being able to doing voice and data together, but I very rarely need to do it simultaneously. For me, a great device would be s'thing like the BB 8900 on either sprint or verizon network.

[SParklingCYaNide Posted Jan 11th 2009 5:28PM]

Its soooo Nice. - D

Fits better in your hand than the Bold.