BlackBerry Bold Vs. Curve 8900

After a bit of play time with the BlackBerry Curve 8900, now available through Rogers Wireless, I must say that I'm thoroughly impressed. While I'm still a 3G gal (once you go 3G, you never go back!), I can safely say that the 8900 is a viable upgrade for current Curve owners, or even as a step-up for Pearl users. And if having the absolute fastest speed isn't of grave concern to you, it might even be a better option than the Bold.

My first impression upon taking the device out of the box was "wow": as an objet, it's probably the nicest-looking BlackBerry to date. Sorry to disappoint you, my current Bold, but you look like a massive clunker next to the new Curve! The 8900 is tiny, almost feather-like in weight, and has a slightly higher-resolution screen than the Bold. To accomplish the device's small stature, however, the resulting screen is not as wide, and the keys are slightly smaller.

I started to type, and my eyes lit up even more. The buttons are spaced out and raised in a petal-like design. Motions aren't as fluid as they are when typing on the Bold, but it's still a comfortable experience, nonetheless. The quiet "tap, tap" that emits from each key as I spell a word is just as reassuring as the tactile feedback you feel with touch-screen models like the Samsung Instinct (and similar to the experience with the previous-generation Curve). The one drawback: the soft-keys for "menu" and "back" are stiff, requiring that I push down on them much harder than is needed for the Bold. Since these are often-used buttons, this could get frustrating over time.

Despite the sleeker and sexier look of the new Curve, the fact that it operates on the slower EDGE network is a deal-breaker for me. Surfing sites side-by-side, the Curve always took longer to load a page. Sometimes, the difference was minimal (e.g. 23 seconds for the Curve vs. 18 seconds for the Bold). In one instance, there was even just a two-second difference between load times. But when surfing particularly image-heavy sites, the difference is much more telling. For example, the Curve took 47 sec. to load the homepage at http://www.hereshow.ca/ in its entirely vs. just 23 secs. for the Bold.

Still, if you don't often surf the Web or stream content on your mobile device and can deal with slightly slower speeds, the EDGE network might suit you just fine. And keep in mind that, like the Bold, the Curve has WiFi as well, so you can latch on to hotspots whenever they are available. As an aside, the Curve also has a much better camera at 3.2 MP vs. 2 MP, along with flash and image stabilization.

Bottom line: if you're a speed-demon who surfs the Web often on your phone, you're better off getting the Bold. The Bold might also be a better option if you have large hands or thumbs, and hate manipulating tiny gadgetry (which I know many guys hate to deal with!) But if you want small, lightweight, and multifunctional, I'd opt for the Curve 8900, even over the Pearl. It's only slightly larger, but affords the ability to manipulate a full QWERTY keyboard instead of using SureType.

As with anything else, to each his own. But if the Curve was 3G, I'd have a hard time convincing myself that I needed the Bold instead.