Review: BlackBerry 8310

BlackBerry Curve 8310 Review

Phone rating:

In a nutshell: If you want to keep in touch with your email on the move, then the BlackBerry Curve is the choice for you. With a full QWERTY keypad and BlackBerry's renowned push email applications, you really will have a mobile office in your pocket. It also includes a camera, a media player, Bluetooth connectivity and a memory card slot. The BlackBerry 8310 is our pick of the Curve series, as it also includes GPS navigation.
Best buy: *Free* from the Carphone Warehouse or Vodafone Business Shop.

The BlackBerry 8310 is our favourite of the current Curve series of BlackBerries. More compact than the 88xx series, yet with a full 35-key QWERTY keypad, the Curve series treads the line between dedicated business machine and consumer-friendly smartphone. The 8310 retains the core features that made BlackBerry into a household name and indispensable business tool: full keypad and push email. It also adds some new features that make the Curve more like a multimedia smartphone: a camera, media player and GPS satellite navigation. It is this last feature - the GPS navigation - that distinguishes the 8310 from the other Curves (the 8300 & 8320).

All of the BlackBerry Curves are essentially the same, except that the 8310 has GPS navigation, the 8320 has WiFi and the poor little 8300 has neither. It's obviously a personal choice as to whether GPS or WiFi is the more useful tool. In our opinion, the GPS is more useful, but that's just us! The GPS implementation in the 8310 is a good one, and can be used both on foot and in the car.

Looking at the core features of the 8310, we really love the full keypad. Really, serious mobile emailing is out of the question without one, in our opinion. The BlackBerry Curve delivers, and takes mobile communication to another level - whether by email, or text messaging. The one thing that we dislike about the Curve is the trackball, which is used to navigate around the screen and select options. When it works, it works well. But when it doesn't, then it can be really annoying. We've deducted one mark from our rating because of the trackball. Apart from the trackball, the Curve works well ergonomically. The display is large, at 2.5 inches across, and high resolution. It's not in the premier league of LCD displays (the iPhone has double the resolution and most smartphones now have 16 million colour screens), but it's good enough. One thing that we definitely like is the user-selectable font size. There are other features such as password protection, user-definable keys and voice dialling that make the whole Curve experience that little bit better. The Curve is large, and you'll need both hands to use it, but the keys are easy to press and the overall experience is positive.

Obviously, most people buy a BlackBerry to keep in touch with their email. The BlackBerry 8310 handles email very well indeed. Not only is the system very easy to use (pretty much as easy as on a PC), it supports all of the systems and protocols that people will need:

• BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Microsoft® Exchange
• BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for IBM® Lotus® Domino®
• BlackBerry® Enterprise Server for Novell® GroupWise®
• Integrates with an existing enterprise email account
• Integrates with existing personal email account
• Integrates with new device account
• Support for AES or Triple DES encryption when integrated with BlackBerry Enterprise Server

The 8310 also has a decent web browser. However, with no 3G or WiFi, it's unlikely that anyone would make extensive use of this feature. 3G is conspicuous by its absence. In fact the only connectivity is Bluetooth.

What's new about the latest Curve series is the multimedia features that help to bridge the gap between the traditional BlackBerry and the modern multimedia smartphone. The 8310 incorporates a 2 megapixel camera and a media player. BlackBerry are not at their strongest in this area: the camera can't complete with the cameras on most other smartphones, and there's no video recording capability (although you can play back video.) Nevertheless, it's a move in the right direction. The media player supports features like playlists and shuffle, and you can listen to music whilst using other applications. On the positive side, there is a 3.5 mm stereo headset port that will fit standard third-party headsets, and the 8310 is also compatible with Bluetooth stereo headsets.

The battery life of the BlackBerry 8310 is excellent, especially when compared with most other smartphones. Despite this, and despite the large size of the device, it's weight is surprisingly low. Really, it's in many ways a very practical device. If email on the move is your priority, then the BlackBerry 8310 is our top recommendation. It may not have all the bells and whistles of some other phones, but it does its core job amazingly well and does most other things well enough too. Consider the BlackBerry 8320 as an alternative if the WLAN appeals.

Features of the BlackBerry 8310 include:

• 2 megapixel camera with flash and digital zoom
• LCD display: 320 x 240 pixels, 65000 colours
• Media player
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, instant messaging, push email with attachment viewer
• Built-in speakerphone
• Voice dialling
• Voice memo recorder
• MP3 ringtones
• Personal organiser functions
• Vibration alert
• GPS navigation
• Internet: Web browser, GPRS, EDGE
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0, modem, 3.5mm stereo headset port
• Memory: 64 Mbytes plus microSD memory card slot
• Size: 107 x 60 x 15.5 mm
• Weight: 111g
• Quadband
• Talktime: 4 hours
• Battery standby: 400 hours

BlackBerry 8310 Consumer Reviews

Love your mobile? Hate it? Please share your experiences to help other people choose the phone that's best for them. Please do not review this phone if you have not used it. This is a review site, not a forum, so please don't just ask questions. Please do not use swear words or offensive language, and please, no advertising!

Average rating from 13 reviews:

Reviewed by bill turney from uk on 27th Jun 2008
phone & service is appalling Help please
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Reviewed by Bria from UK on 16th Jun 2008
This is an excellemt phone. The games are really god and I really like the pearl feature in it. Overall I'd say this is an absolutely amazing phone.
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Reviewed by Wayne from United States on 12th Jun 2008
i just wanted to say that everything you said about the Curve is dead on, i do wish it still had the track wheel, instead of the track ball, but i love my BB 8310. another this is mine is capable of recording video, "thanks to the new app upgrade, anf the curve is complete..this upgrade is availble for any curve, the site is www.vodacom.co.za/about/downloads/blackberry_handhelds.jsp just download the one for your blackberry and your good to go..but for this to work you must deletet the Vender.xml file, and then you'll be all set...i found this site on Pinstack.com...good luck everyone with a curve:especially and BB 8310...
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Reviewed by Alowen from England on 1st Jun 2008
Leonardo Taggio: So possibly not a dodgy battery then.......it happens, lets not write off one of the worlds most popular mobile devices so swiftly eh !!!!!!!!!!!?????!!!!!???????
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Reviewed by Leonardo Taggio from United Kingdom on 27th May 2008
The Blackberry 8310 is a great phone. but the battery life is very poor. I have to charge it every night. I am afraid i will have to replace it soon, I am giving a 1 star rating because of the battery life. Sorry Blackberry fans
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Reviewed by Alowen from England on 25th May 2008
Granted i`ve only had mine for 3 days now but i`ve been working with them for nearly 6 months and for the purpose they are intended for they are excellent. Lets be honest here, Blackberries are all about Emails. The internet 2.5G speed is fine for casual browsing and as for the camera being 2mp its an added bonus in my opinion.The lack of wi-fi isnt worth losing any sleep over. The size is also bearable considering the amount of functions inside. The free 12 month Vodafone satnav is good, agreed its not the best but works good enough. All in all its an excellent device thats full of goodies. A worthy 4 stars.
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Reviewed by Doug from usa on 12th May 2008
The phone is great, but the internet stinks. It has edge instead of 3g which is slow, and you have to buy a blackberry package which costs more than regular internet and messaging packages for regular phones. So great phone but I think for the money I could have got a great phone for less money. As far as being a great smartphone I don't think so. And the gps or nav system costs 9.99 a month so don't get sucked in by that selling pitch.
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Reviewed by Petey from UK on 11th May 2008
In my opinions phone rulez ! There is lot od pluses which I Could be stating , only one minus is someties quality of a call , sometimes when you speak , you cant hear whats on the other site , so if someone wants to break you you cant hear it , but rarely , except that its brill !
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Reviewed by ntsiki from south africa on 31st Mar 2008
i love it, but the main features are a problem to use.
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Reviewed by Kate from Manchester on 27th Mar 2008
I LOVE my BlackBerry :) It really is amazing. The camera isnt great and its a shame about being unable to record videos, but a definite must have for those always on the go. The gps is good too. The multi text thing is a let down, as you would assume a phone like this to have that capability, but i must say there are more pros than cons with this phone. BUY ONE.
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Reviewed by nick sievewright from england on 5th Mar 2008
didnt want a blackberry for ages and actively avoided them for all the reasons of wanting a home life as well as a work one.....but... now having had one for a while it is nothing short of brilliant. the e mails drop in unanounced so you can ignore them if you want and everything else works fine. the gps is good, i would like to do multi texting but you cant with this phone - this is my only gripe and that's such a small one not really worth worrying about
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Reviewed by David from Manchester on 14th Feb 2008
Both me and my wife have one of these phones and have had this model for over 6 months. We both think its the best thing since sliced bread. As a business tool linked with 02 Blackberry it cannot be faulted. Both have been dropped on more than one occasion and are still intact and reasonably unmarked. Its not a gadget so has no video. The camera is reasonable. Can only send one text at a time. But then if you want a gadget why are you looking at this phone? For serious users only.
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Reviewed by Sarah from USA on 13th Feb 2008
This is an amazing phone if you need a PDA, or you use the internet on it. If not... go with something else. Overall the screen is fantastic, the rollerball is the best thing in the world, and the camera shoots beautifully clear pictures. The reason I gave this only 4 stars is because the body is a bit... cheap. I had the red one, so I don't know if that makes a difference. I went through 2 of these in 3 weeks. The first one I noticed the same evening I bought it that part of the top cover was loose and moved. This didn't affect the phone itself but it was annoying when texting. So I exchanged it, and within days the phone was worse than the original! The microphone part jiggled a lot, and the cover moved. I never dropped my phones, and always kept them in the case. This was from regular usage. So, if you don't mind a little bit of phone creakage, I'd say go for it. From what I heard not all of them act goofy like mine.
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