BlackBerry Curve 9360 Review
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Review: Oct 2011 |
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Phone rating: 
In a nutshell: A gorgeously thin BlackBerry, with a very high
quality feel, and the benefit of a full QWERTY keyboard and optical
trackpad. The 9360 comes with BlackBerry 7, which integrates facebook
and twitter into the communications hub of the phone. Features like
GPS, a camera, web browser and media player are present, although they're
no match for Android or an iPhone. Battery life is a disappointment.
Best buy: *Free* with free line rental from Dialaphone;
or £199.90 on Pay as you Go from Mobiles.co.uk
(Black).
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It's been a whole year since the release of the BlackBerry
Curve 3G 9300. A year is a long time in the world of technology.
With companies like HTC and Samsung sprinting ahead, it's hard to suppress
the feeling that BlackBerry are out for a quiet stroll around the park.
Still, picking up the new Curve 9360, first impressions
are excellent. The phone is the exact same height and width as the Curve
9300, but 3mm have been shaved off the thickness, making the device
much sleeker to hold, and it looks much more purposeful too. At 99g
it feels astonishingly light to hold, though never flimsy. In fact,
it's as solid and well-built as any BlackBerry. The fabulous keyboard
has been retained, of course.
The 2.44 inch display is the same size as the old Curve,
but the number of pixels has more than doubled. It's still a small screen
though, and this limits any chance the Curve has of being mistaken for
a media phone. It's well and truly a business phone, but that's OK with
us.
The operating system has been upgraded to BlackBerry
7, which should be a seamless transition for old Curve users. The new
operating system has several refinements, including much better integration
of social networking including facebook and twitter. This certainly
helps to boost the usefulness of the Curve as an all-round communications
and messaging machine. The upgraded 800MHz processor gives the phone
a certain amount of oomph! Coupled with 512MB of RAM, the user interface
shows virtually no lag, and even apps such as web browsing and BlackBerry
Maps show no sign of slowing down.
Media-wise, the Curve 9360 has an uprated 5 megapixel
camera, but it's no great shakes, lacking autofocus and being able to
record video at just VGA resolution. The music player works well enough,
and you can plug in a stereo headset using the 3.5mm audio jack or pipe
your music wirelessly via Bluetooth. The phone has aGPS with BlackBerry
Maps, which doesn't really come anywhere nearing Google Maps, especially
with that small screen. Similarly, the web browser, whilst fast, isn't
suitable for more than basic browsing.
Connectivity is good, with quadband GSM and 3G available
for roaming, plus the option of Wi-Fi for faster data access. There's
even support for Near Field Communication (NFC) if you can find a use
for it. But what idiot had the bright idea of equipping the 9360 with
such an underpowered battery? It's just 1000mAh, which is smaller than
the Curve 9300 and really isn't enough for a serious phone. It's part
of the compromise needed to make the 9360 so thin, but we can't help
feeling it's a mistake.
The BlackBerry Curve is a great mid-to-high end business
phone, sitting between the Curve 3G
and the BlackBerry Bold 9900
in price and spec. Media device it is NOT. Smart-looking yet slim and
lightweight business phone it certainly is. But the battery life is
a disappointment. We think you'd be better off in many ways buying the
older Bold 9780, which is priced the same and offers more, although
it's heavier and doesn't have the latest operating system.
Features
of the BlackBerry Curve 9360 include:
- 5 megapixel camera with flash
- VGA video recording
- Transmissive LCD display: 360 x 480 pixels, 2.44
inches
- Media player (Supports MP3, WMA, AAC/AAC+/eAAC+,
MPEG4, WMV9 formats)
- Messaging: email and text messaging, BlackBerry®
Messenger
- Built-in handsfree speakerphone
- MP3 ringtones / 32 voice polyphonic ringtones /
Vibration alert / LED indicator
- aGPS with BlackBerry Maps
- Personal organiser functions
- Internet: Web browser
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB, RIM wireless
modem, 3.5mm stereo headset port
- Memory: 512MB flash memory plus microSD memory card
slot (expandable to 32GB)
- Size: 109 x 60 x 11 mm
- Weight: 99g
- Quadband GSM (1900/1800/900/850 MHz) plus UMTS (2100/1900/850/800
MHz)
- Battery: 1000 mAh lithium-ion cell
- Talktime: 5 hours
- Battery standby: up to 330 hours
Compare BlackBerry
Curve 9360 deals and BlackBerry
Curve 9360 Purple deals at MobilePhoneChecker.co.uk.
BlackBerry Curve 9360 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 34 reviews:
Reviewed by martins son from bradg on 19th Feb
2012
heyy there iv had my blackberry curve 9360 for nearly 6 months now and
im loving it , i advise every one to get the blackberry cyrve 9360 if
you are interested in a bb and u totally disagree with the fact that
the bb batery is not reliable as i rag my fone and the batry lasts me
for at least 3-4 days no matter how much of a slag line my fone is soo
id advise you to gt it also the prise is very reasnable too with a sleek
model x
Rating: 
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Reviewed by L from uk on 18th Feb 2012
Nice phone, However keeps freezing 3-5 seconds everytime i try to use
it. Gets annoying.
Rating: 
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Reviewed by Jennifer Possberg from Canada on 18th
Feb 2012
Well i have had this phone for a few months now it's really not the
greatest phone. everyday at least once i have to take out the battery
and the SIM card to be able to send and receive e-mails, text msg, and
IM's. and the only time the phone is fast at loading anything is when
it had a Wi-Fi internet connection any other time it is so slow i don't
bother using it unless i'm at home. I would not recommend that you buy
this phone. blackberrys are full of bugs and they are annoying. Go with
a android or iphone. i had an android phone and it was nice and fast
and never froze. save your self $390 dollars and just get a cheaper
android phone that will work! i have had a few blackberry phones and
they all have bugs in them some different but they all have issues!
good luck!
Rating: 
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Reviewed by luke from england on 17th Feb 2012
the blackberry 9360 is a briliant yet a unique phone to have. It is
brilliant and extremely simple to use unlike some of the other blackberrys.
The phone has a 5 mega pixel camera with a flash making your blackberry
experience the best....
Rating:
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Reviewed by laura from south africa on 16th Feb
2012
Dd read the reviews bt dnt know what got into me,this battery thng sucks
I regret ever getting this phone at tyms have to charge 4 tyms a day
wht a waste of time
Rating:
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Reply by Gary from N Ireland on 19th
Feb 2012
Have you tried upgrading this phone to the latest OS 7, to fix the battery
drain?
Reviewed by kelmend from Albania on 16th Feb 2012
nice phone
Rating:
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Reviewed by cade from uk on 14th Feb 2012
brilliant blackberry curve 9360 the BEST!!!!!
Rating:
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Reviewed by L3581AN87 from U.K on 13th Feb 2012
I really do like this phone, it is easy and comfortable to use but as
EVERYONE else has said, the battery life is nowhere near as good as
it could be.
Is a shame that I am stuck with this phone for the next 18 months. That
will teach me to read rewiews in future. BOOO!!
Rating:
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Reviewed by Bussy from Nigeria on 8th Feb 2012
The battery life is too low. It discharges too quickly. You recharge
about 3x daily for maximum use.
Rating:
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Reviewed by tramstop from UK on 7th Feb 2012
Looks and feels really great. Does not matter how good this phone might
be as the battery is useless. After 2 months and 2 replacement batteries
still cannot get a full day out of the battery. This is in spite of
switching off unused apps and reducing everything that can be reduced.
For this reason I rate this phone as awful. What is the good of all
the bells and whistles and speedier OS if the battery does not last
1 day.
Rating:  Reply
Reviewed by Melly from UK on 1st Feb 2012
RUBBiSH BATTERY LiFE!! Buttons horribly sticky. Attracts so many finger
marks! OS7 nice, screen res good, decent camera. Battery life makes
this a big no no unfortunately, even with GPS off etc etc. Get a bold
for same price or a curve 9300 or 8520 even. Disappointing :(
Rating:
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Reviewed by Ronald from Shetland, Scotland on
1st Feb 2012
I got my phone a week ago and it seems to be fine so far, the mike seemed
to stop working for 1 call last night but it worked fine since so i
will wait and see what happens with that. The camera is ok, not as good
as i would expect for 5mp with a flash, and the buttons are fiddly if
you usually type with your thumbs but i am learning to type with my
fore finger instead so its not to bad. the battery life is not as bad
as reviews lead me to believe i use roughly half my battery in a day,
and charge it up while i sleep at night so wheres the problem? facebook/twitter
apps are as good as you can want for any mobile device, internet seems
to work pretty good apart from the small screen, it does stick a bit
but not for long, just be patient with it and you will get on fine
Rating:
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Reviewed by Cliff from Canada on 28th Jan 2012
I went to a Bell store and the sales rep tried his best to sell me anything
but Blackberry. I purchased the Curve 9360 against his advice because
1. my friends with Android phones have had all kinds of difficulties
syncing with itunes 2. Outlook syncs seamlessly with Blackberry's. I
have been very impressed with this phone. It's small, good looking,
and does a much better job than I ever expected given all of the negative
reviews it has received. I find it almost as good for music as my old
iphone, and much better than any Android device I've ever used. I also
love the Blackberry red light message indicator. I will not be going
back to Apple.(No keyboard - no indicator - too large).
Rating:
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Reviewed by pink lady from uk on 26th Jan 2012
i love this phone i bought it in white but this is my third one the
first two i bought from phones for u omg! big mistake dont ever get
a phone from them everyone i spoke to has had problems with them my
first one just froze after 2 days of use and would not let me change
profiles, and deleted my bbm contacts, then after taking it back for
a exchange the second one was ok for 2 weeks then one day the mic just
went and no one could hear me when i made a phonecall, i took this one
back and got a refund as i was fed up with the hassle, while i was in
the shop another girl wanted a refund because she had the same phone
for 3 days and it wouldnt hold the charge on the battery for more than
1 hour! after getting my refund i ordered the same phone from the t-mobile
website and got it within 3 days and fingers crossed so far so good
is performing much better than the other 2 but the battery life is dissapointing
even with the phone with no faults, i think the phone looks lovely and
is very smart it does everything i want and the browsing and email are
great and the camera is 5 megapixel with a flash compared to the the
2 megapixel i had on my 9300 with no flash so that is a good improvement
for me as i use my camera alot and u need a flash for your camera, so
overall i think it is a great phone but price a bit expensive i think.
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Reviewed by BaronBenico from UK on 25th Jan 2012
My first Blackberry and other than having to charge the battery one
a day - not a big issue - I am more than happy with it. I don't Tweet
and not into Apps and Games. RSS & Email updates, GPS for Maps/GoogleMaps/FB
and searches is great. The camera is good enough for casual photography.
I have a 10MP camera for serious stuff. Keyboard was easy to get used
to and the Size and weight is great. Internet: It's met my needs so
far. Overall I am more than happy with this. Will deduct 1 star for
the battery, which is often an oversight of phone makers.
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Reviewed by Salma from South Africa on 25th Jan
2012
9360 is a rubbish phone. Purchased it a month ago and 2 weeks after
the phone shut down and kept rebooting. Sent it in for repairs and received
a new one only to have the same problem a week later. The battery life
sucks have to charge my phone everyday, sumtimes twice a day. Luckily
I still have my 9300. Seems like bb is more worried about quantity rather
than quality.
Rating: Reply
Reviewed by cyd from uk on 14th Jan 2012
LOVE IT in the apps SECTION of BLACKBERRY there is a BATTERY SAVER :)
to download its brilliant can now go 4 DAYS without charging my phone
tried the 9810 way way to heavy always had 9300 this is just fantastic
....
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Reply by Hugo from South Africa on
29th Jan 2012
What's it called, is it free??
Reviewed by Tristam from England - Norfolk on
9th Jan 2012
I currently have an iPhone 4s and have a just bought a new curve 9360
to see if I can get the hang of it. I think bb's look fantastic :)
Rating:
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Reviewed by steve lowery from england on 4th Jan
2012
i brought my blackberry 9360 3mnths ago and absolutly love it the only
downfall is the battery tht is disapointing as im charging it twice
a day.
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Reviewed by Neil from UK on 27th Dec 2011
This phone is the reason I am browsing the net, looking for a replacement.
The firm I work for recently migrated from the 8520 to this and everyone
is requesting a return to the old handset. For business use (calls,
email and messaging) this phone is terrible, it doesn't even make it
through the working day - that is with all the unnecessary apps removed
and screen brightness set to the minimum. The handset looks and feels
far better than before; the screen and camera are also a big improvement.
However, unless I am missing something, this phone is not fit for its
purpose.
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Reviewed by lvbala from malaysia on 16th Dec 2011
Great deal and its fun. You get everything in a mini package.
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Reviewed by dawn from uk on 13th Dec 2011
To revise my previous post. Battery improves dramatically if GPS is
turned off, didn't realise this was enabled right out of the box. This
will likely disable blackberry protect, but will give the light phone
user three days battery life easily.
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Reviewed by dawn from uk on 8th Dec 2011
The 9360 is ok, great email & messaging, call quality is fine. It's
a dinky & smart looking phone, screen is good and the new liquid graphics
impress compared to my old Curve 9300. I like this phone, but the battery
is v bad. Put it on 2G & touch it occasionally - you 'might' just eek
nearly 2 days...3G with moderate use, one day, probably less. Even my
Desire S can double that, with 3G and a fair bit of internet use. I
paid £230, and think it's overpriced, build quality is low compared
to HTC or even the old curve (a little too plastic fantastic). The battery
gets hot if I use the internet, via 3G or wifi?! Internet experience
is pretty frustrating full stop. Shame BB ruined this phone with a useless
battery. Phone does fully charge in an hour though. So, it's nice phone
with flaws (battery).
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Reviewed by sam from england on 8th Dec 2011
this is my second blackberry phone, i had the torch 9800 fo 2 years,
and ive gotta say that im pleased with this one, th only down side i
find with it is that when setting up emails you need to have atlest
2 inorder to hve their own files!! I had an iphone before these and
ive gotta say, blackberrys are so much better! I find the battery life
is fine as i charge it every night anyway, some apps could be better,
im sure the were on the torch!
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Reviewed by e from england on 27th Nov 2011
pretty good phone but i have to say the battery life is not very good
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Reviewed by Billy from England on 21st Nov 2011
Don't use mobile much for internet so I ditched my Htc Legend, I much
prefer buttons. Excellent for calls text and emails, that's all I need.
Battery life excellent.
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Reviewed by Tony from England on 20th Nov 2011
If you are after a business phone to read emails and send back emails
on the go then this is the phone to have. However if you want to watch
movies and music videos then its not? As for the battery life, its decent
but could have been better. Mine lasts a day just like my previous curve.
To be honest show me a smartphone with a battery that lasts for a week
or even 2 days. My wife has an HTC and rarely uses it but she charges
it every night just like my blackberry.
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Reviewed by H from England on 20th Nov 2011
Safe phone bbm is class
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Reviewed by Tracy from UK on 6th Nov 2011
I've had the phone for 10days, love the phone but battery life is appalling!
Needs charging daily and I would only class myself as a moderate user.
Fed up as stuck with it now for 2 years!!!!
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Reviewed by Tenez from UK on 31st Oct 2011
I received this phone 2 days ago. I have been with BBerry for 10 years
and though the phone in itself is pretty cool, the battery is terrible.
It's so bad that you can't call it a "mobile" phone anymore as it needs
to be plugged constantly almost. They have made a mistake to opt for
thin mobile instead of practical. Thicker with a bigger battery would
have been much better. It's going back to the shop (have 7 days money
bac guarantee) and I will order another model.Shame!
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Reviewed by Terri from Canada on 25th Oct 2011
For those of you claiming the battery can last ONE day, I've been in
and out of the shop with the issue of my battery only last 3 hours tops
from a full charge. Mind that is with texts, BBM, fbk the works but
when programs are kept from running in the background, seriously? 3
hours pushing buttons and the things dead. Not to mention it likes to
not turn on or charge whenever it likes. For having a mind of it's own
though, LOVE the reduced boot-up time, the browser is amazing, and for
such a small speaker I'm suprised at its ability to pump out tunes when
needed. If you need something that calls and moves around the web quickly,
this is the device for it. BUT THEY COULD FIX THE DAMNED BATTERY!!
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Reviewed by Zac from england on 20th Oct 2011
Sorry to say it but i was pretty disapointed with this phone ... poor
battry life and stuff but thats just coz i have the bold now and thats
x100000 times better :') BOLD FTW !!!
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Reviewed by Devashish Tarra from India on 12th
Oct 2011
I bought this phone 2 days back and have been testing it out most of
this time. Absolutely great looking phone, but a huge disappointment
on several fronts. 1. As pointed out, the battery life is bad, but I
didn't really expect it be this atrocious. The battery hardly lasts
for even half a day with medium level of calling, web browsing, and
social networking. It may last a full day if used only for making and
receiving calls. 2. Many applications which worked with the previous
versions of Curve and other Blackberry models no longer work with this
model - LinkedIn, Google Maps, Opera Browser, etc 3. Blackberry browser
speed is better than previous OS versions, but just adequate for occasional
browsing when you want some quick info. Otherwise, with a screen this
size, web browsing is not really an enjoyable feature 4. The model is
so new, there is hardly any after-market accessories available outside
of Blackberry store 5. The Blackberry maps for some reason don't load
on my phone inspite of rebooting. 6. I am OK with the 5MP camera and
the results since I didn't buy the phone for its media capabilities
(small screen. However, the lack of autofocus does pinch! Especially
because at the no-contract pricing, Blackberry is lagging behind other
mobile brands by far. And only VGA recording? What a joke! I do hope
that RIM will quickly get their act in place and do sometjing about
the above issues. They could come up with a replacement battery higher
than 1000mAh to increase battery life. Most other issues could be taken
care of by developing the apps quickly and releasing them faster for
subscribers. The positive points - The phone is absolutely gorgeous
looking. Slim, light, well-buiilt, with a great keypad and at 360 x
480 pixels, the screen resolution is fantastic for this screen size.The
back cover has a very flimsy plastic-feeling when removed, but snaps
in place perfectly. Removing it takes a little bit of dexterity with
your finger. Having extended finger nails helps. I had a BB Storm 9530
before this and considering the number of times it would just freeze
midway through an application, the 9360 is far better. The OS is smooth
and fast and social networking integration is great. Overall, I would
recommend this phone if you are looking for a good-looking business
phone for voice calls, good messaging and e-mail capabilities,average
camera,and social networking integration.The small and light weight
size is excellent for slipping into your pocket and carrying around.
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Reviewed by Jonny from UK on 8th Oct 2011
Had this phone for 1 week and generally I love it. Agree with the review
that the tiny battery is a big disappointment. It only lasts one day
if used a lot and two days if used occasionally. That is the only downside
really, everything else works brilliantly. You won't believe quite how
slim it is and considering how cheap it's available on contract I can't
complain.
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