RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360 Review

Introduction:

Trying to own the recent BlackBerry Bold 9900 for T-Mobile can literally zap your wallet out of all your money, especially when it’s priced exorbitantly at $299.99. Similar to what we find in the past, that’s where RIM’s beloved Curve line comes to mind as it bears all of the wonderful functionality found with its brethren – while being priced on the affordable side. Continuing the trend, the BlackBerry Curve 9360 packs all of the typical incremental upgrades over its predecessor, but will it be able to establish itself now that we’ve spoiled by some of RIM’s current generation smartphones?

The package contains:

• RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360
• Stereo headphones
• microUSB cable
• Wall Charger
• Quick Start Guide
• Safety and Product Information

Design:

Retaining all of the design characteristics that are akin to the long standing line, it’s undeniably a Curve device from a cursory look. However, what’s new and surprisingly refreshing about it all is that it sports a considerably thinner chassis at 0.43” thick – thus, making it compact in form. Even though it still utilizes a glossy plastic exterior, which easily scratches in the rear, we do like the subtle refinement of it offering a spiffy looking gunmetal bezel. Additionally, its choice of materials allow it to feel extremely lightweight in the hand. We can’t help but think about the Curve 8900, with its good looks and all,  but the Curve 9360 manages to take the cake with its razor sharp appearance.

The RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360 sports a very thin chassis at 0.43” thick

You can compare the RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360 with many other phones.

Seeing the first visual improvement right away, it features a slightly larger 2.44” TFT display with a higher resolution of 480 x 360 – versus the QVGA resolution of the Curve 3G. Combining its size and resolution, it results in 246 ppi, allowing it to produce plenty of details to make fine text easily visible from a good distance. Furthermore, colors are crisp and deep in tone to perfectly complement its already nice looks. Throw in some good viewing angles and high brightness output, it’s more than equipped at lighting up the room.

Faithful to its siblings, we find the optical track pad and BlackBerry buttons below its display. Needless to say, navigation is easily accomplished with the use of the trackpad, however, the physical buttons are a bit too stiff for our liking.

Unmistakably, it’s easily established from afar that it’s a Curve handset of some sort due to the distinguishable keyboard it’s using. As usual, we’re greeted with the same layout used by its predecessors, which also consists of those tough plastic buttons that are rather tiny in size. Overall, its cramped confines and stiff response definitely limits our rate – though, some patience can eventually make the experience tolerable. We’re definitely more conscious on our typing compared to the Bold 9900. Not only are buttons smaller in size, but we’re required to firmly press down a key in order for it to register. Again, it’s not entirely bad as long as you have some patience.

We’re greeted with the same keyboard layout used by its predecessors

On its sides, we find a microUSB port for charging/data connectivity, 3.5mm headset jack, stiff feeling lock button, right convenience key, and volume rocker. Meanwhile, there’s a 5-megapixel snapper in the rear along with its LED flash nearby as the “Curve” branding and speakerphone notch sit squarely in the middle. Finally, pulling off the plastic rear cover provides us access to its SIM card slot, tiny 1,000 mAh battery, and microSD card slot.

3.5mm headset jack and lock button on top	Convenience key and volume rocker on the right	Bottom	microUSB port on the left
The sides of the RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360

Back	Rear camera	Battery compartment	SIM and microSD card slots

Interface and Functionality:

It might not be a 1GHz processor under the hood, but for an entry level handset, we’re accepting of its single-core 800MHz processor with 512MB of RAM. Even with that, the Curve 9360 is able to emulate the tight responsiveness of other recent BlackBerry smartphones. Specifically, it’s adequate enough to handle tasks such as opening ups, navigating across the homescreen, and even web browsing very smoothly. Seriously, it just goes to show that you don’t need a high-end processor to produce some admirable results.

Running BlackBerry OS 7, there’s not a whole lot of learning required for those who are well versed in the operation of OS 6. Granted that it’s functional and organized, the entire experience is beginning to feel a bit antiquated versus the competition. Even more, the experience tends to feel more tedious than its touchscreen enabled siblings since we’re spending a great deal of time just trying to navigate. Certainly, we’re left with a lot to desire with the OS 7 experience, such as having a deeper level of personalization, but we’re grateful to see it running smoothly with its performance.

Much like all the other BlackBerries before it, the email experience never ceases to amaze us since it’s always giving us push support. Not only does it save battery, but it’s just nice to receive messages the moment they’re sent. However, we’re still waiting to see it upgraded to offer features like threaded conversation for easier organization. Nevertheless, the setup process is absolutely painless since it requires only our email addresses and passwords to correctly set up.

	Email

Productivity users will enjoy that the handset is preloaded with Documents To Go, which quickly allows us to create and edit Microsoft Office files. Besides the usual BlackBerry apps that are commonly preloaded, the only other third party ones that we find include Slacker Radio, Amazon MP3 Store, Facebook, and Twitter.
 

The RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360 is preloaded with Documents To Go

Amazon MP3 Store	Twitter
Third party apps

Camera:

As much as we like finding an upgraded 5-megapixel camera with flash in the rear, we’re bummed by the fact that it doesn’t offer auto-focus – meaning, it’s nearly impossible to have clear looking close ups. Despite that, we’re still not impressed by the faint details and ethereal appearance of its results. Moreover, indoor shots are filled with an abundance of graininess and digital noise, which masks any fine details.  On the other hand, its LED flash is potent enough to light up the shot – but at times, it can over-expose the image.

Camera interface

Gallery

Camera samples taken with the RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360

Strong	Medium	Low light
3ft	5ft	7ft
Darkness with flash Indoor samples

Sticking with good old-fashion VGA (640 x 480) video capture, there’s not a lot going on with it since there are subtle amounts of pixilation and artifacting going on. Obviously, it’s not as detailed as we’d like, but at least we’re given a smooth 29 frames per second capture and clear audio recording. 
 
RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360 Sample Video:




Multimedia:

Straightforward with its layout, there’s nothing overly captivating with its music player interface – albeit, we do like the cover-flow like interaction when browsing through songs. On the audio front, its tones are crisp and robust in quality without a hint of crackling evident at the loudest volume setting.

The music player

Much to our surprise, the handset is actually capable of playing our test video that’s encoded in MPEG-4 1280 x 720 resolution. Even though its tiny display isn’t the most optimal thing to watch videos on, we adore its smooth playback, rich details, and in-sync audio.

The handset is actually capable of playing our test video in 1280 x 720 resolution

Not surprisingly, the handset is preloaded with a 2GB microSD card, which is a nice inclusion considering its price. However, if it’s simply not enough, it can always be swapped out for others up to 32GB in capacity.


Internet and Connectivity:

Packing 3G support, which was introduced by its predecessor, we find a better improvement in the overall web browsing experience on the Curve 9360. Specifically, it’s able to load up complex web site like ours in under a minute, plus, its navigational controls are remarkably more responsive. However, there’s only a slight pause when zooming in because it simply has to render the page before proceeding. But it’s not that bad at all!

The RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360 is able to load up complex web site like ours in under a minute

Naturally, this GSM smartphone will be able to place phone calls in almost any part of the world, but it’s only able to gain 3G speeds via T-Mobile’s specific AWS band. Standard amongst smartphones nowadays, the Curve 9360 packs connectivity features like 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR, and aGPS. Unfortunately, it’s still lacking things like mobile hotspot and Wi-Fi calling functionality.

Performance:

Crazy to say, but all is not well in the calling quality department as our ears are subjected to some flat sounding voices through the earpiece. Meanwhile, our callers mention hearing choppy voices on their end of the line. Hoping for something better, things don’t improve when switching to the speakerphone since voices are muffled in tone.

Whether it’s indoors or outdoors, the BlackBerry Curve 9360 is able to retain a solid connection to the network during our testing in the greater Philadelphia region.

Above all things, we’re astounded by the Curve 9360’s excellent battery life, as we’re able to get 2 days of heavy usage on a single charge. Taking into account that it’s packing only a 1,000 mAh battery, it’s impressive to find it lasting for so very long.


Conclusion:

Not all of us can afford to experience RIM’s latest and greatest offering, but for those looking for something reasonable without sacrificing too much of the experience, the BlackBerry Curve 9360 proves its worth – especially in its pricing. At $79.99 with a 2-year contract, it’s easy enough to afford on almost any budget, but more importantly, it’s able to provide us with that rock solid BlackBerry experience that it’s high-end siblings offer as well. Also, there are enough incremental improvements to make it one of the more memorable Curve handsets in recent memory, and in fact, it’s able to supplant the Curve 8900 as being the best looking Curve to date.

OS Version: v7.00.319

RIM BlackBerry Curve 9360 Video Review:

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PROS

• Slimmer design
• Responsive platform performance
• Long lasting battery life
• Affordable cost

CONS

• Stiff feeling keyboard
• Outdated platform experience
• No auto-focus camera
• Poor calling quality