As the BlackBerry Curve 8530 is allegedly a basic model, it’s got some features that all the new and upcoming devices from RIM have.  One of which is the all new rubberized convenience and volume keys.  If you ask me, these rubberized keys look a lot sleeker than the cheap chrome buttons that wobble all over the place.  As Mac spent the past week using the device, I had to put some input of my own as I have an 8530 myself (was fortunate enough not to have it in purple).  The convenience keys don’t make loud noise or make it hard to press at all.  As seen in the picture, they are simple oval shaped wedges that pop out of the rubber all on the same surface.  The other side gets another convenience key as well.  This side seen shows two volume keys along with a convenience key underneath.

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Besides having push email, awesome apps, and sleek looks, the BlackBerry gains high popularity for its QWERTY keyboard.  Without even mentioning, we all know that there are SureType devices such as the 71xx and 81xx series.  Upcoming is the new Pearl 9100 which sounds pretty promising so far.  Back to the QWERTY, the BlackBerry Curve 8530 which we have been testing for well over a week does have a QWERTY keyboard (obviously).

We hate comparing the 8530 to higher ranked devices such as the Bold 9700, but there is a huge difference we see.  The keyboard is the same style as the other Curve 83xx and 8900 series as the keys are all spaced out more.  This one is more like the 83xx series where they are tougher plastic material and make a whole lot of sound when typing.  If you’re looking to get away with typing on your Berry in a very quite workplace, then don’t get the 8530.  For everyone else, you’ll be fine and won’t have much to say upgrading from other Curve series (except the 8900).

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Why not? Sure the BlackBerry is an emailing device but sure is entertainment.  From playing music and watching videos to buying and downloading games, the BlackBerry becomes universal for anything you desire.  So we had quite a gaming experience when it came to the BlackBerry Curve 8530.  As it wasn’t anything near th Storm 2 9550, the Curve 8530 still gets some credit.

So as a quick overview, some games we went through were The Dark Knight, GT Slots, GT Blackjack.  On a side note, GT Blackjack did work at first to the menu, then received an “uncaught exception error” and hasn’t been able to open since.  After deleting and reinstalling, the same instance happens.  We even reinstalled the OS as well where the problem still exists and did not even work on the first trial run.  As a fan of Blackjack, I was quite disappointed.

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As we told you in our first impressions on the BlackBerry Curve 8530, the battery appears to be the same as the 83xx series.  At first we expected the battery to hold out quite long with usage, but it turns out the battery will go out pretty fast throughout the day.  Of course the Bold 9700 has its incredible battery life as it uses the same 9000 battery, but just works ten times longer on a 9700.  Not to compare the two at all, but the reason we expected longer battery life was just because the 8530 is a newer device and maybe RIM would of done the same 9700 magic on it as well.

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After receiving our BlackBerry Curve 8530 just last week, we’re taking the time to look at every aspect of it, bringing out all the pros and cons.  A really interesting concept we love is the media buttons up top where we normally see the mute and lock button.  No matter what screen you’re on, easily push the middle play/pause button up top to open up the media folder.  Look at is as another shortcut convenience key other than the two on the sides.

When playing or streaming music, one thing that bothered us was that the volume bar does not pop up on the screen as it does with other OS 5.0 devices.  For example, if I am playing music in the background on my BlackBerry Bold 9700, pressing the volume up and down buttons will make a volume bar appear in the middle of the screen where it will show the exact levels.  On the 8530, it appears to stay built in to the media player.  An OS update was not yet performed on the device, so perhaps we’ll see that fix in a later version (if not already).

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Although the device released not too long ago, we didn’t go through intensive testing on the device and always feel that every Berry needs to have a more hands-on overview.  We just received a BlackBerry Curve 8530 for Verizon Wireless in the mail today and I’m quite excited to be using it to see all its ins and outs.  As we did not know of the color it was coming in, the device did show up in lavender as we just assumed it would be black with the carbon fiber-like battery door.  For being a basic entry level BlackBerry, we are quite impressed by it.

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Back in October when the BlackBerry Storm2 9550 made its launch with Verizon Wireless, we told you we were going to hold on to the device for sometime, and let you know about the fullest experiences.  Many of you were scared to get any where close to the Storm 2 as you were dreaded from your previous experience with  the 4.7 OS Storm 9530.  Well I manned up and put my foot to the plate on this one as I had to find out what was to be of the recent released BlackBerry Storm 2 9550.  So as mentioned before, we did some test runs on the device.  Of course do not go through the same testing strategies as we do not want to take any responsibility in potential dangers you may face!  Continue reading to check out the random adventures we took with the BlackBerry Storm 2 9550.

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So what took so long to review the T-Mobile BlackBerry Pearl Flip 8220?  For one thing, PocketBerry was not yet around when the device came out.  Secondly, every device deserves a fair chance to have its pros and cons brought out.  The device is not completely phased out, as Verizon recently got the 8230 a few months ago.  Also, the Pearl Flip does not seem to be getting an adequate amount of coverage as we felt it should.  Even when it comes to third party applications, there are plenty that are not compatible with it, which can be a downer.  We always like to encourage developers to keep the Pearl Flip in mind, as the device is around and will be for awhile.  The Pearl Flip was one of the most unique BlackBerry experiences we ever had.  SureType was a breeze as we were always fans of the Pearl and 71xx series BlackBerry.  The fact that it was a flip phone style device made the whole experience quite interesting.  We spent the past month playing around with the Pearl Flip, checking out all its ins and outs.  Continue reading to check out our full review.

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