Thanks to RIM and Virtusio Public Relations I was able to get a couple of hours with the new BlackBerry Curve 9300 this afternoon. It’s a gorgeous and lightweight handset that definitely packs most of the features that the BlackBerry brand offers. It actually reminded me a lot of the BlackBerry Bold 9700 because of the size and the screen real estate. If you look closely though they made significant improvements to this model compared to the previous Curve models.
BlackBerry Curve 9300 Unboxed!
The most obvious addition is the connectivity upgrade as the BlackBerry 9300 now supports 3G. It has the standard BlackBerry keyboard, track pad, BlackBerry Messenger, and BlackBerry OS 5. However note that this handset is prepared for OS 6. You can upgrade it once it becomes available. The BlackBerry Curve 9300 also has a microSD/SHC slot that can support up to 32GB of additional storage. The camera is just 2MP and it has no flash.
The Curve 9300 is an entry level model that’s aimed towards the more budget conscious segment of the market. The price reflects that as well.
So how much is it?
While we haven’t heard from SMART, Globe, or SUN yet on how much this will be priced we can get an estimate based on international prices. Rogers, a Canadian telco, offers the BlackBerry Curve 9300 without any plan at $399. That’s around P17,400 which is probably one of the lowest priced BlackBerry handsets in the market. I have a strong feeling though that it will be a bit lower since some gray market vendors here in the Philippines are already selling the BlackBerry Curve 9300 for just P15,500!
BlackBerry Curve 9300 beside big brother BlackBerry Torch 9800!
The BlackBerry Curve 9300 is a great entry level phone and it also offers the strong exectuive brand of BlackBerry. Nokia will probably take a beating once this gets officially released.
