One of our writers currently has a review unit of the the soon-to-be-released BlackBerry entry unit – the BlackBerry Curve 9300. He’s been using it the whole week and we’ll be ready to post our complete review sometime this weekend. For now here are some of the unboxing photos that we took. Sorry for the quality of pictures as we only used a camera phone for this one (our DSLR got busted argh).
More photos after the break. Continue reading
I was having coffee with a friend this afternoon and he mentioned how the new BlackBerry Curve 9300 (3G) looks almost exactly like the BlackBerry Bold 9700. While both units look similar from afar there are a lot of differences between the two handsets. Since the Curve 9300 is just around the corner we thought that it would be nice to do a write-up comparing both units in detail to help you make a decision on which one you’ll get.
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.
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!
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.
Research In Motion (RIM) recently launched their newest offering – the BlackBerry Curve 3G (Model 9300). I think the biggest thing with this new model is that it’s already prepared for the upcoming BlackBerry OS 6. It will initially ship with OS 5 but you can upgrade it to OS 6 as soon as it becomes available for download.
Here’s an excerpt from the press release:
“The BlackBerry Curve 3G is both an accessible and feature-rich smartphone which will be popular with customers in the Philippines who highly value communications and productivity tools that help them get ahead of their day. With the ability to connect to 3G and Wi-Fi networks, users can access content quickly, as well as take advantage of useful features like built-in GPS to share their location on BBM,” said Gregory Wade, Managing Director, South East Asia, RIM.
The BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone features a comfortable full-QWERTY keyboard for fast, accurate typing, optical trackpad for fluid navigation, built-in GPS and Wi-Fi® for added flexibility and dedicated media keys that allow music lovers to easily play their tunes while on the go. The new smartphone also features a camera that can record video and a microSD / SDHC slot that supports up to 32 GB memory cards for media storage. Support for 3G networks makes browsing faster, streaming music smoother, and gives users the ability to talk on the phone while they browse the web or instant message with BBM™ (BlackBerry® Messenger).
The BlackBerry Curve 3G ships with BlackBerry® 5 and is BlackBerry® 6 ready. BlackBerry 6 is a new operating system for BlackBerry® smartphones. It retains the trusted features that distinguish the BlackBerry brand while delivering a fresh and engaging experience that is both powerful and easy to use. BlackBerry 6 is expected to be available for the BlackBerry Curve 3G, subject to carrier certifications, in the coming months.
The new BlackBerry Curve 3G smartphone (model 9300) is expected to be available in the Philippines in November.
Excited to see how much this will cost.
Sun Cellular recently released their pricing scheme for their BlackBerry handsets. Before we go into postpaid kit comparisons, I wanted to check which supplier offered the most affordable standalone package. I checked Sun, Globe, Smart, and another online store to compare their prices and the data is very interesting. The gray market online store is still the most affordable offering the Bold 9700 at just P22,000 and the Curve 8520 at P12,500. The only setback is that the unit has a foreign telco logo stamped on it but it’s not too noticeable. Here are the prices: Continue reading
