Ratings
Pros
- Motoblur very functional
- Consolidated or separated messaging
- Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
- Multi-Touch screen
- Decent battery life for light users
- Never froze or bogged down
Cons
- Awkward in your hand
- Price is too close to much more capable phones
- Screen still slightly in the way of top QWERTY row
- Unacceptable battery life for moderate to heavy users
- Screen could be larger
The Bottom Line
While this phone did all I asked it to, I did not ask that much of it. And I am certain that I would spend a few extra bucks to get a much more capable phone, like the HTC Incredible.
Recommended
No
Full Review
Motorola is marketing the Devour as a less-expensive alternative to it’s big brother, the Droid. It has lower camera resolution, no flash, a smaller display, and less memory. The operating system is also not as speedy, but that did not bother me with what I was doing. The Devour does have the pull-out keyboard, which is a plus for those who don’t using a touch screen for typing.
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Ratings
Pros
- Hotspot capability
- Multi-tasking
- webOS
- Speedy Internet connection (EV-DO)
- Nice form factor
Cons
- Painfully slow boot-up
- Price is a bit high
- Multi-tasking (bogs system after a while)
- Limited application selection
- Hotspot requires additional costly monthly charge
The Bottom Line
No matter how many rumors one keeps hearing of a Verizon-based iPhone, as of now, there isn’t one. Instead of dreaming and waiting for something that may not happen for some time, an alternative is the Palm webOS-based phone. The Pixi, the baby brother of the Pre, comes with a keyboard below the screen and does all the stuff the Pre can. While it’s no iPhone, the Pixi is also no joke. Palm made a fine phone in the Pixi and Verizon made it a Plus with the Hotspot ability.
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
Palm introduced the Pixi last year through Sprint soon after it wooed the world with the Pre. The candy bar format smartphone now gets a Plus added to its name and Palm is hoping that it, and the Pre, sale like candy. But is the added Wi-Fi Hotspot ability enough to satisfy your sweet tooth?
Pros
- Good battery life
- Stable operating system
- Push email
- Feature rich
- Good sound
- Easy to use keyboard
Cons
- Built-in browser
- “Pearl” wheel moves cursor/selection slowly
- Menu navigation can be tedious
- No out-of-the-box Mac support
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking for a good, reliable, email power-house smartphone at a good price, then you may not have to look to far. The Curve 8330 is stable and a reliable phone for any corporate or Internet using user that needs to always be connected…both via voice and data.
Ratings
Recommended
Yes
Full Review
Research in Motion’s BlackBerry started as an email communicator and grew into a smartphone. It has slowly been chipping away at Nokia and Microsoft’s market share and continues to increase that share year after year. It’s because of advancements like those found in the Curve 8330 that allows BlackBerry to continue to be delighted with its strong sales figures.
SvenOnTech received its Curve 8330 from Verizon and gave it a good using. Now, I’ll be honest, we’re iPhone users here at SOT HQ, but we went to a hypnotist to erase any memory of our use of the Apple made phone for this review. You’ll be reading a pure and untainted review. 
Seriously, we tested the Curve with as much as an open mind as possible.
The candy bar form factor is much like the other smartphones out there, half screen and half “thumb board”. Fairly new to the 8330 is the “pearl” ball-like mouse in the center instead of the scroll-wheel found on the side of the older units. Flanking its right and left are two buttons. The left side contain the Answer/Call button as well as the BlackBerry function/menu button. On the other side, you have the Return/Back and Hang Up/Home key. The right side of the body consists of volume keys (up/down) as well as the camera button. This button both invokes the camera and snaps the pictures. The other side has one button, for the voice dialing, along with one mini-USB for charging and data connection along with a jack for the hands-free headset. The top has a single button, the mute button. No buttons can be found on the bottom but rather a small hole for the mic. The back of the unit consists of an LED flash, camera, and a mirror (for self-taking portraits.) Three metal leads for charging are found on the bottom of the back of the Curve.
Okay, with all that out of the way, we can dive into the phone itself. When a button is pressed on the front, you are greeted with the menu screen. A single row of icons line the bottom with an information screen on the top. Time, date, new emails, missed calls, and such are found here. To the very top you’ll find signal strength and battery condition. Moving the ball around allows you to navigate the icons. Pressing the BlackBerry menu key brings up three more rows of icons and allows you to drift down further to see more items if needed. Ranging from email, games, settings, multimedia, productivity applications, to Verizon specific applications such as its GPS-like VZ Navigator, you’re always an easy roll from any application. Because of the ball, you’re able to always safely get to any part of the phone with a single hand. Pressing down on the ball opens a selected item.
The two main strengths of the Blackberry, email and phone use, are easily navigated to by either simply dialing a phone number from the thumb board or by rolling the ball to the email icon and pressing down. Making and receiving calls is very simple and requires little effort from the user. That should be the goal of all smartphones. Browsing your mail is just as easy and very manageable on the Curve’s email interface. The long list of SvenOnTech’s email was readable and using the ball to navigate and open a message was a piece of cake. Rich text or HTML formatted messages are stripped of its formatting and laid out in a very to easy read format. Reading, composing, and reply to email was never a difficult task. With push-email, the BlackBerry was always fresh with messages where even my iPhone struggled to keep up with emails from yesterday!