First introduced at CTIA Fall 2008, the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i is finally available through Sprint. This is particularly good news for Nextel Direct Connect users, who haven't seen a new push-to-talk (PTT) BlackBerry model since the RIM BlackBerry 7100i, which was introduced back in June 2006. In addition to supporting the iDEN network for use with Direct Connect and Group Connect PTT services, the BlackBerry Curve 8350i brings a number of much-needed updates, including the addition of Wi-Fi, the latest BlackBerry operating system, an HTML Web, and full GPS. There were a couple of performance hiccups during our test period, including some general lag and e-mail issues, but in the end, the Curve 8350i delivers a full-featured PTT smartphone to Nextel customers. The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i is available now for $149.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts. Design The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i has the same shape and design as other Curve models, but given all the features packed into the device, it's slightly bigger. The smartphone measures 4.4 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick and weighs 4.7 ounces, compared with the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330, which measures 4.2 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick and weighs 4.2 ounces. It doesn't quite have the rugged casing of some other Nextel phones, such as the Motorola i365, but the Curve 8350i is a solid handset and features a soft-touch finish along the outer edges to make it easier to grip. The Curve 8350i features a 2.4-inch, QVGA, nontouch display with a 65,536-color output and 320x240-pixel resolution. It's a sharp-looking screen that's complemented by the updated user interface of BlackBerry OS 4.6. One minor complaint we have is that a lot of the menu icons look similar and though there's a description when you scroll over the icon, it's hard to distinguish on the fly. Like the latest BlackBerrys, the Curve 8350i has a light-sensing technology to adjust the display's backlight depending on your environment and you can customize the home screen with various themes and background images. Below the display, you'll find a traditional navigation array of Talk and End keys, a Menu shortcut, a back button, and a trackball navigator. The trackball is set a little deeper than previous Curves, so it's not quite as comfortable to scroll side to side, and pressing in to select an item takes a little more effort. It may also take some acclimation for those upgrading from the BlackBerry 7100i, which had a side jog wheel. The full QWERTY keyboard is a welcome addition over the SureType keypad on the 7100i. It features smallish buttons that feel a bit plasticky, but since there's a fair amount of spacing between the keys, most people should find the keyboard easy to use. Features With two years between the RIM BlackBerry 7100i and the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i, the Curve finally brings Sprint Nextel customers up to date with a number of improvements and additional features. In fact, it's the first push-to-talk (PTT) BlackBerry to offer built-in Wi-Fi and Nextel Group Connect for instant group conversations. Other phone features include a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, speed dial, text messaging, and finally, multimedia messaging. The address book is limited by the available memory only, with room in each entry for multiple phone numbers (including Direct Connect numbers), e-mail addresses, work and home addresses, job title, and more.Read full review
Bought a new Blackberry Curve 8350i a couple of weeks ago and really like this phone. Looks great, functions are easy to use, and has a fair amount of battery life compared to the Clutch I had previously. Also has very good camera and video recorder. My main complaint would probably be that it can be complicated to change options, especially ringer types and options. Altogether a great phone for the price!
I bought this phone as an upgrade from the Blackberry 7520 (OS 4.1). It is indeed a huge upgrade in most ways fathomable, so I'll start with the drawbacks of the 8350i (OS 5.0) versus the 7520. While the 7520 rarely hung up, and when it did so it was because I was actively using 3 or 4 applications, the 8350i gets hung up regularly if you multitask. Further, it may not recover from its "thinking" mode with the spinning clock until it finishes whatever it is doing, which could take a few seconds or an hour or more (In other words, don't watch a movie while waiting for a call). You cannot interrupt it while it is thinking, not even to receive phone calls. The 7520 had no file access, so it couldn't be used for saving, sending, and editing files, including ring tones and wallpapers. The 8350i is advanced enough as to allow you to install an office suite or use the trial office suite that comes with it. You can move files around freely, and in fact have a micro sdhc slot that can hold a 32gb SDHC card. Unfortunately, this slot is under the battery, so there is no hot swapping. And, if you remove the battery, this phone takes up to 10 minutes to boot up. The windows (issue for me in both XP and Vista 64) driver to copy files to this card from your desktop system is buggy and frequently fails to work. Further, the device frequently fails to recognize the SDHC card, requiring you to go into the options and disable the card, save, re-enable the card, and save before using it each time. The 7520 has easy to push buttons that are widely spaced, while the 8350i has tiny, lumpy buttons up against each other. The 8350i is smaller and fits better in your pocket, but it will take 10wpm or so off your typing speed. The 7520 is built like a tank, and I've seen it thrown against walls, beaten under weight machines, and bounce across parking lots. The battery cover falls off and the battery falls out, but when you put it back together it is good to go. The 8350i is more durable than most cell phones you'll find, but it is nowhere near the 7520 in that respect. There is no way to lock the phone without entering a 4+ character password, but you're pretty much guaranteed to call 911 if you lock your phone and put it in your pocket, as their is a quick dial function for that which comes up when your track ball is pressed in. I called 911 a lot on the 7520 too, but didn't have to enable passwords to do it. The display on the 8350i is pristine, but you'll want a screen shield of some type to keep it scratchless. You have back light control from 10 to 100%, but you have to go deep into options to change it. Changing volume levels for things is even more tedious, as the volume and mute button only work at certain times and doesn't work when phone is busy. Where this phone shines is with its wifi connection. All iden phones are cellular slow. But when you're in a hotspot you can do things like listen to Web Radio with Tuneit, listen to Pandora, watch Youtube videos in the Bolt browser, surf the web in Bolt or Opera Mini, and more. Even on the slow network, however, Opera Mini works well, as does Google Maps and the Gmail App. BeeJive ($10) works great as a messaging client, moving seemlessly between wifi and iden connections. Poynt is great for GPS finding things. Weatherbug updates on your desktop are also nice. You'll also want to buy QuickLaunch($6) and BerryBuzz($6) to get the most out of your Blackberry.Read full review
First introduced at CTIA Fall 2008, the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i is finally available through Sprint. This is particularly good news for Nextel Direct Connect users, who haven't seen a new push-to-talk (PTT) BlackBerry model since the RIM BlackBerry 7100i, which was introduced back in June 2006. In addition to supporting the iDEN network for use with Direct Connect and Group Connect PTT services, the BlackBerry Curve 8350i brings a number of much-needed updates, including the addition of Wi-Fi, the latest BlackBerry operating system, an HTML Web, and full GPS. There were a couple of performance hiccups during our test period, including some general lag and e-mail issues, but in the end, the Curve 8350i delivers a full-featured PTT smartphone to Nextel customers. The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i is available now for $149.99 with a two-year contract and after rebates and discounts. Design The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i has the same shape and design as other Curve models, but given all the features packed into the device, it's slightly bigger. The smartphone measures 4.4 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.7 inch thick and weighs 4.7 ounces, compared with the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8330, which measures 4.2 inches high by 2.4 inches wide by 0.6 inch thick and weighs 4.2 ounces. It doesn't quite have the rugged casing of some other Nextel phones, such as the Motorola i365, but the Curve 8350i is a solid handset and features a soft-touch finish along the outer edges to make it easier to grip. The Curve 8350i features a 2.4-inch, QVGA, nontouch display with a 65,536-color output and 320x240-pixel resolution. It's a sharp-looking screen that's complemented by the updated user interface of BlackBerry OS 4.6. One minor complaint we have is that a lot of the menu icons look similar and though there's a description when you scroll over the icon, it's hard to distinguish on the fly. Like the latest BlackBerrys, the Curve 8350i has a light-sensing technology to adjust the display's backlight depending on your environment and you can customize the home screen with various themes and background images. Below the display, you'll find a traditional navigation array of Talk and End keys, a Menu shortcut, a back button, and a trackball navigator. The trackball is set a little deeper than previous Curves, so it's not quite as comfortable to scroll side to side, and pressing in to select an item takes a little more effort. It may also take some acclimation for those upgrading from the BlackBerry 7100i, which had a side jog wheel. The full QWERTY keyboard is a welcome addition over the SureType keypad on the 7100i. It features smallish buttons that feel a bit plasticky, but since there's a fair amount of spacing between the keys, most people should find the keyboard easy to use. Features With two years between the RIM BlackBerry 7100i and the RIM BlackBerry Curve 8350i, the Curve finally brings Sprint Nextel customers up to date with a number of improvements and additional features. In fact, it's the first push-to-talk (PTT) BlackBerry to offer built-in Wi-Fi and Nextel Group Connect for instant group conversations. Other phone features include a speakerphone, voice-activated dialing, speed dial, text messaging, and finally, multimedia messaging. The address book is limited by the available memory only, with room in each entry for multiple phone numbers (including Direct Connect numbers), e-mail addresses, work and home addresses, job title, and moreRead full review
well cause my english is too poor, I'll write in spanish. sorry about this. Anteriormente ya habia comprado una blackberry 8350 i, me gusto el diseño, la compatibilidad para internet, las aplicaciones java, es un telefono de mucho mundo, escogi este modelo pro la funcion de PPT (push to talk) ya que tengo un plan de radio internacional con boost mobile, ademas de habar mucho por radio con otros boost y nextel, uso mucho el telefono, oigo muscia con su reproductor mp3 y veo videos ya que este modelo acepta varios formatos de video. En fin para mis gustos y necesidades el blackberry 8350 i es lo mejor que hay en el mercad.
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