The ongoing evolution of the BlackBerry
The first blackberry device I got to use was the 7730. This was 2005 and the now-ubiquitous smartphone from Canada's Research In Motion (RIM) had just debuted in India. Most people used BlackBerrys then as standalone e-mail devices and not as phones. In fact, many still prefer to carry two devices-a cellphone and a BlackBerry.
With the 7730 and many of the earlier avatars of the 'berry, that wasn't inappropriate: the phone function on these earlier models wasn't always up to scratch and, in any case, they were larger (as well as being thicker and heavier) than the average cellphone and, hence, less easy to slip into a pocket.
Then, rim launched a new generation of BlackBerrys. The 8700 series (circa 2006) was a great deal more compact and had a better sounding phone. Yet, it was still somewhat short of what you expected a phone to be. I mean, you could carry your 8700 as a phone-cum-e-mail device but it still sort of made you look a bit silly talking into a paw-sized tablet whose aesthetics, um, left quite a bit to be desired.
The Pearl changed all that. Here was a chrome and black (and now in red and also white) sexy little thing that did it all. It had the formidable e-mail power of its industrial looking predecessors as well as the looks and functionality of contemporary mobile phones.
RIM also added a camera (albeit a weak 1.3 megapixel version) and a media player.
Now the BlackBerry has just got even better looking. The 8300 (aka the BlackBerry Curve) sports a full qwerty like the 8800 but is a bit smaller and, yes, curvaceous with a silver finish and rubberised non-slip edges. It has a 2 megapixel camera and the phone's sound quality is good.
BlackBerry's killer app-e-mail-is as strong as ever and, what's more, the Curve fits easily into your pant pocket. If you forked out Rs 31,990 for an 8800, my sympathies are with you because the Curve (at Rs 24,990) is certainly better.
