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The BlackBerry Curve 8530 is identical to the 8520. It is slightly taller than the 8530, but narrower, thinner and lighter. Overall it feels like a much smaller device in your hand. It is very plasticy however; we won’t go as far as to call it cheap feeling, but RIM is really toeing the border here. The size fits nicely in your hand though. The 2.4” display has a resolution of 320x240 and 65K colors, the same as the original Curve. It sits above a typical RIM QWERTY keyboard with a design similar to the 8330, which is to say individual hard plastic keys as opposed to the softer keys of the 9xxx series. What sets the two devices apart is that the 8530 replaces the trackball with an optical trackpad. The 8520 was the first RIM device we saw with this, but we’ve seen it on all RIM devices since save the trackball/pad-less 95xx series. The trackball wasn’t perfect, but we’re far from being crazy about its replacement. We definitely appreciate the sensitivity options, but no matter what we have it set to we just can’t be as precise as with the analog ball. The keyboard is virtually identical to the the 83xx series with small plastic keys. It is better than most on the market and easy enough to type on, but it just can’t compare with the amazing QWERTYs found on the 9xxx series. Along the left side of the phone is the 3.5mm headset jack, microUSB charging/data port and one convenience key. On the right is the volume rocker and second convenience key. As found on the 8520, the top houses media playback keys, a touch we appreciate. The battery door features a nice looking carbon fiber finish, which is the only visual difference from the 8520. The 2.0 megapixel camera sits just above the door. The Curve 8530 definitely feels entry level, more so than the Curve 8330. The original Curve still felt like a BlackBerry, but something about the size and weight of the 8530 makes it feel out of place in RIM’s lineup. The device almost feels hollow, and while our pockets very much appreciate the lightness it doesn’t pass our litmus test for feel.Read full review
The BlackBerry 8530 is a great value for the price. I went from a contract plan to a prepaid plan to save money, but I was resigned to the fact that I was going to lose a lot of features I loved - BUT I DIDN'T! This phone has GPS navigation, is an MP3 player, shoots and plays video with a high quality camera, and the BlackBerry apps - many which are free - give me everything I want and more such as weather, Amazon music store, Pandora radio. I also love the touch trackball that allows you to move around the screen and select items and the flexibility to move folders and shortcuts around on your homescreen is good. I also like that you can have all your emails and texts feed into a single folder for easy viewing, or not, the choice is yours. The WiFi connectively is appreciated, too, because it's often a faster connection than your phone's data stream. Never tried BlackBerry but they have a new loyal customer. Great phone that doesn't break the bank.Read full review
I love how easy this phone is to use, while still being a great smartphone. The ability to link your phone to your social accounts (facebook, myspace) is great. I also use this phone for chatting via yahoo messenger, and that is great; many more options make it like chatting on a computer instead of a phone. The email feature is good too; the only improvement I would make is the ability to see ALL mail, not just what has been newly sent to you. TONS of free applications on BlackBerry App World make this phone a great buy. The only thing I dislike about it is that there is no way to "lock" the alt key for typing in numbers nor is there a way to "lock" the uppercase key for typing in all capitals. The battery could last a little longer, i.e. had half a battery and it only lasted about 4 hours, and was hardly using the phone. I decided to buy this phone because I wanted something more advanced, that wasn't a touchscreen. Also wanted something that could handle having a drug handbook (epcrates) on it.Read full review
I've been using this phone for about 3 days now. My regular phone is a Curve 8900. The display quality is way better in the 8900, this one seems pretty basic. The camera is the only problem I found, 2mp now a days is nothing for this phone, minimum I would suggest a 3.2 to get average quality pictures, also the lack of flash doesn't help either. The only improvement in this phone compared to my 8900 is the trackpad (fails less than the trackball) and also it has 3G speed, which the 8900 only runs in EDGE and GPRS. EDGE is pretty good but doesn't satisfy my expectations. The perfect phone I could have is my 8900 with 3G Speed and maybe a trackpad.. I'm still deciding which one I like better, the ball hasn't given me any problems yet so I'm happy with my purchase. The Curve 8530 is a good phone, but definitely NOT WORTH full price, if you buy it with Sprint and pay 299-399$ (whatever the price is without a contract) I would NOT recommend it. Overall its a good phone, fast with texts, music, etc... I give it a rating of Good.Read full review
I had Palm phones for years (had a palm pilot before they branched into forms) and loved their highly functional devices, especially for business use. However, when the switched to web os, the two phones they introduced just didn't work for me. I moved to Android and that is so NOT a business phone. Hated it! I'm sure there are some people who love the bells and whistles, but it doesn't work if you need FUNCTIONAL. I was leaning toward Blackberry and wish I had done that with my upgrade, but since I lost my upgrade, I got the 8530 curve from ebay. Love it! It is highly functional and works very well, easily integrates with my office, home, and web email that I use strictly for purchases. It has a few bells and whistles of its own, but I'm not going that way again -- I NEED FUNCTION! I would have given it an excellent but there are a couple of things that take too many clicks to complete. If i'm in the phone ap and select a contact, and I don't want be given texting options -- I would have chosen text for that! Also, there should be more options available for snoozing an appointment, similar to outlook. 5 minute increments up to 2 weeks would be optimal. If you have are in an environment where your workload is CONSTANTLY being piled on so that you have to sometimes select to put something on the back-burner, you should be able to snooze for more than 30 minutes! This is really a pet peeve for me; I have to end up opening the appointment, which I'm not always in a position to do. Other than that, I love the other options on this phone. OH, and gthe speaker is so good that I use it for music without headphones, for radio, and for podcast listening. As for blue tooth, was shocked that when I paired it with my car's bluetooth, it automatically uploaded my contacts! That was really a pleasant surprise.Read full review
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