Verizon's BlackBerry Curve 8330 remains one of the carrier's most popular models. I liked it so much that, after awarding it Editors' Choice in May 2008, I bought one with my own money. The new Curve 8530 is an incremental but welcome update to the aging Curve 8330. But in a world of new touch-screen devices—including the vastly more powerful Motorola Droid, for just $100 more up front, and the HTC Droid Eris at the same $99 price—the Curve 8530 isn't the standout it once was, even in updated form.

Design and Call Quality
The Curve 8530 measures 4.3 by 2.4 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.7 ounces. That's a few tenths of an ounce lighter and slightly thinner than the Curve 8330, and you really feel it in your hand. It's made of black plastic and rubber, with a textured plastic battery cover. A pale violet-colored version is also available. Most of the side buttons are now recessed underneath a rubber strip, which looks and feels durable. Dedicated media player keys now grace the top edge.

The Curve 8530 keeps the old 2.5-inch, 320-by-240-pixel LCD. That's a bit disappointing, as smartphones are starting to leave this cramped resolution behind. You'll need to step up to the Tour 9630 if you want more real estate. RIM's new trackpad replaces the old trackball, which was prone to failure. With a little practice, the trackpad becomes simple to use. Typing on the ridged QWERTY keyboard was fast, easy, and slightly cramped. The backlighting isn't as even on the 8530 as it was on the 8330.

The phone is a dual-band EV-DO Rev A (850/1900 MHz) device, and it finally includes Wi-Fi, in what is becoming a welcome trend for Verizon smartphones. You can use the Curve 8530 as a laptop modem with the appropriate Broadband Connect plan; expect download speeds in the 800 to 1400 kbps/sec range.

The BlackBerry Curve 8530 is still a good voice phone, though it's not as spectacular as before. Calls sounded a little brighter and crisper in the earpiece than on the 8330, which was known for its warmth and overall sound quality. Callers on the other side said the two devices sounded identical in back-to-back comparisons. Reception was average. Whenever the LCD was lit, there was a touch of low-level, high-pitched whine that wasn't present on the 8330. Calls sounded fine through a Plantronics Voyager Pro Bluetooth headset. The speakerphone went quite loud, but didn't reach the booming levels of the Curve 8330. Battery life was down about an hour, at 4 hours and 48 minutes of talk time.

Messaging, Apps, and Multimedia
The CPU got bumped up from a 312 MHz to a 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7600 processor. Overall, the 8530 felt very fast. BlackBerry OS 5.0 is on board, meaning you get threaded text messages, an updated browser, and numerous enterprise (BES) e-mail enhancements. The Curve 8530 supports up to 10 Web mail, Exchange, and other e-mail accounts in addition to BlackBerry e-mail. No IM clients are on board, but you can download BlackBerry-compatible ones for all the major services. The Curve 8530 also views, edits, and creates Microsoft Word and Excel documents thanks to its preloaded DataViz Documents To Go software.

The Web browser is still a weak point. It does a nicer job rendering HTML pages than before, but it's sluggish and often hangs up loading images and scripts. The trackpad was fine for general navigation and zooming in or out.

You can browse, buy, or download over 2,000 apps from BlackBerry App World. Verizon also offers VZ Navigator (powered by Networks in Motion) for turn-by-turn GPS directions at $9.99 per month. The Curve 8530 works with V CAST With Rhapsody To Go, Visual Voice Mail, and V CAST Videos, all of which cost extra as well. Syncing with Rhapsody or iTunes on your PC or Mac is free, though.

For music, AAC and MP3 tracks sounded clearer and more full-bodied over Motorola S9-HDs, thanks to the upgraded Bluetooth 2.1 radio. The Curve 8530 also displayed album art when available. Standalone MP4, AVI, and 3GP videos played smoothly in full screen mode, with clear stereo sound. It scaled down a 480-pixel-wide video without a problem, but choked on a 720p file (which happens with most phones). The media keys cued up songs and videos with a single button press. The device syncs with PCs and Macs out of the box, thanks to the Roxio-based Desktop Media Manager and BlackBerry Desktop Software for Mac, and media sync options are excellent—they even include the ability to sync unprotected iTunes songs.

Camera and Conclusions
The 2-megapixel camera remains the same as before, though RIM dropped the LED flash and portrait mirror. Test photos were overly dark and grainy, with blown out highlights; this was OK in 2007, but RIM should have upgraded the sensor. Recorded videos were middling but useable at 320-by-240-pixel resolution and 15 frames per second. RIM moved the microSD slot from underneath the battery to just underneath the cover, which is an improvement. My 16GB SanDisk card worked fine. There's also 256MB of internal memory.

Verizon has finally bulked up its smartphone lineup, so the Curve 8530 has some serious competition. First up are two of RIM's own devices. The Tour 9630 offers a wider keyboard, a higher screen resolution, global roaming, and a better camera for just $50 more; I'd probably choose that one, despite its extra bulk, old trackball, and lack of Wi-Fi. The $179 BlackBerry Storm2 9550 remains a solid choice with much higher screen resolution and high-tech click screen.

If you're not beholden to RIM, the Motorola Droid remains our Editors' Choice for Verizon smartphones. The larger and heavier Droid offers a vastly superior, 3.7-inch touch screen, a slide-out QWERTY keyboard (that's admittedly not as good as the Curve 8530's), free Google Maps Navigation, and access to over 10,000 Android apps.

The BlackBerry Curve 8530 is still a good handset. It's an improvement over the Curve 8330; it's just not enough of an improvement to lead the pack any more.

Benchmark Test Results
Continuous Talk Time: 4 hours 48 minutes

Compare the BlackBerry Curve 8530 with several other mobile phones side by side.

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