BlackBerry Curve 9220

Here the arouse of rising popularity of Android phone and Apple's iPhone, Research In Motion (RIM) has not been having a good run with its BlackBerry devices. Luckily for the company, India is one of the few markets in which it is still popular amongst youngsters, thanks largely to the BlackBerry Curve 8520. Launched way back in 2009, 8520 was the first Curve smartphone from the Canadian handset maker and it continues to be their topselling smartphone in the country. 
This is where the new BlackBerry Curve 9220 steps in. Priced pleasingly at Rs. 10,990, the company expects it to be as popular as the first Curve and is exclusively being targeted at the youngsters

Hardware and looks:

The first thing that you observe about the new Curve 9220 is that it looks very similar to Curve 8520. though, despite having a larger battery, it is 1.2mm thinner than its predecessor. 
The Curve 9220 also has the full plastic body but the put up quality is nice. It feels sturdy and can bear a few falls with without any major damage. 

Display:

The BlackBerry Curve 9220 comes with 2.44-inch TFT LCD display with 320x240 pixels resolution. When rutted against the other Curve devices at similar price point, Curve 9220 scores better than the rest in terms of display. Having said that, the present of this handset is still nothing to rave about when compared to other smartphones.

Camera:

BlackBerry Curve 9220 sports a 2.0-megapixels set focus camera. The images captured through this camera in proper light conditions were at the most average. Needless to add, the quality deteriorates even further in low-lighting conditions.

Bearing in mind that RIM is trying to catch the fancy of the young customers through this handset, we feel that the camera should have been better. Most devices at this price point come loaded with at least 5-megapixels primary camera. 

One more downside of this smartphone is the fixed-focus nature of the camera rather than auto-focus found on other Handsets. The quality of videos recorded through this handset is also average. 

Software/ Interface:

Curve 9220 comes loaded with the latest BlackBerry OS 7.1, which makes it the first handset at this price point to do so. To put things in point of view, the more exclusive BlackBerry Curve 9300 (commonly referred as Curve 3G) and BlackBerry Bold 9780 handsets are still running on the older BlackBerry OS 6. When compared with BlackBerry OS 5 and OS 6, the new operating system seems far sleeker, faster and more user-friendly.  Also BlackBerry OS 7.1 brings mobile hotspot, universal search, BlackBerry tag and FM Radio support, which were in the earlier version.

Performance/ Battery Life:

RIM is fixed lipped regarding the processor inside BlackBerry Curve 9220, but irrespective of the which processor has been used in this phone; we found that this smartphone was attractive smooth in terms of functioning. There were no lags in transitioning between different apps; neither did we encounter any unusual crashes.

One more addition in this handset is the FM radio. The radio app is quite basic with no frills attached. The voice excellence and music playback quality on the handset, both through loudspeaker and earplugs, is good.

The best part about this Handset is the battery-life. The Curve 9220 comes with a 1450 mAh battery, which simply lasted for a day with frequent app use and web browsing without needing a charge. 
In conditions of connectivity, this mobile handset comes with a Wi-Fi and 2G but lacks 3G support. It's a bit disappointing to find a device at this price point of Rs. 10,000 that does not have 3G support.

Verdict:
The main drawback for BlackBerry still continues to be its incapacity to excite the developers to create apps for its platform and the BlackBerry Curve 9220 is improbable to change that. However, if you are not into the apps and are looking for a budget BlackBerry smartphone to connect with your BBM friends, then Curve 9220 is worth considering. It is also be a good improve for users of BlackBerry Curve 8520 as it offers an updated OS and better battery at a similar price point.

Pros:

Battery life
Affordable BlackBerry OS 7 device

Cons:

2.0 MP Camera with fixed focus
No 3G