Celcom BlackBerry Curve 8520 (RIM Gemini) sucks?
I am so excited with my new Smartphone Blackberry Curve 8520. There are many phones out there which would fit my budget of 800 ringgit but you probably already know with 800 ringgit (about USD222) you will not get a Smartphone that smart enough for your daily work.
I did not pay attention to Blackberry until Nicolekiss posing sexily beside a giant Xpax Blackberry for RM888. To me most Smartphone are a waste of time but the price for this one caught my attention. (yeah the posing caught my attention too!)
I have these impression about Smartphone…
- Smartphone OS buggy.
- Hardware is slow.
- OS crashes and unexpected errors and hang time.
- Bad multitasking
After using Blackberry for some time, the above doubt reasonably negligible.
I think the time has change and the technology we once knew has leap many folds. The developers and designers alike has work tirelessly finding new ways to make everything small, smart and fast enough to do our works. The gist was packed into small devices like Blackberry Smartphone and still work fast and absolutely stunning!
Chat with my friend Speedy
So how small, smart and fast?
Lets us put multitasking into work! I totally master the squatting down doing my “business” in the toilet while still able to socialize on twitter and Facebook! By the way, the image you saw above? I ask that question while I turd! I certainly had a great time turd –ing (fast and smooth)!
Quick review of the Blackberry Curve 8520
I will only touch on the most important features that we will use on a day-to-day basis, my experience that is. For full list you may visit Blackberry website.
EDGE & Wi-Fi
This phone is not the fastest surfing phone ever unless you are on Wi-Fi but I still don’t think you should count on it. For Kuching folks, your BlackBerry will mostly on GPRS (bummer!). Unless you’re going outskirts, EDGE would mostly be available.
You should know by now this phone lack the most important capability, 3G! 3G networks cover most part of Sarawak so this phone is shy away from the real benefit.
QWERTY keyboard
Fantastico! I master it within less than 24hours. You should get use to it less than my time! What I am trying to say is that; don’t let the small space fool you! It’s that easy to use. I love the backlit on the keyboard. 100% Kick Ass!
BATTERY LIFE
For fully charged battery you can use it for about 8 hours. My MSN, Google Talk, Email push with 3 active accounts, Twitter and Facebook are running 24/7. Please take note! If you talk a lot and active with web applications (like I did with all the social network apps) you could kill your battery life by half. 100% Kick Ass!
TRACKPAD NAVIGATION
This is the first BlackBerry phone with a Trackpad! Trust me you will love it! I love it because it feels like Mac! (LOL) What a wonderful touch! 100% Kick Ass!
DISPLAY
This is just one usable screen, good enough for viewing. If you did not compare the colors with your friend’s phone: BlackBerry-to-BlackBerry or to iPhone you probably won’t notice the different.
CAMERA/VIDEO CAMERA
Good for Fun.
GPS/MAP
8520 models do not have GPS! If you are interested to have a GPS, you have to get 8530 models.
Email Push Technology
I am so impress with the push feature in the phone. As for normal user we probably will not be able to enjoy BlackBerry Enterprise Server (BES) which fetching your email and push to your devices instantly as soon as your mail arrive. This technology is one of the famous features that make BlackBerry unique.
Even without BES I still received my mail almost instantly without my intervention. 100% Kick Ass!
Celcom BlackBerry Curve 8520 promotion
Celcom, Maxis and Digi are offering Blackberry but Celcom offer the best post paid plan. You get the phone for RM788 with monthly commitment fees of RM118. The breakdown of RM118 is RM50 for calls and SMS, RM38 for unlimited data and RM30 for Blackberry Internet Service. (BIS)
The BIS is a bit expensive but BIS is needed for your push email and online banking to work (example Maybank). Basically BIS provide a fix IP address to identify you and your devices. Word of advise, do not lose your phone!
Celcom BlackBerry 8520 RIM Gemini is one Kick Ass Smartphone! You really should get this phone if you want cheap and fully functional devices for your business. Replying your business email while on the move, chat and replying on your social network can really realize your dream of being work and play and the same time 
