Curved to Perfection

The Blackberry Curve 8300 is a slick phone compared to the 8800. It is thinner, shorter and lighter. The dimensions of the phone are 107 x 60 x 15.5mm and weighs just 111 grams. It has a glossy silver finish with a black rubberized plastic band running on the sides of the phone that gives great comfort and grip over the phone.

On the face of the phone, the large 65K color TFT screen stands out. The screen has a metal grey border surrounding it and its 320 x 240 pixels resolution gives the screen makes it the center of attraction. Top right of the screen holds an LED that blinks green if the phone is on and red incase of any alert. Alerts include poor or no network coverage, SMS, missed calls, chat messages, emails etc. Followed by the screen is the very same cluster of keys as seen on 8800. The Pearl navigation sits in the center just below the screen. To its extreme left there is a Call Answer and just beside it is the Application/Main Menu button. To the trackball's extreme right is the Call HangUp key that doubles as the power on/off button of the phone; to its right is the Back key. This is then followed by the full QWERTY keypad with 35 keys.

The left of the phone contains just one button and a couple of connections that consist of a stereo jack at the top followed closely by the miniUSB port of the phone. Placed on the center left side is the voice dialing button. Pressing this key allows the phone to accept voice commands for various actions. The right of the phone holds the volume controls and just a few spaces below is the Camera hotkey which doubles as an image capture button. Both the Camera hotkey and the Voice Command buttons can be configured as per your choice as a shortcut to an application.

At the top left of the phone lies a Mute button. Holding down the mute button for a couple of seconds puts the phone in standby mode.

On the top right are the speakers of the phone. Turn the phone around and you will see the camera cluster that consists of a flash LED, followed by the camera module and the finally, a mirror for self portrait images. Almost the entire rear of the phone comes off to reveal the battery compartment of the phone. The Camera lens and flash LED are placed inside but don't have any protection against dust.

Although there is sponge on the inside around the camera area that not only protects the camera and its flash LED, but also the speaker.