BlackBerry Curve Makes India Cut

The RIM (Research in Motion) "BlackBerry Curve" was today launched in the India market.

Measuring about 107-mm x 60-mm x 15.5-mm, and weighing-in at 111 grams, the "BlackBerry Curve" sure looks like the smallest and the lightest Qwerty smart phone from RIM. It is a smooth-edged phone with chrome highlights having a large display and RIM's trackball navigation system.

The "Curve" comes with a 2 megapixel camera with 5x digital zoom, built-in flash, self-portrait mirror, and full screen viewfinder. The phone is equipped with a powerful media player and integrated speaker, and comes with a 3.5 mm stereo jack.

The smart phone also packs a new desktop media manager based on the Roxio Easy Media Creator 9. The media manager allows users easily search, view, and organize media files on the PC; create MP3 music files from CDs; add audio tags; create play lists; and automatically copy or convert pictures, music, and videos for optimal playback.

The phone's integrated media player has been refined, allowing users to search for music by simply typing the title, genre, artist, or album name.

During the launch, Norm Lo, vice president of RIM Asia Pacific, said, "The BlackBerry Curve combines consumer-friendly multimedia capabilities with industry-leading email and messaging experience in an elegant new smart phone design. The BlackBerry Curve will appeal to business professionals and consumers alike with its unique design, full Qwerty keyboard, robust email, full-features, Web browsing support, and powerful entertainment capabilities."

Featuring an ultra-bright 320 x 240 display, the "BlackBerry Curve" integrates light sensing and noise cancellation technologies.

Meanwhile, the "Curve" also includes other BlackBerry features such as integrated browser, speaker-independent voice recognition (SIVR) for voice activated dialing (VAD), Bluetooth 2.0, and dedicated keys for easy operation.

Supporting microSD expansion of up to 2GB, the "Curve" once again features both Internet service and the enterprise server, and is available from Hutch and Airtel at an approximate price of Rs 24,990.