Blackberry Curve 8520 vs 8900
The Blackberry Curve line shares a lot of features with each other, the lack of 3G capabilities being the most major. The 8900 is one of the newer models while the 8520 is the newest entry level phone that has been released. Compared to the 8900, the 8250 is much cheaper and is considered to be the lowest-end product from RIM.
Significantly, the 8520 no longer uses the trackball which has become standard in most blackberry phones; the 8900 among them. In its place is an optical trackpad that serves the same purpose as the trackball. It is being speculated that RIM debuted the trackpad on the cheap 8520 in order to gauge the consumer’s reception of the addition before installing it on their more expensive phones. That way, they would not lose much in case consumers do not like the trackpad.
Aside from that major replacement, the differences between the two curve phones are quite minimal. The screen of the 8520 is bigger than that of the 8900 by a small fraction of an inch but has a much lower resolution at 320×240 compared to the 480×360 resolution of the 8900. The higher resolution can result to better images being displayed or even for video playback. The camera of the 8900 is also much better compared to that of the 8520. The 8900 has 3.2 megapixel sensor compared to the 2 megapixel sensor on the 8520. The battery of the 8900 is also rated at a higher capacity, meaning it could last longer. The battery of the 8900 is rated at 1400mAHr while that of the 8520 is only rated at 1150mAHr. Given that they have more or less the same feature set, the 8900 would last for a longer period compared to the 8520.
The 8520 is a good phone for those who have not used a Blackberry phone before as they do not have prior experience with the trackball and they might receive the trackpad pretty well, not to mention that it costs less. The form of the 8900 is already a tried and tested set-up for users who already use earlier curve models.
Summary:
1. The 8520 is cheaper compared to the 8900
2. The 8520 uses an optical trackpad and not a trackball like that in the 8900
3. The 8900 has a slightly smaller but better screen than the 8520
4. The 8900 has a 3.2 megapixel camera while the 8520 has a 2 megapixel camera
5. The 8900 has a battery with a higher rating compared to the 8520