MEASURING 4.2 BY 2.4 BY 0.6 INCHES AND WEIGHING 3.9 ounces, the 8310 is the same size and shape as the 8300. It also has a 320-by-240-pixel QVGA display and a light-sensing feature that adjusts brightness levels depending upon whether you're indoors or outdoors, just like Apple's MacBook Pro. The 8310's trackball is as easy to use as on other Curve and Pearl models, and its backlit keyboard offers nice-size buttons and a satisfying tactile response.

The Curve is a superior voice phone, too, delivering strong reception and dependable voice quality in both directions on my tests. The speakerphone is plenty loud for outdoor use, and it sounded fine-though a bit hollow-with a Sound ID SM100 Bluetooth headset. Other facets of the 8310 still impress. Its 3.5mm stereo headset jack means that you can upgrade to quality earbuds from a wide range of manufacturers. My test unit sounded passable when paired with a stereo Bluetooth set of Etymotic Ety8 earphones and absolutely stellar with wired Creative Zen Aurvana earphones.

The Curve plays MP3 and (unprotected) AAC files, but not DRM-encoded tracks. Its 2megapixel camera and built-in LED flash combine to take surprisingly usable, if somewhat soft, pictures, even indoors with low light. The 8310, like the 8300, still doesn't record video. Like all BlackBerrys, the 831O's e-mail han¬dling is sublime. You get lightning-fast push e-mail out of the box, with support for Webbased mail, POP/IMAP, and BlackBerry e-mail accounts, not to mention integration with Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Domino, and even Novell GroupWise. As always, its BlackBerry OS is fast, responsive, and streamlined, but third-party app support is still scarce.



The built-in browser is passable, but I also loaded Opera Mini, which rendered miniature versions of full Web pages that I could zoom in on and read. You can use the 8310 Curve as a tethered laptop modem as well, though you'll quickly lose patience waiting for its glacial EDGE radio to deliver information. The Curve may lack the Motorola Q9h's built-in document editing and high-speed data radio, but superior e-mail handling, a responsive OS, and a sleeker design make the Curve a great alternative.