The T-Mobile BlackBerry Gemini 8520 is slated
as a low-end BlackBerry Curve, and it will definitely suit the intended market.
While Power Users are going to yawn, early Pearl owners are going to want to
upgrade to this device, especially because we’ve heard it’s going to come in
some beautiful colors.
Before reading this review, as usual it’s not a
commercially available device and therefore may not be the device you pick up
from T-Mobile.
The 85xx Series Devices
The BlackBerry 8520 is a new-generation Curve
and while the xx20 is the only device in the series so far, it surely won’t be
the last. In the coming months (year), we can expect a rollout similar to that
of other BlackBerry devices. The BlackBerry 8510 will have GPS and the 8530 will
be CDMA.
About the OS
The 8520 that I’m using is running OS
4.6.1.227, which seems to be the consensus around other sites who have got their
hands on the device. While OS 4.6.1 is decent, it isn’t the OS 5 that we’ve all
been waiting to use. Because this is a pre-release device, it could possibly
ship with OS 5, which would be a dream come true.
The BlackBerry Onyx has been spotted with a trackpad. Although the Tour 9630
does not have a trackpad, the BlackBerry Gemini 8520 does. This could mean that
RIM is thinking of making all devices post 9630 come with a trackpad.
Is this the death of the trackball? I hope so. BlackBerry users have had to
replace a ton of trackballs because they get dust/sand in them or they just
simply wear out. This new strategy could mean longer lasting devices.
The guys at PhoneArena put up a pretty lengthy review of the BlackBerry
Gemini 8520. I’ll break down their review by section but if you want to read the
full review, just head over to their site.
Design
While the 8520 Gemini is one of the newest devices to be released by RIM, the
only thing truly new about it is the design. The 8520 is slated as an
introductory Curve model and comes with a 3.4” screen which sits above a full
QWERTY keyboard. Two convenience keys adorn either side and a simplistic back
with the 2 megapixel camera at the top. The unofficial size is 4.25”x2.3”x0.5”,
which makes it even smaller than the Curve 8900, and perhaps a touch lighter.
Simon found a pic of the BlackBerry Gemini that is incredibly frustrating in
its poor quality. If you’re sitting there looking at an unreleased device, here
are a few tips:
- Steady hands - Yes, it’s a sweet BlackBerry device that isn’t on the
market, but shaking hands makes a blurry photo.
- Megapixels please - At least 5 of them.
- Angles - We need to see the front, back, side and top.
I have to give it to Kevin, he’s done the best job to date giving us some
high rez images of the 8520. From that review, we see that the Gemini 8520
features rubber side keys, top-mounted media controls, and an optical pad
replacing the classic trackball.
