BlackBerry Curve on sale imminently

The BlackBerry Curve - the smallest and lightest Qwerty keyboard equipped BlackBerry yet released - could be in your pocket in a few days. O2 will be selling the Curve in the UK from 8 May, the operator announced today. Vodafone too is releasing the BlackBerry Curve, with 21 May Vodafone's on-sale date.

The BlackBerry Curve is a quad-band device that's aimed at consumers as well as business people. Weighing 111 grams, it comes with a 2-megapixel camera (with flash) and a sophisticated media player functionality with multi-format music and video players. There's swappable MicroSD memory card support too. It also has all the regular powerful BlackBerry push email messaging and organiser capabilities.

O2 and Vodafone will be offering the BlackBerry Curve for use with either corporate BlackBerry Enterprise Server services or for the BlackBerry Internet Service - allowing access to up to 10 existing email accounts. BlackBerry users can also access the internet using the onboard browser, and use a BlackBerry Maps application to get point-to-point navigation information over the air.

The BlackBerry Curve will be available on a variety of O2 and Vodafone tariffs at various prices depending on the deal - starting from free.

BlackBerry Curve 8300: Key features

• Dimensions: 107(h) mm x 60(w) mm x 15.5(d) mm).Weight: 111g
• 64MB flash memory
• MicroSD expandable memory (1GB card supplied)
• 2-megapixel camera with flash
• Qwerty keyboard
• BlackBerry push email
• Organiser functionality
• 320x240 pixel display
• BlackBerry Maps
• BlackBerry browser with RSS support
• Integrated speakerphone
• Stereo hands-free headset
• Stereo Bluetooth
• Video record/player (MPEG4 Part 2 Simple Profile, H.263, WMV)
• Digital music player (MP3, MIDI, AMR-NB, AAC/AAC /eAAC , WMA, WAV)
• Quad-band GSM GPRS/EDGE
• Stereo headset jack (3.5mm)
• Battery Life: 408 hours (17days) standby time; 240 minutes (4 hours) talk time