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SpecEagle review · BlackBerry

BlackBerry Curve 8520 review: The affordable Curve that put BBM in the hands of millions of teens.

SpecEagle Editorial·Jul 2009·$300
Overall
40/100
Class rank
#1 of 1
Tier
Budget
Buy?
Look elsewhere
The verdict, up front

The BBM phone for the masses.

The Curve 8520 made BlackBerry Messenger affordable, introducing the optical trackpad and becoming hugely popular with teens and budget buyers. Its BBM ubiquity — especially among younger users — was a cultural moment just before WhatsApp and the iPhone reshaped messaging.

01Display

42/100

42/100 — right at the average for budget phones of 2009.

TypeTFT LCD
Size2.46 inches
Resolution320 × 240 px

02Camera

38/100

38/100 — right at the average for budget phones of 2009.

Main2 MP, fixed focus
VideoYes

03Performance

42/100

42/100 — right at the average for budget phones of 2009.

Chipset512 MHz
RAM256 MB
Storage256 MB · microSD

04Battery

60/100

60/100 — right at the average for budget phones of 2009.

Capacity1,150 mAh (removable)
Standby~408 hours

05Build

58/100

58/100 — right at the average for budget phones of 2009.

06Value

64/100

64/100 — right at the average for budget phones of 2009.

What works
  • Affordable entry to BBM and push email.
  • New optical trackpad.
  • Light 106 g with a good keyboard.
  • microSD + jack.
What doesn't
  • 2G EDGE only — no 3G.
  • Tiny QVGA screen.
  • 2 MP fixed-focus camera.
  • Slow CPU.

How this review is built: every section score, spec row and comparison on this page comes from SpecEagle's tracked catalogue — scores weight measured specs against the 1-phone cohort of budget devices released around the same time. We don't publish invented lab anecdotes. Spot an error? .