RIM BlackBerry Curve 9310 (Boost Mobile)

Here's an example of how pricing can change everything. The BlackBerry Curve 9310 is no longer in fashion as a modern smartphone, but it has a sneaky new purpose?as an inexpensive texting phone. Verizon couldn't pull this off with its version of the?Curve 9310?($49.99, 2 stars) because of expensive plans starting at $80 per month. But Boost Mobile certainly can, with unlimited voice and texting starting at $45 per month and going down the more you stick with the carrier. Plus, the Curve 9310 still has a fluid interface and an amazing keyboard for such a compact device.

Design, Keyboard, and Plans
Aside from software and pricing plan differences, the Curve 9310 is the same phone on both carriers. Feel free to read that one for additional details. Here, I'll focus on the appropriate changes for Boost Mobile. Regardless of carrier, the BlackBerry Curve 9310 certainly looks a lot classier than cheaper texting phones. It measures 4.3 by 2.4 by 0.5 inches (HWD) and weighs 3.7 ounces. It's made entirely of plastic, with tapered edges, and a muted, matte gray plastic rim around the front panel. Unfortunately, this version of the 9310 trades the soft-touch back panel for a hard, glossy black plastic one. That's not a big deal, but it's prone to scratches and not?quite?as comfortable to hold.

The 2.4-inch, 320-by-240-pixel LCD screen has no touch capability, and what is now considered the absolute minimum screen resolution on a contemporary smartphone. You also get different wallpaper (woo hoo!) with the Boost version. RIM got the Curve's QWERTY keyboard right a long time ago, even though it occasionally fiddles with the key shape and spacing. This one is also stellar. The Curve 9310 is a small phone, just like it always was?Bolds are for bigger hands, Curves are for smaller hands. But I can positively fly on this keyboard, which has just the right key size, travel, and click response. I wish I could take it and glue it on some other phones.

As I mentioned above, the real story here is Boost Mobile's eminently reasonable plan pricing. It starts at $45 per month for unlimited voice, texting, and BBM?which is already almost half off of Verizon's base plan for its own Curve 9310. But on Boost, your price goes down as you pay your bills on time?$5 every six months, until 18 months in, at which point you're paying just $30 per month. That's a killer deal. Granted, this phone runs on Sprint's national network, which isn't quite as robust as Verizon's and has much slower 3G data speeds, as we found in our tests across 30 U.S. cities this year. But on a phone like this, that shouldn't be much of an issue.

Apps and Conclusions
A speedy (for this application) 800MHz processor is on board, along with BlackBerry OS 7.1. The Curve 9310 is fairly simple to navigate, with a clear layout, a sluggish stock Web browser, and enough basic apps to keep you busy. It's still great with push email. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube clients keep you somewhat connected to this decade. The Curve 9310 is still GPS enabled on Boost, but there's no preloaded GPS app, and few good voice-enabled navigation options from third-parties.

Speaking of which, this isn't the phone to get if you want to run apps. BlackBerry App World contains roughly 40,000 apps now. But that's far below anything you can get on other smartphones, and most of the apps here aren't nearly as powerful as their iOS, Android, or even Windows Phone counterparts. And just as it was at launch time in April 2009, BlackBerry App World itself remains buggy, with some downloads and pages not completing properly and taking multiple tries. If you like apps, go with an Android phone.

So the Curve 9310 isn't a poor choice on Boost Mobile the way it is on Verizon Wireless. Still, there are other phones worth checking out. The LG Rumor Reflex ($79.99, 3.5 stars) isn't an actual smartphone like the Curve 9310, but it does have a wider QWERTY keyboard that slides out, plus a larger 3-inch touch screen for better Web browsing. Our favorite smartphone on Boost is the HTC EVO Design 4G ($299.99, 4 stars), which is much pricier up front and lacks a hardware QWERTY keyboard, but offers Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich," access to over 400,000 third-party apps, and a much larger, higher-resolution capacitive touch screen.

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