BlackBerry Curve 9300 or the 9700?

BlackBerry’s popularity is on a downward slide at the moment with the influx of stunning smartphones such as the Galaxy range or the iPhone 4S, but there are people that find Blackberry’s perfect for their needs especially if they use their phone for business. As the sales of BlackBerry phones might be dwindling they are still a force to be reckoned with when it comes to business use.

So, the stunning Curve 9300 or the 9700? While there are many other phones that are more than capable to grab your attention, BlackBerry lovers will most likely choose between these two handsets. They are generally the same looking but there are some differences that are worth noting. Firstly, the 9700 is better for those with smaller hands or don’t want a bulky smartphone. That’s not to say that the 9300 is big but the 9700 is sleeker and slips into your suit jacket or handbag without taking up much room.

All BlackBerry phones are light and at 122g the 9300 is very portable compared to that of a tablet PC or a hybrid such as the Samsung Galaxy Note. Both screens are smaller than those of tablet-esque phones at just 2.4” but they are more than capable of showing your emails and documents with ease. There are 65,000 colours, which is low compared to the 16 million of an iPhone 4S but the whole point of BlackBerry phones is that they are functional not necessarily the coolest or the most fun.

What is important for BlackBerry users is the amount of standby and talk time. The 9700 has 6 hours of talk time and 19 hours of standby time from its 1,500mAh battery but the 9300 with its lower spec 1,150mAh battery can last for 19 days on standby and has 4.5 hours of talk time, so there isn’t much difference despite the larger capacity battery. On-board storage for the 9700 is 256MB but 32GB SD cards and 6GB microSD cards can be used. The 9300 has similar storage space so it’s a good idea to invest in SD cards to up your capacity.

The 9700 camera is a 3.2MP unit that has a flash, auto-focus and 2x digital zoom. The impressive 2048 x 1536 screen resolution adds a clarity that is very sharp. The 9300 has a 2MP camera but 5x digital zoom so the picture quality can actually be better than the 3.2MP camera. However, it’s doubtful that you will be too bothered about the camera if you’re buying a contract BlackBerry but it’s good to have. Both have video recording devices too.

The optical trackpad on both phones is very clever as you have a full button keypad but you have a touchscreen too, so it’s ideal for quick presses when you need ultra-quick changes to the screen.

The phones are essentially very similar so it’s really a case of your preference and budget. You can check our mobile phone contract comparison chart to see what networks have the best deal right now, and buy direct from the retailer that offers the best deals.