2. BlackBerry Curve 8320 Smartphone

By Ed Tittel and Toby Digby

Though it may not be an iPhone, the BlackBerry Curve 8320 has garnered its own cadre of loyal adherents, and engendered oodles of product enthusiasm in. This member of the popular BlackBerry Curve family includes an attractive, compact package, tons of cool smart phone features, and adds Wi-Fi voice capability to the Wi-Fi data capability found in its 8820 predecessor. The 8320 even comes in colors: in addition to the titanium gray model depicted below, it also comes in a gold-tone finish.

The Wi-Fi voice capability the 8320 means you can use Wi-Fi networks to place and receive voice calls, and move data when you’re inside their reach and use the phone’s built-in GSM voice and EDGE data services elsewhere. Service plans for the 8320 are available from carriers like Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T. With a two-year contract, pricing for this phone can be as low as $50 (check out Amazon for its T-Mobile deal). If your recipient wants to use the Wi-Fi calling feature, an additional $20 per month cost for T-Mobile’s HotSpot@Home service is required (T-Mobile also offers Wi-Fi routers from Linksys to support this service, but the phone works with any 802.11 b/g compatible wireless network), and it permits unlimited Wi-Fi calling. Though apparently pricey, this is a great deal for those who use a lot of cell phone minutes but are also regularly within range of a usable Wi-Fi network. That said, Wi-Fi voice quality can sometimes be spotty and subject to echoes, intermittent garbling and occasional dropped calls when transitioning from Wi-Fi to GSM signaling.

As you’d expect in a modern smart phone, the 8320 is small and light. Its dimensions are 2.4" x 4.2" x 0.6" / 61mm x 107mm x 15 mm, and it weighs just 3.9 oz / 111 g. The screen resolution is 320 x 240 pixels, with a 16-bit color depth. It also includes an ambient light sensor to adjust backlighting automatically for indoor and outdoor use, plus dark environments. Battery life runs about four hours for talk time and up to 408 hours (17 days!) for standby. This model even supports the Bluetooth stereo audio profile so you can listen in stereo through a Bluetooth wireless headset or headphones/earbuds (volume controls sit on the side of the unit, with a headphone jack and a USB port).

In addition, the 8320 makes a serviceable PDA, with support for up to 10 e-mail accounts and a built-in Web browser. It sports a competent audio and video player that can handle numerous multimedia formats, including AAC, MP3, MP4 and WMV. Audio quality is decent and video quality is surprisingly watchable for a 2.5" diagonal screen. You can listen to stereo sound through a 3.5-mm headphone jack (T-Mobile includes a wired stereo headset as part of its 8320 phone kit), or the unit’s built-in speaker. The 8320 also sports a 2 megapixel camera with flash on its backside, which takes decent (but not terribly detailed) snapshots. Alas, the MicroSD slot for this device is underneath the battery, so it’s a bit of a pain to access ("buy a big one, insert it and leave it there" is probably your best SD usage strategy). Other items in the T-Mobile 8320 phone kit include a travel charger, a USB cable, a belt holster and docs.

Any Dad or grad that’s willing to shoulder monthly costs for the 8320 should be thrilled with this phone. At T-Mobile, 600 minutes cost $50 and 2500 minutes $110 per month (don’t forget the HotSpot@Home at $20 a month, which can greatly reduce cellular minutes needed). For more information on the Blackberry Curve 8320, please visit the product page at the Research In Motion Web site.