Blackberry Curve 8520

The 8520 feels like a stripped-down version of the BlackBerry Curve 8900, forgoing the jazzy chrome trim for a rubbery edge. You can feel it's a less expensive phone, but it still feels solid and sturdy.

The biggest difference between the 8520 and other devices on the BlackBerry bush is its trackpad, which replaces the trackball. The trackpad is a flat surface that responds to your touch like a mousepad on a laptop, but it's insanely sensitivity to make up for its tiny size.

The 8520's real strength lies in its Qwerty keyboard and messaging features, which make it a great phone for social networkers.

The phone does not have the 3G support but Happily, the phone does have Wi-Fi connectivity, which speeds things up when you're on a wireless network.Straight-up surfing the Web in the browser is okay. It's better than on a typical phone with a small screen and no trackpad, but worse than on a Webmeister like the iPhone. Web pages look clear and accurate, but we hated having to zoom in to click on smaller links.There's also no GPS, although you can use Google Maps, which triangulates your position using mobile-phone towers. It's not as accurate as GPS, though.

BlackBerry App World is also on-board, so finding and installing apps is as easy as baking a moderately easy-to-bake pie. There are plenty of great apps available, although they're pricier than in competitors' app stores, with a minimum price of about $3 (£1.80).

The screens on recent BlackBerry phones have been stunning, and the 8520's didn't disappoint either, despite having a lower resolution than the 8900's -- 320x240 pixels, compared to 480x360. Videos are very watchable and photos look good.

A 2GB microSD card and 256MB of on-board memory provide a great start for slapping a good number of tunes and photos onto the phone.

The BlackBerry Curve 8250 is certainly a little light on features, with 3G and GPS the most serious omissions, but the phone still manages to rise above these limitations. It's the combination of its excellent email features, long battery life and easy to use interface that make it so likeable and as a result we think it's a good choice for those who want more than a standard mobile, but haven't got the cash to go the iPhone or HTC Hero route.