RIM's BlackBerry Curve 8520 is the third generation of the company's compact, full-QWERTY messaging smartphone line. It features the same basic form factor as the original 8300 series devices, but gets some nicely upgraded features and more modern styling in a package that is roughly the same sized as the more expensive Curve 8900.

The new optical trackpad controller takes the place of the trackballs that we've seen on most BlackBerry devices for a few years now. The trackpad is basically an optical mouse that has been turned upside down. It works quite well in general, though is probably a bit more difficult to control than the trackball. The upside, however, is that the trackpad won't get gunked up by dust or facial oils the way a trackball will. In the end, I think the switch to a trackpad is a fair trade that works out for the user in the long haul.

On the top of the phone things changed up a bit from prior BlackBerry models. There is no lock button any longer, and we now have dedicated next and previous track music controls that sit on either side of the dual-purpose mute and play/pause button. A 3.5mm headphone port is located at the top of the left edge of the phone, just above the micro-USB charger and data connector.

The only thing about the BlackBerry Curve 8520 that is likely to leave many folks unimpressed is the display. Like the Curve 8300 series before it, the Curve 8520 sports a QVGA (320 x 240 pixel) display. While more than bright and crisp enough for most uses, the display lets the phone down when it comes to web browsing, as you can see in our videos. But using components like that QVGA display and the fixed-focus 2 megapixel camera, which is located on the back of the phone, is how Research In Motion was able to keep the cost of the phone down. For people that just want a BlackBerry for messaging, this will work out just fine.