March Smart Phone Madness Game 3: Motorola DROID vs. BlackBerry Curve 8530

March 17th, 2010 by Marc Flores  

Voting has concluded for this contest, but more Smart Phone Madness awaits!

As March Smart Phone Madness moves along into game three, we’ve seen the iPhone 3GS topple the HTC Touch Pro2 and the BlackBerry 9700 handily beat the Palm Pixi. Today’s match up is Verizon’s Motorola DROID against the same carrier’s BlackBerry Curve 8530. One features a large touchscreen with one of the latest builds of Android, the other has a time-tested operating system and e-mail reliability like no other. Who will win today’s battle? Let’s take a further look!

It started with a tremendous ad campaign from Verizon: the Motorola DROID was touted as an industrial robot meant to do work – “DROID DOES” was the campaign slogan. Its build quality is rock solid and the form factor leaves no room for cuteness. The DROID runs Google’s Android 2.0, with a 2.1 update on the way very shortly, and has a large 3.7-inch 854 x 480 high resolution display. If there has been one complaint about the DROID so far, it’s the keyboard. The keys are a litle cramped and flat and it sometimes takes a little longer to crank out e-mails compared to a BlackBerry.

Of course, running Android 2.0 means all of those apps from Android Marketplace are at the tip of your fingers. Whether you need apps for work, play or social networking, the always growing Marketplace will have just about everything you need.

Attempting to topple the DROID is BlackBerry’s Curve 8530. It features everything you’ve come to expect from BlackBerry: push e-mail, a stable operating system, a comfortable keyboard and BlackBerry Messenger. (We feel that BBM is worth mentioning here because some folks buy a BlackBerry for that very reason.) The 8530 has all the big boy features at a dumb phone price, making it that much more attractive.

The only thing about the Curve 8530 is that its build doesn’t feel as solid as we’re used to on BlackBerry, but it is lightweight which is a bonus. The screen resolution isn’t the highest, but if you’re a messaging machine the last thing you’re concerned about is whether your wallpaper looks crisp and vivid. The Curve 8530 was built to do work and makes sure that communication, whether it’s e-mail, instant messaging, BBM or SMS, is handled efficiently and comfortably.

This is going to be a really tough battle, so we’re counting on you readers to spread the word and get the vote out! On one hand, we have a gorgeous phone with a capable and open operating system. On the other, we have a hard-working messaging machine that means business. We’re pulling our hair trying to decide ourselves, so how about a little help out here?

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12 Responses to “March Smart Phone Madness Game 3: Motorola DROID vs. BlackBerry Curve 8530”

  1. Matt Says:
    March 17th, 2010 at 5:16 pm

    Curve 8530

  2. Vic Says:
    March 17th, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    As a huge bb fan but a smart person the droid wins this hands down. The droid’s massive marketing and following has it fine points. The berry although a very good phone just does not stack up with this monster. Sorry to all the other bb lovers but you have to give credit were credit is due.

  3. RJakiel Says:
    March 17th, 2010 at 8:02 pm

    Really? It’s like comparing a Bentley to a Volvo. The Droid is a high end phone with more features and flexibility than most people will know what to do with, it is simply astonishing. The BB while tried and true just does one thing well and that’s messaging. Multimedia, turn by turn GPS based on Google Maps, 3D OpenGL gaming, HUGE app market with apps for damned near anything you can conceive and the ability to root the device and customize / overclock it to your hearts content makes the Droid the hands down winner. Not to mention it does messaging pretty damned well too, not quite as good as a BB but it’s no slouch either.

  4. Tim Says:
    March 17th, 2010 at 10:54 pm

    I’m not sure who created these lists but most of these phones are against ones that are not even in the same leagye.. Bold 9700 vs the Pixie…Tour vs the Devour.. Droud VS Curve

    Better would be Bold 9700 vs Nexus One (both flagship devices)… Droid VS Tour… Curve VS Hero/Droid Eris or Devour

  5. John Olesen Says:
    March 17th, 2010 at 11:38 pm

    The Droid owns. I’m a former Crackberry addict, but honestly-I cant stand BB OS anymore. Its slow, stagnant, and archaic. Android is the wave of the future, and Skynet is about to become self aware. droooiidddd

  6. James Says:
    March 17th, 2010 at 11:42 pm

    Tim: That’s how these brackets work. You don’t want to put Droid v. iPhone in round one. Put the No. 1 seeds vs. the No. 4 seeds in their divisions. That way you save the best matches for last.

  7. dullgeek Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 12:14 am

    @Tim: I’m guessing that you’re not much of a sports fan. In the NCAA tournament, they seed the best teams against the worst teams in the early rounds. In the hopes that all the best teams will survive until the later rounds.

    So it’s not surprising that you’d see flagship devices not pitted against each other during round one.

  8. bxreppa Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 7:35 am

    The Final Four should have been.
    1. Droid
    2. IPhone
    3. Nexus one
    4. HTC hero

  9. K. T. Bradford Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 10:48 am

    @John Olesen – that’s the geekiest comment I’ve seen on our site this week. Love it.

  10. anonymous Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 3:41 pm

    @RJakiel very good analogy

    I agree 100%

  11. anonymous Says:
    March 18th, 2010 at 3:43 pm

    LMAO @John Olsen. I was thinking the SAME thing about those commercials (re: Skynet)

  12. maeael Says:
    March 19th, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    What about the my touch. I don’t see it listed and it is just as good and even better then some of the crap phones listed

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