Research In Motion (RIM) and AT&T today introduced the BlackBerry Curve, the smallest and lightest full QWERTY BlackBerry smartphone. With a smooth and friendly design, the Curve encompasses a large display, easy-to-use keyboard and trackball navigation system.

RIM BlackBerry Curve (8300) More Photos View Specs

Featuring a liquid silver finish, chrome highlights, smooth edges and soft curves, the BlackBerry Curve offers a full QWERTY keyboard and large display at a small and lightweight 4.2" x 2.4" x 0.6" and 3.9 oz size. The ultra-bright 320 x 240 px display includes RIM's light sensing technology that automatically adjusts backlighting levels for indoor, outdoor and dark environments. The Curve also features RIM's trackball navigation system that makes scrolling and selecting fast and easy.

The BlackBerry Curve comes with a 2.0-megapixel camera, complete with 5x digital zoom, built-in flash, self-portrait mirror and full screen viewfinder. Capturing images in up to three picture qualities, the photos can be shared instantly by email, MMS or BlackBerry Messenger and transferred over Bluetooth or USB cable. Images can also be immediately set as a caller ID or Home Screen image.

The audio system plays music and videos through the integrated speaker or through the 3.5 mm stereo jack. The Bluetooth stereo audio profile (A2DP / AVRCP) is supported, and dedicated volume controls are located on the side of the handset.

A new desktop media manager is also included with the Curve. Roxio Media Manager for BlackBerry, based on the award-winning Roxio Easy Media Creator 9, allows users to easily search for media files on their computer, view and organize them, create MP3 music files from CDs, add audio tags, create playlists and automatically copy or convert pictures, music and videos for optimal playback on the BlackBerry Curve.

The media manager also includes Roxio Photosuite 9 LE, making it easy to edit pictures and create photo albums. With PhotoSuite, pictures can be cropped, rotated and straightened, and flaws can be fixed by removing redeye or changing the brightness, contrast and saturation levels. Photos can also be enhanced with color filters and special effects.

The media player on the BlackBerry Curve has been refined, allowing users to search for music by simply typing the title, genre, artist or album name. Videos can also be played in full screen mode.

For added storage of music, videos and pictures, the BlackBerry Curve comes with a microSD expansion slot. It supports up to 2 GB cards that are available today and will automatically support 4 GB cards that are expected to become available later this year.

Featuring a high-performance browser that can download and display HTML web pages quickly, the BlackBerry Curve can setup RSS feeds to stay connected to the timely news and information.

The BlackBerry Curve offers many convenient phone features including Speaker Independent Voice Recognition (SIVR) for Voice Activated Dialing (VAD), Bluetooth 2.0 support for handsfree use with headsets, car kits and Bluetooth peripherals, quad-band operation for global roaming, dedicated 'send', 'end', and 'mute' keys, smart dialing, speed dialing, conference calling, call forwarding, noise cancellation technology to offset background noise, a low-distortion speakerphone for handsfree conversations and support for polyphonic, MP3 and MIDI ringtones.

Delivering the renowned BlackBerry email and messaging capabilities, the BlackBerry Curve features a new integrated spell checker with a user-customizable dictionary to help maintain spelling accuracy on the go. The BlackBerry Curve is supported on BlackBerry Internet Service, giving users access to up to 10 work or personal email accounts (including most popular ISP email accounts), as well as BlackBerry Enterprise Server, enabling advanced security and IT administration within IBM Lotus Domino, Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise environments.

The BlackBerry Curve will be available through wireless carriers around the world, including AT&T in the U.S., beginning this spring.

- RIM BlackBerry Curve Specs