Irvine,
Calif. –
, part of Sprint’s
prepaid-service group, continues to diversify its handset portfolio with its
first smartphone, the BlackBerry Curve 8330.
The phone is available at Best Buy, RadioShack, select independent
retailers and independently owned Boost-branded retail stores at a suggested
$249, a spokeswoman said. It’s available only with a $60/month BlackBerry
Monthly Unlimited prepaid plan, which offers unlimited nationwide talk, text,
Web and email.
“The addition of
to Boost Mobile’s broadening lineup of handsets squashes the misconception that
no-contract cellphones and service are low-end,” said Neil Lindsay, chief
merchandising officer of the Sprint prepaid group.
The Curve is one of three CDMA-network phones unveiled so far
this year by Boost to complement its selection of iDEN-network phones, noted
for fast push-to-talk (PTT) connect times but slower data speeds. Only Motorola
makes iDEN-network phones. With the three new CDMA phones, Boost is bolstering
its CDMA selection to six SKUs, the spokeswoman said.
The other two recently announced CDMA phones are the $99.99
by Kyocera, a flip phone with mirrored platinum finish, and the
$149.99
by Kyocera, the first horizontal flip device offered by Boost. It
features exterior touchscreen with haptic feedback when closed and full QWERTY
keyboard when opened.
Last year, Boost undertook an effort to deliver a greater variety
of phone types, including its first-ever
full-QWERTY phone, the iDEN-network candy-bar-style Motorola Clutch i465, and
its first iDEN slider phone, the Motorola Debut i856, the company said.
The CDMA-network
Curve is a 3G phone with HTML Web browser, full QWERTY keypad with trackball
navigation, 2-megapixel camera/camcorder, media player, included 1GB MicroSD card,
stereo Bluetooth, IM and GPS. Curve users on the BlackBerry Monthly Unlimited
plan get access to unlimited Web browsing and up to 10 email accounts,
including email accounts accessed through Internet services as well as accounts
that use Microsoft Exchange server accessed via Microsoft Outlook Web Access.
