BLACKBERRY Curve 8520 - black

OK, this is a lower end of the range phone, hence why it's cheaper than other models...

I've moved from a high spec. HTC smartphone to this company-supplied BlackBerry, but I don't miss too many of the fancy features I was used to.

The phone is functional - you can make phone calls, text, MMS, e-mail, browse the net, use facebook etc., and do all of that stuff without any issues. The screen is s little small for proper web browsing, I'd have liked a larger display, but it is a mobile phone and not a PC, so I'm not complaining...
Apps are OK, I can't see the point in most of them but I'm sure there is something for everyone. Many of them seem to be American orientated though.

This is a functional 'business' phone for when you need to keep in touch, it isn't really a 'fun' phone for playing games and keeping yourself entertained. Although it does play music like any other mp3 player in a phone, and I've put a 16GB card in it so you can store plenty of music.

Battery is lasting me just over 2 days with GPRS always on, with Wi-Fi off (but Wi-Fi used occasionally during this time). WIth Wi-Fi left on it drains the battery.

This 8520 does not have GPS, and if it did, there doesn't seem to be much choice in the way of nav. software available for the BlackBerry phones (you could pair this up with an external bluetooth GPS device) - I've now brought a separate TomTom to serve this purpose as I gave up trying to find a reliable GPS solution using my phone.

There is no 3G on this device either, but really - do you need it? GPRS works OK, it is always on and I get my e-mails quicker to my mobile than on my laptop when online. I don't think I really need 3G, but it'd be nice to have.

There are other features that I won't really use - I don't really use voice commands, but this has them. There is an alternative office suite on it, but I can't see as I'd use that much. There are probably other things too...

So, in conclusion - I actually like this phone. I can't really complain about it as it works fine and is reliable.
If you are not into gimmicks and want to keep it simple, then this would be fine your your requirements - you can still do a few of the other things too, but I doubt you'll be showing it off in the pub against your mates new iPhone. (although you could ask him to bluetooth you over that photo he is showing off - that'll confuse him....)