BlackBerry Curve 9380 review

A touchscreen BlackBerry Curve at last

BlackBerry Curve 9380
RIM's first touchscreen smartphone is reviewed

Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.

There's not much of a bump to the media capabilities of BlackBerry devices in OS 7, though they were overhauled in BB OS 6, so it wasn't really necessary.

A trip to the Media folder on your BlackBerry Curve 9380's Home screen will find you the Music app, Pictures app, Videos app, Music Store and a podcast app that appears as All Episodes in the menu for some reason.

There's no onboard storage to speak of, so you'll need to stick in a microSD card if you want to add some songs and videos.

The Music app isn't particularly elaborate, but it's easy enough to find your way around, and it has the usual sorting options: artist, album, song, genre and so on.

BlackBerry curve 9380 review

Album artwork is incorporated throughout - where available - as well as on the Now Playing screen, which also displays the artwork of the next and previous tracks as part of a carousel that you can flick through.

BlackBerry curve 9380 review

The playing controls are at the bottom of the screen, with shuffle and repeat options at the top.

The whole app responds quickly and fairly fluidly, although it's hardly an exciting entry. There's a nice option named Explore Music Apps that takes you to the Music section of the App World, where you can pick up apps such as TuneIn Radio to add more musicality to your device.

The Music Store app is actually just Amazon's MP3 store when you open it, but this is no bad thing. There's a great range of songs at reasonable prices - what more could you ask of a digital music store?

BlackBerry curve 9380 review

If you add your own music, the BlackBerry Curve 9380 supports MP3, AAC, WMA, WAV and FLAC, among others.

For video, you're a little more limited on this smartphone, with MPEG-4, H.264 and WMV pretty much all that's supported. Well, H.263 is as well, but most people will gloss over that part.

Impressively, the BlackBerry Curve 9380 supports 720p video playback, and although it's obviously massively scaled down, it plays quite smoothly and looks good on the screen. You notice pixelation far less when the image is moving, and the screen is bright with nice colours, so video isn't bad at all for a small, lower-end device.

BlackBerry curve 9380 review

Like the Music and Video apps, the Pictures app is on the simple side, but it's fairly responsive, enabling you to swipe between photos without photos without causing performance problems.

BlackBerry curve 9380 review

You can share your photos over email, Facebook and Twitter from the Menu key, although there are no built-in editing options.

Matt Bolton
Managing Editor, Entertainment

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, meaning he's in charge of persuading our team of writers and reviewers to watch the latest TV shows and movies on gorgeous TVs and listen to fantastic speakers and headphones. It's a tough task, as you can imagine. Matt has over a decade of experience in tech publishing, and previously ran the TV & audio coverage for our colleagues at T3.com, and before that he edited T3 magazine. During his career, he's also contributed to places as varied as Creative Bloq, PC Gamer, PetsRadar, MacLife, and Edge. TV and movie nerdism is his speciality, and he goes to the cinema three times a week. He's always happy to explain the virtues of Dolby Vision over a drink, but he might need to use props, like he's explaining the offside rule.

Latest in BlackBerry Phones
BlackBerry Torch
How I retrieved 10-year-old photos from a classic BlackBerry Torch
BlackBerry
OnwardMobility shuts down and ends the 5G BlackBerry dream
BlackBerry Key2 LE
Blackberry 5G won't ever release, report claims
BlackBerry Pearl
5 things BlackBerry phones got right (and 5 things they didn’t)
BlackBerry Key2 LE in a hand
BlackBerry 5G phone is still coming – and possibly soon
Astro Slide
Waiting for the Blackberry 5G? The Astro Slide could be a good alternative
Latest in Reviews
The Kiwi design K4 Boost Battery strap being worn by Hamish
I test VR headsets for a living, and this affordable headstrap is the first Meta Quest 3 accessory you should buy
Both Kiwi design G4 Pro Performance Controller Grips
I thought VR controller grips were pointless until this Meta Quest 3 accessory proved me wrong
The Kiwi design H4 Boost Halo Battery Strap
Want to upgrade your VR headset? Look no further than my new favorite Meta Quest 3 headstrap
WithSecure Elements EPP and EDR main image
I tested the WithSecure Elements EPP and EDR - read how I rated this Endpoint Protection for small business
The RIG M2 Streamstar.
I wanted to love the new RIG M2 Streamstar, but this pricey gaming microphone fails to deliver
Bambu Lab H2D Vs X1C
I've been reviewing the hotly anticipated Bambu Lab H2D for a month, and it's the most versatile machine I've ever used