For a long time now I've been using a beat up Nokia 62 something something and I always thought it was good enough for me. You know, I'm already spending about 95 percent of my day staring at a screen, and I didn't really think that the last 5 percent should be the same. So I stuck to my Nokia, keeping emails and surfing for the computer. But like any piece of technology that is older than a month, my Nokia died on me and my wife surprised me with a new BlackBerry.

It's called the BlackBerry Curve 8520 or Gemini for some reason, and it turned out to be the perfect phone for my needs. First of all, it's kind of a low end BlackBerry, although I can't really understand what's so low end about it, maybe because it's my first BlackBerry experience. But it is a budget device and it seems to work perfect with my needs or any other BlackBerry first timers out there.

My novice smart phone friends were surprised that my 8520 doesn't have a GPS inside and it doesn't have a flashy screen, but heck, it's doing everything a BlackBerry should do. It sends emails? Check. It's easy on the messaging? Check. It's nice looking? Check.

What's cool about it?

First of all it doesn't have that annoying joystick or rollerball or whatever you call it. Just like in my laptop, the Gemini has a cool little trackpad and by gliding your finger over it you can scroll through menus, icons and info. So navigation is pretty easy.

The screen is also nice on my weary eyes. It is bright and quite sharp and they say it displays over 65,000 colors (I don't know what that means but it looks great). The machine is also really nice to touch. It's not too big and it fits my pocket quite comfortably. The best thing about it is the rubberized body meaning that it never slips my hand and it feels sturdy.

And it can also make phone calls! Amazing don't you think? My wife sounds like my wife and my kids sound like my kids. I got used to the keyboard pretty fast so messaging wasn't a problem as well.

What's less cool about it?

They tell ya that the battery lasts for 6 hours of talking. Right… My old Nokia lasted 24 hours, but I guess it's not as fancy as the BlackBerry. Camera is not the brightest one around either. It's got a 2 megapixel capabilities, doesn't have a flash, and frankly – pictures came out looking not too good.

I will definitely recommend the BlackBerry 8520 to people like me who are upgrading from a no-frills phone. It's fun, reliable, not too shabby and it does the work.

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