Any road warrior is only as good as the weapons in his holster. This past few mointhsI have been road warrior extraordinaire with my new wonder weapon of mass communications by my side through several typical eastern road trips.

RIM sent me one of their new Blackberry Curves to try out.

I took a bit of time to warm to the Curve. The main issue I had was the roller ball interface. There is a small roller right above the thumb keyboard that you use to navigate. I was partial to the older Blackberry interface of a thumb-wheel on the side of the device.

At first I found the roller ball a little finicky to manage and the hand position less than optimal. After about 3 days that faded and now I do believe I prefer the roller ball.

Initial set up of the Curve was facilitated by some new additions to the Blackberry Desktop software. There is a migration utility allowing you to move all your data, settings and preferences from one Blackberry to another.

I have an account with Rogers, meaning I have a SIM card with all my account information on it that can move from device to device. I was able to move my real account over to the Curve rather than just use a demo account as often happens when we review phones and PDAs. I like having my own account as it offers a more “real world” experience as I try out new gear.

I did have to activate the new phone, but that was quite simple, I just logged on to the web client and sent new service books to the Blackberry. It was the most technical part of the install, and one that tech support can easily walk you through if you have an issue.

The migration tool took about an hour or so to do everything and from box opening to fully functional I was about 2 hours to get the curve up and running.

The first new feature I tried out was the Bluetooth connectivity and new voice commands. They both are excellent. I can easily dial my phone through Bluetooth headset (I am using the Plantronics Voyager) without any training or registration. I am more than a little impressed with that functionality.

This is actually the first phone that I regularly use with a Bluetooth headset. The audio fidelity seems very good. I am not sure if this is due to something RIM has done, or my falling expectations of Bluetooth audio quality or the fact I am aging and my hearing may be going!

The Curve also uses the Rogers high speed EDGE network, for data transmission and I have noticed an increase in reliability there.

I do a lot of text messaging, SMS, and had found on my old Blackberry (8700) that occasionally when the network connection was questionable the odd message would get lost into the ether. Most disconcerting, loosing one sentence in the middle of a conversation!

But the Edge network seems much more robust and in the same locations I had occasional SMS issues I now have none.

The Curve is smaller, prettier and the screen is drop dead gorgeous. It is tough for me to find fault. It is a good thing for RIM. They have always done a lot right on their devices but had gaping holes in other areas. This one is done right, and with the increasing competition from Palm, HP, Nokia, and Apple to name a few, they needed to hit a home run with the Curve. I believe the ball has left the yard!