14 DAY TRIAL // The first rumors concerning Virdeotron’s plans to launch the BlackBerry Curve 9360 emerged almost two months ago. However, the smartphone made it to shelves only today, along with another affordable smartphone, the Nokia 500.
Videotron decided to put the same price tag on both handsets, so potential customers will be able to purchase either of two for the same amount, $49.95 (37 EUR) on reduced rates.
Still, the Curve 9360 is more expansive for customers who want to pay for the full price, as the carrier is offering the smartphone for a suggested retail price of $329.95 (245 EUR). Nokia 500 is available for only $209.95 (155 EUR) outright.
The huge price gap between the two devices is a bit unusual, especially that both smartphones were launched on the market around the same time frame and feature almost similar specs.
For example, Nokia 500 is equipped with a 1 Ghz single core processor, while the Curve 9360 is powered by a slightly lower 800 MHz CPU.
Furthermore, RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 9360 packs 512 MB storage and 512 MB of RAM, whereas the Nokia 500 embeds 2 GB onboard memory, 256 MB of RAM and 512 MB of ROM. However, both smartphone come with microSD card slot for memory expansion (up to 32GB).
Anyway, the devices have different targets and run different mobile platforms, so it’s quite understandable to have different prices as well.
The Curve 9360 is powered by RIM’s latest BlackBerry 7 operating system, while the Nokia 500 runs the old Symbian Anna platform.
It is also worth mentioning that the Nokia 500 has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen that supports 360 x 640 pixels resolution, while the Curve 9360 sports a standard 2.44-inch display with 480 x 360 pixels resolution.
In other news, Videotron also offer a promo on three smartphones, which are now available at various discounts: LG Optimus 2X, Samsung Galaxy mini and Samsung Nexus S.
