Travelling again. Among other things, I'm going to great lengths to review my new BlackBerry Curve 8310 ($999, Vodafone), which has GPS and Google Earth and Google Maps.

On Friday, before I left, I could use my Curve to pinpoint my location, then display a zoomable satellite map of Auckland, or switch to a local street map on its huge screen. Although you do have to wait a number of beats - and notwithstanding that the Curve is restricted to GPRS bandwith (call it 2.5G) - it still displayed my position and the relevant maps noticeably faster than my usual phone, which happens to be the only other phone on the market with GPS: Nokia's N95, which enjoys 3G Broadband (3.5G). BlackBerry's more closed system is just better at tweaking data and optimising it for a mobile phone screen. A colleague emailed me a 2MB pic and, bang, seconds later it was on my Curve's 320x240 screen. Hitting LAX, I asked for a PDF of a section of our new Gear Guide publication to be sent to me. A minute later, there the pages were on my BlackBerry (you can also read files created by any Microsoft Office app).

In New Zealand, you use Google Earth and Maps proper, though with some useful shortcuts, such as a BlackBerry menu command to flip from satellite to street view. Here at my final destination, Boston, there's a special, BlackBerry optimised version that's even faster. There's also a trip-planning app.

I know the BlackBerry Pearl has proved popular, with its more cellphone-style form-factor and keypad. But the BlackBerry's raison d'etre remains its push email-function (synching your PC's email and calendar with your hand-held in real-time) and for writing email I prefer the Curve's full QWERTY keyboard. The Curve 8310 does make some concession to consumer-dom, however, with the addition of a 2 megapixel camera (something notably absent from the business-mind BlackBerry family until the advent of the Pearl).

I do have my Nokia N95 on me this trip too, and it has actually proved worth its salt.
Its 5 megapixel digital camera and pretty-good video mean I haven't bothered packing a separate camera. And its wi-fi (lacking in the BlackBerry) means I can access Google Earth and Maps, or of course anything else on the net, wherever I've got free wi-fi (my hotel, anywhere there's a chump without security enabled, Starbucks). Nice. This phone has grown on me.

My hotel's broadband, by the way, is $US10 a day for unlimited in-room use, and unlimited wi-fi around reception and the meeting rooms, though I actually get it completely free as part of my package deal (I'm here for a global meeting hosted by PC World's publisher). And you can get a static IP if you want. Best deal I've come across.