Phones 4u recently announced an exclusive pink BlackBerry Curve 8520. We braved blizzards and black ice to get our hands on one to bring you all the details.

Well we say details, but the Curve 8520 has been around for a while. We reviewed it in full back in August 2009, and you can read that review here if you want to know exactly we thought about it at the time. 

It isn’t the most advanced BlackBerry around, but it is affordable: Phones 4u are selling this pink number for £129.95 on pay as you go, or free on certain monthly tariffs; we glanced over those listed and we reckon you could probably haggle on some of them for a better deal…

The downsides of this model are that it doesn’t offer you 3G or GPS, whilst the 2-megapixel camera is limited and has no flash. It also won’t offer you the latest version of the BlackBerry operating system, BlackBerry 6.

But on the plus side it offers you that full smartphone experience, the best email service on the planet, one of the best keyboards you can set your fingers on and Wi-Fi will save your data minutes.

The lack of 3G isn’t totally debilitating on a BlackBerry - it doesn’t impact on the email experience or cause you problems with messaging, but will make some app updates and browsing the Internet whilst out of Wi-Fi range a little slow. However, you will find that Facebook Places, accessed through the Facebook app, won’t work without 3G or GPS. Boo!

You also get smart integration of features like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, eBay and LinkedIn, which you can download from BlackBerry App World. Of course, you also get BBM so you can keep up with your mates.

We found a 2GB microSD card bundled in the box, but it supports up to 32GB, so you can carry around all your music with you. The 8520 also features media keys on the top, so if music is your thing, it is more practical than some of the other BlackBerry handsets out there.

“The Blackberry Curve 8520 has been an incredibly popular handset with our customers and we are delighted to be offering it exclusively in pink this Christmas. We pride ourselves on continuing to offer our customers only the very best handsets so they can ‘Get it right this Christmas’ at Phones 4u”, said Russell Braterman, Phones 4u marketing director. 

Maybe Santa Baby will slip a pink BlackBerry Curve 8520 under the tree this Christmas.

Is this what you want to find slipped into your stocking on Christmas morning? Let us know in the comments below...