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Research in Motion’s new BlackBerry Curve 8520 is a quad-band, T-Mobile world phone. At first glance it doesn’t seem like much: it’s a 2.5G phone so it’s not “AS” fast as some other designs. Plus, the Curve’s “candy bar” shape makes it seem like many phones that came before it.

But, don’t be fooled. What is inside (and outside) the 8520 makes it very special.

Inside, the processor has nearly doubled in speed from previous Curves. It seems a lot faster than my BlackBerry Flip. Internal memory has quadrupled (to 256MB). Camera (stills/video) is 2.0 megapixels. Wi-fi is of the 802.11b/g variety. Bluetooth is 2.0 (mono/stereo). The replaceable/rechargeable battery pack is an 1150 mAh cryptographic lithium cell. Storage is handled by a microSD card (up to 16GB cards are available, a 1GB card is provided).

On the outside, a few improvements of note:

The horrible BlackBerry roller-ball pointing system has been replaced with a nifty clickable track pad. Just glide your finger over it gently to navigate. I found that it works very well in preliminary tests. This new pointer is so good that it will probably find its way into subsequent BlackBerry designs.

There are a set of dedicated audio (and video) controls on the top edge of the handset. They’re where you’d expect “on-off” switches to be. The stereo headset jack is on the left side edge and rubber-covered volume controls are on the right.

The screen is now flush with the handset body. It looks a lot nicer.

Overall the 8520 measures 4.3 by 2.4 by 0.55 inches and weighs 3.7 ounces. The battery is said to be good for 4.5 hours of talk and as much as 17 days of standby. As always, your mileage will vary depending on how you actually use the phone.

I don’t have a problem with the phone working on GPRS/EDGE and not 3G networks. It saves on battery life, works nearly everywhere on the planet and keeps actual phone construction prices down. Just don’t expect to watch your favorite YouTube videos on your 8520.

This phone also has T-Mobile’s UMA (phone-calls-over-Wi-fi) system. It’s a HotSpot calling service which lets you make/receive voice calls and data over almost any accessible wireless network. At home that means you use your cell phone for VoIP calling. I’ve been using it for more than a year. It works like a charm.

The only feature on the new phone that I don’t like is the back cover. There are rubberized strips on the top and bottom edges – but the battery compartment cover is plastic (not to interfere with the circuitry). It opens easily with a fingernail. Unfortunately, on my sample, it doesn’t close as securely. Seems a bit loose.

T-Mobile starts selling the 8520 on Wednesday. They’ll be charging $129.99 with a two-year service contract.

Wal-Mart has already started selling the same exact phone for $48.88 (with a two-year T-Mobile contract)! Where would you buy yours?