New Blackberry Tour 9630

[Matt_337]

I saw the Iphone 3G thread and wanted to post here how impressed I am with the new bb tour released this week.

I am coming from a bb 8830 world edition (which is a great phone in of itself).
Here is my review posted on CB when I got the phone on Tuesday:

I can't believe how much faster this Tour is. In the past, I'd be having multiple conversations on BB msgr and going through the menu and I'd get some major lagging. On the tour, I have almost absolutely zero lag.
The buttons on the keypad are so solid. I thought my 8830 was real nice compared to my bro's 8330 (curve). But this one beats them all in terms of solidness.
Then, there is the high resolution screen. Browsing on the internet is so much better (and I even upgraded my 8830 to OS 4.5).

Anyway, that's it for now.

I did mention the downside to this phone (not sure if it was on this thread or another since I've been posting a lot today). The ac plug on the phone is in the worst spot if you ever plan on typing and charging at the same time.


Now that I've had about a week to play with it, I can't stop raving about it.
It's got a 3.2mp camera too to boot.
Here's a pic I just snapped from my desk:

 

[NetViper]

If only it had wifi.

I have never heard anyone compliment the web browsing on a berry before! Looks like OS5 is coming soon.

 

[KSXNSX]

I went to go play with it on the day it came out. Here are my impressions:

1. It has some bugs. The most notable being that when using the phone, it jumped back to the clock screen every 5 ms. You would do something, and it would flicker back to the clock screen. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but eventually I found that it was set to "show clock when plugged in". Ok, I don't know if it is supposed to act that way, but imo, even if you select that setting to show the clock when it is plugged in, it should allow you to use the phone when you want to. It should only show the clock when the phone is idle. that was a BIG-TIME BUG/DISAPPOINTMENT.

2. The trackball is not precise at all. You can set it to something like 60-70 on the sensitivity, but then you end up rolling the ball 2x more than you would want to as a power-user. This is clearly BAD firmware on RIM's part. I don't think the trackball design is inherently bad, but none of the phone makers have made good firmware for it.

3. Web browsing is terrible on this, and all Blackberrys I've used before.

To sum it up, I just don't believe in RIM's engineers. They clearly don't hire the best of the best, and they don't put much thought in their user-interface. I think the most poignant example of RIM's dearth of engineering talent is the Storm. The one I tried in the store froze up on me twice in that short amount of time I was playing with it. After 6+ months of time to figure it out, you would think they'd have fixed the bugs in the storm by now.

I was seriously considering the tour, but I don't think I could deal with it. The only reason imo to get a Blackberry is for the hard qwerty keyboard, and the one on the tour was too small for me. My typing was not any faster, and I was using my thumbnails most of the time. My thumb even slipped on a key once because they use hard keys, unlike the Palm Pre. I couldn't figure out why the Pre used sticky keys before (I hated it) but I think now I know why: small keyboards + hard keys --> fingernail-typing/slipping. The keyboard on the Bold was much better even though they are nearly identical. That little bit of size really helps.

The most annoying thing is probably that they lack wifi on this tour--but they said they are re-releasing the tour in one year with wifi. WTF?

Also, has anyone noticed that Verizon's phones always get cheaper materials than the same phones that go to other carriers? My RAZR came with some cheap plastic keypad. I remember one of the advertising points on the RAZR was the laser-etched nickle keypad. I think that Verizon negotiates cheaper materials on the phones to make more $$$. The "chrome" on the Tour was obviously just some coated plastic material, and the keypad just felt cheap compared to the Bold at the ATT store. Maybe it is just the tour itself, but it def. did not have that blackberry keyboard feel imo, even though all the reviews say it is great. I guess I am in the minority.

 

[NetViper]

I went to go play with it on the day it came out. Here are my impressions:

1. It has some bugs. The most notable being that when using the phone, it jumped back to the clock screen every 5 ms. You would do something, and it would flicker back to the clock screen. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, but eventually I found that it was set to "show clock when plugged in". Ok, I don't know if it is supposed to act that way, but imo, even if you select that setting to show the clock when it is plugged in, it should allow you to use the phone when you want to. It should only show the clock when the phone is idle. that was a BIG-TIME BUG/DISAPPOINTMENT.

2. The trackball is not precise at all. You can set it to something like 60-70 on the sensitivity, but then you end up rolling the ball 2x more than you would want to as a power-user. This is clearly BAD firmware on RIM's part. I don't think the trackball design is inherently bad, but none of the phone makers have made good firmware for it.

3. Web browsing is terrible on this, and all Blackberrys I've used before.

To sum it up, I just don't believe in RIM's engineers. They clearly don't hire the best of the best, and they don't put much thought in their user-interface. I think the most poignant example of RIM's dearth of engineering talent is the Storm. The one I tried in the store froze up on me twice in that short amount of time I was playing with it. After 6+ months of time to figure it out, you would think they'd have fixed the bugs in the storm by now.

I was seriously considering the tour, but I don't think I could deal with it. The only reason imo to get a Blackberry is for the hard qwerty keyboard, and the one on the tour was too small for me. My typing was not any faster, and I was using my thumbnails most of the time. My thumb even slipped on a key once because they use hard keys, unlike the Palm Pre. I couldn't figure out why the Pre used sticky keys before (I hated it) but I think now I know why: small keyboards + hard keys --> fingernail-typing/slipping. The keyboard on the Bold was much better even though they are nearly identical. That little bit of size really helps.

The most annoying thing is probably that they lack wifi on this tour--but they said they are re-releasing the tour in one year with wifi. WTF?

Also, has anyone noticed that Verizon's phones always get cheaper materials than the same phones that go to other carriers? My RAZR came with some cheap plastic keypad. I remember one of the advertising points on the RAZR was the laser-etched nickle keypad. I think that Verizon negotiates cheaper materials on the phones to make more $$$. The "chrome" on the Tour was obviously just some coated plastic material, and the keypad just felt cheap compared to the Bold at the ATT store. Maybe it is just the tour itself, but it def. did not have that blackberry keyboard feel imo, even though all the reviews say it is great. I guess I am in the minority.

I thought you were getting an iPhone? I think I am going with the Pre. I just think it is a better OS with a lot more potential. The iPhone is cool, but I have to hack to get it to work how I want it. The Pre just works.

 

[KSXNSX]

I thought you were getting an iPhone? I think I am going with the Pre. I just think it is a better OS with a lot more potential. The iPhone is cool, but I have to hack to get it to work how I want it. The Pre just works.

Yeah, I am definitely looking into the iPhone. The only thing holding me back is all these reports of terrible service on ATT's part. That's why I looked at the Tour.

I hear the Palm Pre is coming in 6 months or so, and if the Pre were on Verizon today, I would def. pick it up--no questions. But I need a new phone with data before September.

Hopefully the Storm2 is released in early august and does not have any problems with the OS.

 

[jond]

Hopefully the Storm2 is released in early august and does not have any problems with the OS.

The current storm on the newest verizon OS is actually good. The latest OS fixed a lot. I think it's 4.7 if I remember right.

 

[NetViper]

The current storm on the newest verizon OS is actually good. The latest OS fixed a lot. I think it's 4.7 if I remember right.

I think Storm 2 is on OS 5. I will tell you in a few weeks.

 

[Matt_337]

Storm 2 will be OS 5.0

The Tour will be OS 5.0 also. RIM just rushed out the Tours with 4.7 just to meet VZW and Sprint's asking. The Desktop Manager disk that came with our Tours are DM 5.0. I've already got BB Msgr 5.0 on my phone and it's great. I can't wait until OS 5.0 is released because with my BBM upgraded, I am now able to scan bar codes from other BB's and add them to my contact list. With this kind of technology, I am assuming RIM has bigger things planned with this functionality (i.e. Google phone that scans bar codes and looks them up on the internet for pricing). On this last part, I'm just guessing

One can hope :wink:

 

[Matt_337]

Here is another cool feature of the new BBM 5.0

Create a 3d barcode in order to direct another bb user to a website of your choice.



Here's my 3d barcode for NSXPrime

Try it if you got it

 

[NetViper]

Here is another cool feature of the new BBM 5.0

Create a 3d barcode in order to direct another bb user to a website of your choice.



Here's my 3d barcode for NSXPrime

Try it if you got it

So what do I do with that? I have BBM 5 now also.

 

[Matt_337]

So what do I do with that? I have BBM 5 now also.

Click on the Menu button (blackberry symbol) on your phone while in BBM.
Then, click add contact
Then, scan invitation barcode from another bb
Then your camera will operate and you just aim the camera at the barcode.
Once it focuses on, your browser will open up and take you to the site.

When adding contacts, once your camera has scanned the code, that person will be added to your bbm.

I'll PM you my bar code so you can practice if you want.

 

[KSXNSX]

The current storm on the newest verizon OS is actually good. The latest OS fixed a lot. I think it's 4.7 if I remember right.

I think I was playing with the newest OS. This was just 1-2 weeks ago in the store. That's why I was so disappointed with RIM. They obviously cleaned up a lot of things like the typing, but it still froze up on me.

I did hear about an upcoming blackberry with a touch screen+ hard qwerty. That sounds very promising to me. I think I could get down with that.

I hope the Storm 2 is released by mid-August and is a good performer.

 

[Matt_337]

I went back to 4.7 because there were too many bugs in 5.0

Msgs were getting sent in the wrong order...too many delays...
I'll just wait for RIM to release the official version. I can't wait though.

 

[KSXNSX]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVSI...-click-screen-and-all&feature=player_embedded

Here is a sneak peek vid of the Blackberry Storm2. Granted it is a pre-release version, but as you can tell, it still performs like crap. Even if it is pre-release firmware/software, it should be performing well considering that it is basically an evolution of the Storm1.

I am telling you, RIM lacks engineering/programming talent.

 

[NetViper]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVSI...-click-screen-and-all&feature=player_embedded

Here is a sneak peek vid of the Blackberry Storm2. Granted it is a pre-release version, but as you can tell, it still performs like crap. Even if it is pre-release firmware/software, it should be performing well considering that it is basically an evolution of the Storm1.

I am telling you, RIM lacks engineering/programming talent.

It looks like total crap. Exactly the same thing as storm one with a different case. I'll pass.

I am still going with the Pre, but they have no decent IM component yet so I am waiting. You would think they would have at least had a great IM on there to start.

 

[KSXNSX]

It looks like total crap. Exactly the same thing as storm one with a different case. I'll pass.

I am still going with the Pre, but they have no decent IM component yet so I am waiting. You would think they would have at least had a great IM on there to start.

You mean there are no chat clients at all? You can't even download anything?

hmm...

The Pre was looking really good to me. I read an article that their exclusivity deal with Sprint will be longer than Verizon's executives thought. Verizon won't get the Pre until the first half of 2010.

 

[NetViper]

You mean there are no chat clients at all? You can't even download anything?

hmm...

The Pre was looking really good to me. I read an article that their exclusivity deal with Sprint will be longer than Verizon's executives thought. Verizon won't get the Pre until the first half of 2010.

It has google talk and aim built in. I use neither. It is desperate for beejive. I read the other day hackers founf icons for msn and yahoo in the pre so maybe they are planning to add them soon. Also complaints of battery life have gotten better and better. I still think the pre is the way to go. The web os is much better than rims os imo and also the iphone. They just released the pre sdk so we can expext a lot of apps to come. I would guess anyone who makes an iphone app will make a pre app. When it gets on verizon there will be a ton of them out there.

 

[davidf]

LOL Matt. I have the same figuring on my desk.