[HollyDolly]

I've had this phone for almost 10 days. Having issues since day 1.

On day 2, I had to wipe and reinstall the OS. I'm afraid to put any of my apps on there, because the minute I do (and they're supposedly compatible with this model), something starts to go wacky. I have practically zero apps on the phone, for fear it'll interfere - what is that? And it's 2012 - we still have to reboot a phone before it allows an app to be completely wiped, every.single.time? Really?

The battery drain is impressive; must charge halfway through the day, with normal usage, every day. The red LED flashes when I make a call and it doesn't stop until, 1) The battery is completely drained; or, 2) I soft reset the phone (Alt Shift Del), which has happened MANY times so far.

The touch screen is a nightmare. It's unresponsive when I'm touching it to DO anything, but it randomly responds to going in/out of holster or from my hand to be set on my desk - and it CONSTANTLY keeps dialing out the last number called - yes, I've readjusted the sensitivities of everything. But it still randomly dials numbers. I can't tell you how many times I've had to either apologize to people for calling them 2x in a row, or hanging up (knowing they can see my number). It's embarrassing and frustrating.

The camera is horrible, partially due to the touch screen. I try to take a picture with the trackpad, and somehow the 9930 thinks I want to change the flash/no flash option via touch - I didn't touch the screen!! The pictures it takes are quite unimpressive, and yea, no auto-focus. C'mon.

And it's iffy with push and or/twitter mentions showing up. Sometimes, my emails never arrive, but they're on the server and I see them on my computer in my inbox. I'll log onto twitter only to find 6 people had tweeted me, and my BBerry never even blinked once. The OS looks as it always did, the menu is counter-intuitive, and this is like a crappy Blackberry from 4 years ago, with touchscreen.

And forget getting anywhere on the browser. And zoom? It's either too big or too small, never just "large enough" to see what I want. And don't even bother using the touch screen for anything browser-related.

I've never been so unimpressed with a phone in my life. There's nothing about it that I love, and I'm starting to really dislike it.

I've talked to RIM about these issues numerous times and they were supposed to get back to me about an event log they asked me to send. Not a word since. When I reached out, they said, "We're working on it" but I'm not hanging on to this junk until I am outside my return deadline.

RIM, what happened to you? I never thought I'd want to defect to Apple, and I know it has speed issues...but at least if it's anything close to my iPad, it's a heck of a lot better than this ancient technological brick.

And please, don't tell me to get a replacement. What kind of a phone is so lame that it has to keep being exchanged for one to work? I went through the same with my Tour 9630 and it was 2 years of HE-double-hockey-sticks. I blamed the model then. Now I realize it's the manufacturer.

I'm seriously considering returning this has-been and getting an iPhone instead (no guarantee that will work well, but c'mon). At this point, I am done with this relationship and am breaking up with the 9930.

(Helpful) thoughts?

[kbz1960]

Sounds to me like it's time to move on. Nothing wrong with that.

[Coraya]

My first and only 9930 is great. try getting it replaced one. Maybe you got a lemon. never know, i know you said not to suggest replacement, but I'm having a great experience with my 9930 running .374

[Betmen]

Bad phone give it another shot..

[Ferretling]

I just got my 9930 also from Sprint (having come from the Style) and I'm not having any of those issues. I agree that it sounds like you got a bad phone. Mine's working well enough that I am not missing the Style that I loved to pieces, so...

My two cents. Replace and give it one more shot.

[geoffsdad]

You have a bad battery.

[kevinnugent]

Because you can return it with no skin off, I'd do that. One time.

[John Yester]

My replies are in RED

I've had this phone for almost 10 days. Having issues since day 1.

On day 2, I had to wipe and reinstall the OS. I'm afraid to put any of my apps on there, because the minute I do (and they're supposedly compatible with this model), something starts to go wacky. I have practically zero apps on the phone, for fear it'll interfere - what is that? And it's 2012 - we still have to reboot a phone before it allows an app to be completely wiped, every.single.time? Really?


What OS you have installed?

The battery drain is impressive; must charge halfway through the day, with normal usage, every day. The red LED flashes when I make a call and it doesn't stop until, 1) The battery is completely drained; or, 2) I soft reset the phone (Alt Shift Del), which has happened MANY times so far.

Red light flashes when you make a call? Maybe new message? Depends what you are using the device for. Web browsing? How is you signal through out the day?

The touch screen is a nightmare. It's unresponsive when I'm touching it to DO anything, but it randomly responds to going in/out of holster or from my hand to be set on my desk - and it CONSTANTLY keeps dialing out the last number called - yes, I've readjusted the sensitivities of everything. But it still randomly dials numbers. I can't tell you how many times I've had to either apologize to people for calling them 2x in a row, or hanging up (knowing they can see my number). It's embarrassing and frustrating.

Are you pocketing the device? Use the lock/stand by key.

The camera is horrible, partially due to the touch screen. I try to take a picture with the trackpad, and somehow the 9930 thinks I want to change the flash/no flash option via touch - I didn't touch the screen!! The pictures it takes are quite unimpressive, and yea, no auto-focus. C'mon.

You knew it had no auto focus when you bought the device. Research......

As for the settings jumping around. When you touch the track pad to take the picture you finger is moving and changing the settings.

And it's iffy with push and or/twitter mentions showing up. Sometimes, my emails never arrive, but they're on the server and I see them on my computer in my inbox. I'll log onto twitter only to find 6 people had tweeted me, and my BBerry never even blinked once. The OS looks as it always did, the menu is counter-intuitive, and this is like a crappy Blackberry from 4 years ago, with touchscreen.

Tweets will not come through with a bad connection? What twitter app you running?

What setting for the app, are they setup correctly?

And forget getting anywhere on the browser. And zoom? It's either too big or too small, never just "large enough" to see what I want. And don't even bother using the touch screen for anything browser-related.

I suggest using the touch screen for browsing, scrolling and pinch to zoom work fine. Areyou loading full sites? or mobile sites?

I've never been so unimpressed with a phone in my life. There's nothing about it that I love, and I'm starting to really dislike it.

I've talked to RIM about these issues numerous times and they were supposed to get back to me about an event log they asked me to send. Not a word since. When I reached out, they said, "We're working on it" but I'm not hanging on to this junk until I am outside my return deadline.

Have you spoken to your carrier? This would help with a replacement device sent out and hopefully address issue you may be having or not. But I would deal with your cell carrier.

RIM, what happened to you? I never thought I'd want to defect to Apple, and I know it has speed issues...but at least if it's anything close to my iPad, it's a heck of a lot better than this ancient technological brick.

And please, don't tell me to get a replacement. What kind of a phone is so lame that it has to keep being exchanged for one to work? I went through the same with my Tour 9630 and it was 2 years of HE-double-hockey-sticks. I blamed the model then. Now I realize it's the manufacturer.

I'm seriously considering returning this has-been and getting an iPhone instead (no guarantee that will work well, but c'mon). At this point, I am done with this relationship and am breaking up with the 9930.


Sounds like you have already explored options of another device maybe an Android device would work for you, I don't know. I am not you. But i would seriously trouble shoot all your issues and try to make things work the way they should. We seem to be missing something here, It's not a rant IMO. But more a of frustrated user that may have made a bad choice in a device they purchased and regrets it. Or the user really want the device to work for them, but it's software and hardware issues the device is having.. Then try it and see if it works out for you. Nothing wrong with switching device models or manufactures.


No device is perfect by all means. Anyone that says so is full of it.

(Helpful) thoughts?

[fragment137]

I can appreciate that having bad experiences with a phone can deter someone from returning to the brand. If you're that un-happy with RIM then I'd suggest going to another device. Though admittedly I would suggest an Android device over an iPhone... the 4S is not all it's cracked up to be. A joke compared to the major release of the 4... but I digress..

If you want to keep your phone to the same physical form factor, look at the Nexus S, it's a nice device.. fast and responsive too.

[HollyDolly]

Hi, thanks for all the great responses. I'll just write a general reply because I think it will answer most of your combined input(s).

I just got off the phone with RIM again. I have to say, Canadians are super-nice people. Being in L.A. (not from, though!), I don't realize how we talk over here (kind of nice but aggressive/demanding) until I speak with a native Canadian in their homeland. Boy, their being so patient put me to shame that I was ranting, so I toned my voice down. But the truth is, I have loved Blackberry but it's giving me so much grief, on a BRAND NEW phone that I'm truly frustrated! Where's my trusty RIM??

Anyway, so after much back/forth, it turns out RIM is aware that some of the technical issues I'm having (battery drain, phone not charging, etc.) are OS based (7.0.1, for those who asked) and RIM says they "hope to correct this with a future update". That's great, I guess, for many but for me...I've had this phone 10 days and I've had to reboot it at least 3-4 times a day for it to function right. I don't even have any 3rd party apps on there, for fear it will brick the phone. And I've already wiped and reinstalled a clean OS - yes, 7.0.1. - and no, I'm not re-wiping again and putting on an older OS that worked. I just want a phone that does what it says it will, not needing to be re-set 20x, fresh out of the box.

I shouldn't have to worry about all those basics in 2012. So, they said I could send them more event logs (I already sent one set last week) and they could sort it out, but I can't waste my time and risk getting stuck with this phone for another who knows how long on yet another event log analysis.

I already received a replacement, but honestly, why bother? I know some of you say you don't have issues with your phone, but many of us do - much more so than previous models, I think! And I want to be excited about my new phone, not wonder when it will crap out on me, as it did in the middle of the road while I was driving.

I did have the Galaxy GSII prior to this phone, and it got NO reception. I'm in a supposedly 4G area, but wasn't getting 4G except on rooftops. Heck, I wasn't even getting 3G on that phone, and Samsung tech TOLD me they knew this was an issue but kept promising a "future fix," which from what I'd read, never transpires from Samsung. So back went that phone (cool phone, too, when it got reception!).

So I returned it for the Bold - the trusty RIM. Now, this phone does get reception, but less so than its predecessors (in the same office at work, the Tour had better reception than the 9930).

The iPhone 4S...I have read TONS of complaint pages about it as far as download/upload. I know that's an issue which is why I went from the GSII to the Bold. And I've heard iPhone 5 is coming out late March this year, so one could say to wait for that...but it's January, my only other phone (Tour) is almost dead - I need a phone now!

So I'm left wondering what to do next. The 3 phones I've mentioned were my top 3 (GSII, this, and iPhone 4S). And the Nexus S is not far behind with its own issues.

I know all phones have issues, but minor ones, I can deal with: Poor/no reception, battery not charging, calls constantly dropping (happens with my 9930), emails not coming through, calls being made out randomly, cameras being sub-par in picture/function quality...all of these are no-go, deal-breakers for me. We all spend a lot of money on these phones; we deserve better.

So now it's back to the drawing board for me to figure out what to get next. In the meantime, looks like I'll be switching to my 2-years old Tour again until my "upgrade" is reset by Sprint.

[romeo0119]

Selling my 9900 too, end of story! Too many issues that shouldn't occurre w this high end device

[damule6666]

Hi, thanks for all the great responses. I'll just write a general reply because I think it will answer most of your combined input(s).

I just got off the phone with RIM again. I have to say, Canadians are super-nice people. Being in L.A. (not from, though!), I don't realize how we talk over here (kind of nice but aggressive/demanding) until I speak with a native Canadian in their homeland. Boy, their being so patient put me to shame that I was ranting, so I toned my voice down. But the truth is, I have loved Blackberry but it's giving me so much grief, on a BRAND NEW phone that I'm truly frustrated! Where's my trusty RIM??

Loved BlackBerry? Trusty RIM? You stated in your first comment that: "And please, don't tell me to get a replacement. What kind of a phone is so lame that it has to keep being exchanged for one to work? I went through the same with my Tour 9630 and it was 2 years of HE-double-hockey-sticks. I blamed the model then. Now I realize it's the manufacturer."

I fail to see how saying something gave you 2 years of HE|| implies that you felt good about the device... Sounds like you should have went with something different after that bad experience.

Sounds more to me like you just wanted to vent and blow off steam, or something. As you have quite nicely covered just about every issue to date with this device...

I really think you should look elsewhere as this device is not for you. But whatever you decide i wish you luck...

[HollyDolly]

Sounds more to me like you just wanted to vent and blow off steam, or something. As you have quite nicely covered just about every issue to date with this device...

Sounds to me like you don't mind paying a lot of money for a device that doesn't deliver what it promises. But if you mean that I have higher expectations than what I have received for $300 item, you'd be correct.

[StumptownBold]

It took me a good week or two to get used to my 9930 and I've adjusted a lot of things based on what I've read in these forums with good results. Its a great phone once you get everything set up.

It does sound like some of your issues can be addressed by others on this forum or by doing a search for individual problems (really, try searching the foums here, there is a wealth of information, although it can be disorganized at times, but that's why you do a search).

With that said, it also sounds like maybe you got a lemon phone. It happens. Get over it. Swap it out and try again. Camera works pretty good overall for me and I get good/great battery depending on the day (usually have 20% left by 9pm), although I hear others have issues.

Good luck, don't give up. Its a great phone, not perfect, but I have no regrets.

[damule6666]

By all means if your rather expensive piece of equipment is malfunctioning tend to it. But it still puzzles me why after such a horrid experience with your last RIM device "your words not mine" and with this being the height of the information age. You either failed to do your research on the device you bought, or you did and decided to roll the dice.

Because there is no shortage of info on this devices shortcomings and issues. I have had pretty good luck myself with it, but many others like yourself haven't.

And you ask for (helpful) thoughts.
It sounds as though you had made up your mind, what more was there to help you with.

But the bottom line is get what works for you.

[StumptownBold]

Actually, now that I've read the thread again with the various responses, and your pointing out issues with all the other major phones as well, I think it might just be best if you:

switched to a landline only.

[outlawz89]

dont worry i feel the op here. this phone is garbage. whats worse is Rim wont admit it. cost me 90 bucks to fix a circuit short inside the phone and i have no more warrantly.. now im just praying it doesnt brick before i find a new phone

[Gucci33]

My replies are in RED

This is very impressive that a moderator took time to address all your issues. Great job!

[lke1]

Buy an iphone 4S. You will feel like you have a phone that is advanced over 10 years in every way compared to the bold.

Keep your bold for BBM and some things that you don't care. Don't trust your life to this phone because some day it will brick.

[BB.David]

By any chance you on a network extender? I see you're on Sprint but my Verizon network extender sometimes prevents my email or Twitter mentions to come through and is often late, from a few hours to sometimes almost a day.

[pcgizmo#IM]

Red light flashes when you make a call? Maybe new message? Depends what you are using the device for. Web browsing? How is you signal through out the day?

Proximity sensor?

[pcgizmo#IM]

Buy an iphone 4S. You will feel like you have a phone that is advanced over 10 years in every way compared to the bold.

Keep your bold for BBM and some things that you don't care. Don't trust your life to this phone because some day it will brick.

[damule6666]

Click to view quoted image

Back to the bridge with him!!

[pcgizmo#IM]

Back to the bridge with him!!

I'm laughing so hard over the "Buy an iphone 4S. You will feel like you have a phone that is advanced over 10 years in every way compared to the bold" I have tears in my eyes.

[infinus]

Its 2012 and there exist hugh lot of people living in fear about bricking 99XX.
But, buying 99XX was our choice.