[mr23]

This is my first BB. This phone is awesome. I was using a Palm Pre before this.

[BrennB]

The Tour was my first BB, came from WinMO phones...
I loved the Tour, had very few problems with it, traded up (gave Tour to my son to replace his tired curve) and never looked back.
This phone is not that different than the Tour but its that much better!

[mrJulez]

100% agreed

[schaplin]

I, too, just switched from a Pre to a BB. I have to agree this phone is awesome!! I love it!!! It even gets data coverage when I was in roam with my Pre.

[anon(1600764)]

Yea I'm finally not going to change phone before a years time lol. This one has it all

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[pynkfloydd]

First Blackberry here too... I switched from a few WinMo phones and it's been a great experience. No more cooked ROMs, no more quirks to deal with; it works how I expect it to. I had a call quality issue (people saying I sounded muffled on calls) at first, but I did the update and so far, it's been perfect!

[mjbesen310]

yup, these phones are a beast!

[tourboy]

Just got home from the local Sprint store and must say first off, the trackpad is night and day compared to the 9630's trackball. Beyond that, maybe it was just me expecting more, but like an automobile, reminded me of a mid year refresher. A chance for BB to advertise their new flagship, but not sure what the point was adding the Bold name to it. Still not 100% convinced on this device given the current cost. I guess after owning the 9630 for a VERY short period of time, I was hoping BB would had done more. Definitely a great device, but for many of us, kind of like the been there, seen it, done it already?

[papped]

Basically it overcomes all the shortcomings that all of the other BB's encountered (except for the 9700).

9000 was pretty great, but it had memory problems (and of course any trackball can fail). 9630 had a ton of trackball problems + some software and build quality problems and no wifi. 8530 was quite reliable and had wifi, but didn't have the higher end specs like the camera, screen res and EVDO rev A.

Basically this puts it on par with the 9700 without having to use GSM and the double memory + OS6 compatibility. So I'm happy.

I still kinda miss the size of the 9000 though. The physical size made the keyboard and screen really great.

[Username00089]

I still kinda miss the size of the 9000 though. The physical size made the keyboard and screen really great.

My sentiments exactly. The 9000 was easily the most comfortable qwerty
keyboard I ever typed on.

[r.santa1]

$9700 is the real bold. It still is a tour that is what the tour should have been.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[papped]

Who cares if it's a "real" bold or not. It basically puts the "Tour" line on par with the 9700 and then exceeds it in some regards, which is all anyone on CDMA cares about.

[nRRe]

$9700 is the real bold. It still is a tour that is what the tour should have been.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

aww look, someone else still stuck up on the name change.

[JMountainDew]

Hey, I don't care what it's called, it's my first Blackberry (came from a history of palm os and win mo), and despite a few qwirks, I'm really pleased to have it.

[tourboy]

I am sure you will enjoy it then if its your first BB.

Hey, I don't care what it's called, it's my first Blackberry (came from a history of palm os and win mo), and despite a few qwirks, I'm really pleased to have it.

[sj-performance]

this is a great blackberry....one of the best to date...when os 6.0 comes out and webkit and the 512mb...oh wow! =]

[dollface]

Basically it overcomes all the shortcomings that all of the other BB's encountered (except for the 9700).

9000 was pretty great, but it had memory problems (and of course any trackball can fail). 9630 had a ton of trackball problems + some software and build quality problems and no wifi. 8530 was quite reliable and had wifi, but didn't have the higher end specs like the camera, screen res and EVDO rev A.

Basically this puts it on par with the 9700 without having to use GSM and the double memory + OS6 compatibility. So I'm happy.

I still kinda miss the size of the 9000 though. The physical size made the keyboard and screen really great.

Hey Papped, I'm thinking of taking advantage of the CB offer today to get the 9650 for $179 (instant rebate). So you like this over the Tour??

[papped]

Hey Papped, I'm thinking of taking advantage of the CB offer today to get the 9650 for $179 (instant rebate). So you like this over the Tour??

Yeah, the Tour had a bunch of problems. Unreliable build quality, trackball failures were seriously rampant (worse than any other bb), the Tour's OS 4.7.1 was terrible.

The 9650 seems smoother (probably using the newer qualcomm chipset + 512 ram). The network instability on the 9630 doesn't seem to be happening on the 9650 for me either.

All that + OS6 compatibility, wifi and trackpad. So yeah I would rank my last few phones in this order:

9650 > 8530 > 9000(although the low memory was annoying) > 9630

[Monty2004]

I have a 9650. When I plug it in to desktop manager it says: total space available: 0kb. I can't add anything through DM. is anyone else having this issue?

I think you should post this in a few more threads. We haven't read it enough times.

[mi_canuck]

9700 is the real bold. It still is a tour that is what the tour should have been.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Well if you want to get down to details... the 9000 is the real Bold... it was the first... and defined the form...

Frankly, I find my 9650 a LOT more similar to a 9000 than my 9700 was... just imo...

[mbx22]

I went to the sprint store today to replace my tour with a 9650. So I play with one and the trackpad is so much better than the ball. A sprint rep walks over to me and he sees me holding the tour and says to me "are you having trackball issues ? Is that why you are looking at the 9650?"

He then tells me "we have a service center in this store we could replace the trackball for you and that should solve your problem"

Ten minutes later I walked out without a new toy

I dont think that many tour owners are going to see a drastic difference and be a kid in a candy store until the new OS comes out.

But whether it is called a tour or a bold the new 9650 is really a great phone like the old 9630

[phonejunky]

From what i hear this is a really good Tour 2 can't wait for Verizon to get its first Bold though

[dollface]

Yeah, the Tour had a bunch of problems. Unreliable build quality, trackball failures were seriously rampant (worse than any other bb), the Tour's OS 4.7.1 was terrible.

The 9650 seems smoother (probably using the newer qualcomm chipset + 512 ram). The network instability on the 9630 doesn't seem to be happening on the 9650 for me either.

All that + OS6 compatibility, wifi and trackpad. So yeah I would rank my last few phones in this order:

9650 > 8530 > 9000(although the low memory was annoying) > 9630

Thanks Papped, just ordered it and hope to have it friday!!!

[tourboy]

I hate to say it, but RIM kind of reminds me of AOL in their last couple of releases; nothing really new, just putting out a release to put one out to advertise they have something "new", but in reality it is mostly the same features as before with little change. Meanwhile, the competition is on the cutting edge and slowly AOL dwindles.

Let's just hope this doesn't happen to RIM.

Saw this statement over on the Android forum and it really made me think:

the funny thing about this phone is it sold for just as much as an iPhone or Android device with a weaker browser, cheaper build, and really more cost efficient for the carriers and RIM, while you all pay the same prices.

$9700 is the real bold. It still is a tour that is what the tour should have been.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Monty2004]

I hate to say it, but RIM kind of reminds me of AOL in their last couple of releases; nothing really new, just putting out a release to put one out to advertise they have something "new", but in reality it is mostly the same features as before with little change. Meanwhile, the competition is on the cutting edge and slowly AOL dwindles.

Let's just hope this doesn't happen to RIM.

Saw this statement over on the Android forum and it really made me think:

the funny thing about this phone is it sold for just as much as an iPhone or Android device with a weaker browser, cheaper build, and really more cost efficient for the carriers and RIM, while you all pay the same prices.

My how you've turned over the past week, tourboy!