[whodatatdado]

This morning, I picked up a new Torch from my local AT&T store. Second person in line - not a lot of fan-fare.

Got home and noticed two issues:
1) "Metallic" sound when I spoke into the phone during phone calls
2) Loose screw under the slider that eventually fell out into my hand.

Back to the store. Great staff, gave me a second phone and off I went.

After spending another hour setting it up, I realized the slider was pretty loose. Signal "bars" were also changing constantly. Sitting on my couch and holding the phone in my hand, I'd watch the bars go from 1 bar to full strength. Back to the store I went.

The employee who helped me earlier pulled two phones out from the back for us to test. Both had solid sliders, but the first one had the metallic speaker. So I headed back home with my third Torch of the day.

Now, here's where I am...
1) Same erratic signal strength
2) static on the line when the headset jack is touched/moved during a call
3) slightly loose feeling optical pad (I could just be feeling overly critical here... it's not terrible, but definitely not "sturdy" feeling).

Not sure what to do. Hoping someone can help me with the signal strength issue. My old Pearl 8100 never had this problem - signal strength was always great.

And no.... I don't want an iPhone

Pretty disappointed, but want this to work!

Thanks in advance.

[Lspera]

Bought one today.. the touchpad is VERY unresponsive, I'll be exchanging later this week.

[Qwikhas]

i have the signal issues and the static sound with the headset plugged in on my 9000.

[whodatatdado]

Lspera, Did you try playing with the trackpad sensitivity? I set mine to 80 and it's very nice.

The problem I have on the trackpad is with the actual "Click". It doesn't feel well constructed. But like I said, I might be overly sensitive about it.

[whodatatdado]

One more thing... the phone says I'm on 3G, even with the low signal strength. Not sure if that is relevant or not.

[pattste]

Where are these phones manufactured? Canada? Mexico? China? In all the reviews, I haven't seen this mentioned at all.

[Garyberry]

It sounds to me like there are bad batches out there. Out of 20 customer "reviews" of their new purchased, I have read 5 that describe the " metallic or Tinny" sound. Your store might have gotten a bad batch. I suggest going to a different ATT location. I would also ask if you can the new phone in front of them, so if you see the same issues, they'll know you are on the up and up with the issues.

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[Deluzioned]

the recent 9650 release had signal issues. It took 2 OS updates to fix it. Mine is mostly under control.

My battery lasts a lot longer now that the phone isn't constantly bouncing around signals

[Jude526]

I am with Verizon but years ago I had a signal problem. Prior to having Blackberry I always had LG phones. I live in Cave Creek, which is considered rural, but it is building up. But once I upgraded with a Samsung because I wanted a full qwerty and it also closed. Anyway, it wouldn't keep signal in my home area, but every other LG phone I had would. I couldn't use this phone where it mattered most, my home ! I would dial, it would drop while dialing. I had to switch back to LG but also don't have problems with BB.
You might have an issue with the signal on the Torch. It may show good signal in your AT&T store but when you are home, it won't. So, that wouldn't be a fair assessment. I know you want this BB and are trying hard to get it to work for you. But to have a phone that will only work half way for you and have a contract for two years isn't realistic nor is it good for you. You will just be dissatisfied and not interested in using the device. The most popular phone on the planet isn't good if it isn't going to work 100% for you. My suggestion is try another BB model or another model all together. I don't think the Torch is going to give you the signal you need. And the Samsung issue I had.......tried 3 different ones.....so it was that phone.
Good luck

[whodatatdado]

Thanks all,

I've noticed others with the reception issues - one poster suggested it might be the network and potentially will settle down in a day or so. Bad batch? Maybe.

I am considering checking out another store - will give it till Sunday or Monday to see how things pan out.

[mark_rivers19]

Mine is made in Mexico.. with some parts from Japan and France.. according to the box.. no problems so far.. except for when syncing im getting the Error in address book sync

[amrk47]

what do you guys expect from purchasing a brand new product on day 1

[1JZ_GTE]

I guess I am lucky then....no major issues with my Torch!!!

[kenguy79]

I haven't had the sound or reception issues that I can tell, but I am a little concerned that my slider mechanism is just a bit loose. This may be the nature if the beast, the palm pre didn't seem to have this type of "slack"

I kinda hope that I have one in a bad batch and the mech is actually really tight. Mine kinda feels like a storm...when you shake it, it has a little play.


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[kenguy79]

I haven't had the sound or reception issues that I can tell, but I am a little concerned that my slider mechanism is just a bit loose. This may be the nature if the beast, the palm pre didn't seem to have this type of "slack"

I kinda hope that I have one in a bad batch and the mech is actually really tight. Mine kinda feels like a storm...when you shake it, it has a little play.

I'm also on my second phone. First on had more play and the send side of the button bar was raised up too much.


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[gamecaptor]

@whodatatdado: YES! I bought a Torch and the Metallic sound you describe is EXACTLY what I heard. What was even weirder is that I would still hear it with my headphones plugged in. I went back to the AT&T Store and asked to listen to another Torch and I heard the same thing! I was thinking that's just the way these new phones are, so I returned it and ended up getting an iPhone (went from a Bold 9000).
@Garyberry: I didn't consider there was a bad "batch" of them out there. Could very well be the case here (this was an AT&T store in North San Jose, CA). I guess it could be expected being a Day 1 product, but I've always had very good luck with Blackberry's and I guess I expected more/better from them.

[whodatatdado]

I also got mine in San Jose... how's the iPhone for you? I'm a heavy Outlook user (email, contacts and calendar), and have been concerned about moving to an iPhone since day one. They've never come close to BB in that area. But I'm seriously reconsidering now.

[pellucida2010]

I also got mine in San Jose... how's the iPhone for you? I'm a heavy Outlook user (email, contacts and calendar), and have been concerned about moving to an iPhone since day one. They've never come close to BB in that area. But I'm seriously reconsidering now.

I'm getting my torch in a few days. I'm a previous blackberry user and can't wait to go back, but am currently using an iPhone and it syncs everything beautifully with outlook. I sync my contacts, notes, and calendar stuff with outlook, both over the air and when I backup with iTunes.

[gamecaptor]

@whodatatdado: I am also a heavy Outlook user (Exchange 2010 backend). As far as integration goes, it works perfectly. One thing that the iPhone (and the Blackberry) does that the Android and Windows Mobile Phones don't do is sync subfolders of contacts. You have your 'root' Contacts folder, and say you make a subfolder called "Family" and add a bunch of contacts in there. An Android or Windows Mobile Phone will not show those users (for the life of me can't understand why since they are all using ActiveSync; seems like that should be a no brainer).
I�ll say this, I�ve been a Blackberry users for many years, so this being my first few hours of playing with a touch screen as a keyboard, I hate it! BUT I�ve had many people tell me just to be patient and give it some time and it will get easier. And while I have no doubt it will become more natural, I still do not believe I will ever be as effective on it as I was on my Blackberry. Though, this just might be a sign for me to learn to shorten my text/emails a bit.

[3G.BoldBerry]

got to be bad luck, mine runs sweet, power speed and the slider is tight no looseness we will see in another week. but so far so good.

[scotty boy]

I hope you guys get your kinks worked out shortly, because I have never been more pleased with a phone before. I'm very glad that I went out and got this phone. This is definitely going to make tomorrow go by real quick - HELLO WEEKEND.

[capricepusha]

The phone is pretty dope im impressed, but i hope the others get worked out also

[greggebhardt]

what do you guys expect from purchasing a brand new product on day 1

I expected what I got. Mine works well with no problems.

[Serkle K]

Signal "bars" were also changing constantly. Sitting on my couch and holding the phone in my hand, I'd watch the bars go from 1 bar to full strength.

I've had this kind of issue in the past with new phones. Not sure how you purchased your device, but on many devices I bought outright I noticed I had many of the signal issues.

The resolution was the IMEI. I had to call customer service and the phone rep took my IMEI and put it in the system to reflect that was the device I was using, and my signals improved dramatically. The difference was day and night.

I don't know if this is still something they have to do with these newer phones, but it's something to explore.

[TLD1]

My issues are not hardware related. Since yesterday afternoon I've had to do SIX battery pulls to relieve my screen sticking...and I continually get the little revolving clock icon coming up as I type an email, text, and...as I'm typing this!!! Ugh!

Taking this back for a replacement today...if the replacement is the same...it's back to the iPhone 4 for me since I have now become spoiled to a decent browser and the 9700 won't do. Sad but true...

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