[danmcq]

So I got my green dot Tour a couple weeks ago, and after a week and a half or so the trackball began behaving just as my non-green dot had, shoddy horozontal movement, especially attempting to scroll right. Having had enough of this, I decided to take matters into my own hands. I had a new trackball for an 8330 sitting around, and after watching this video:

sommacero

swapped the 'Atomic' (black) trackball for the new white trackball. NO MORE ISSUES. If you think your green dot trackball is working fine, give several games of BrickBreaker a try after having used the phone for a few weeks. This is where I noticed the stuttering nature that seems to be inherent of the trackball that comes with the Tour. I've included a pic of the Tour with the new trackball.

[Fabolous]

How does it look in the dark? The Tour can't backlight the actual trackball can it? Just the ring around it, right?

[danmcq]

Correct, it doesn't really light up the ball itself, but rather the area around it. Granted, it doesn't look as 'cool' as the black ball, but functionally I find it to be superior.

[r3g]

I posed this in the video in the blog but I agree that the problem isnt the phone but the trackball itself.

I bought 2 8900s (one for me and one for my gf) and both trackballs had the same problem. I even tried putting the trackball in my old 8320 and 8100 and it did the exact same thing.. But when I put the trackballs from my 8320s in they worked perfectly. I think the texture of the new trackball may be messing with the phones sensor or something. For everyone who has an older BB laying around I suggest switching out the atomic trackball for the older one and see how that works.

[danmcq]

I should also point out that adjusting the trackball sensitivity to 80/80 has made things just about flawless. Curious to hear about others that have made the same switch.

[TONYG2388]

I would love to try this. I agree that I think it has to do with the trackball. It slips a lot

[redwanhuq]

I have had my green dot Tour for a few weeks and it's still perfect. That white trackball looks so badly out of place...shouldn't be too long till it turns into a nasty yellow-brown trackball.

[ericbee]

I too swapped out my trackball for a green one and it solved my problem as well. The phone had some other issues so I went back in and replaced the green tb with the factory black one and the scrolling was horrific again. Definitely the actual ball or ball assembly as it has been repeatedly proven that replacement trackballs cure the issue.

[danmcq]

I have had my green dot Tour for a few weeks and it's still perfect. That white trackball looks so badly out of place...shouldn't be too long till it turns into a nasty yellow-brown trackball.

I'd rather have an ugly trackball that performs perfectly as opposed to a slick-looking trackball that will eventually fail on me.

[MsDiamond600]

Thanks I'm going to try this.

Update: I just changed it 80/80 and it's working better. I showed my coworker and hers is also. Ours was both set to the default 70/70.

[danmcq]

Thanks I'm going to try this.

Cool. Best of luck. The only difficult part is getting off the top plastic piece with the BlackBerry logo on it (the piece just above the screen). Just be sure to push down on the top as you pull it out and forward towards the front of the phone.

[Jo5329]

Thank you for the 80/80 information .. I'm new to the trackball on a BB so didn't even realize it was sluggish until I changed the sensitivity.

WOW! Thanks

[sfogle]

I can't find a "green dot" anywhere under the battery cover/under the battery on my Tour that I just purchased yesterday. Is there another way to tell the manufacture date on these? I don't wanna be stuck with something that can develop a trackball issue post 30 day warranty time period

Thanks-

[danmcq]

I can't find a "green dot" anywhere under the battery cover/under the battery on my Tour that I just purchased yesterday. Is there another way to tell the manufacture date on these? I don't wanna be stuck with something that can develop a trackball issue post 30 day warranty time period

Thanks-

The 'Green Dot' is not located on the phone. It is on the outside of the retail box, near the serial numbers and barcodes.

[sfogle]

No green dot on the outside of the box...Guess I'll have to assume that since I just got it yesterday that it's gonna be good to go!

[2000 Man]

But how can that be? One camp swears that green dot Tours are the best phone every made with zero defects and the other camp claims that all Tours have perfect hardware and that it's just a software issue. LOL

[danmcq]

But how can that be? One camp swears that green dot Tours are the best phone every made with zero defects and the other camp claims that all Tours have perfect hardware and that it's just a software issue. LOL

All I know is that I have had both the green dot and the non-green dot, and the trackball was the same in both. It's up to the user: if you are happy with your trackball, great. If not, here is a solution for you.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Shadow_Black]

Just got my green dot tour. Its working so far. We'll see how it goes over the coming weeks. Manufactured on 8-19-09 in Mexico 5.

[danmcq]

Funny, apparently Verizon considers this no longer to be an issue:

Verizon says trackball issue is 'addressed' on Tour, no longer a problem

[scuzzy19]

last I checked the issue lies with the magnets on the trackball assembly and not the trackballs themselves I work at a sprint service center and I had a few tours come in with faulty trackballs I had a customer leave his for repair and opted to come back for it later. With his permission I experimented with it, I gutted my 8900 and his tour swapped trackballs and I had the issue on my 8900 and not his tour.

Obviously at this point I know its the trackball and or assembly. I take it one step further and swap the trackballs themselves and not the magnetic rollers on the assembly and I still had the same issue on the 8900 and not the tour. so the trackballs themselves are not to blame its the magnets on the assemblies that I believe are bad from manufacturing defects. the 8900 and tour assemblies are identical.

So there has to be a quality issue in the magnets themselves thats causing them to go bad after a short period of extended use.

[politjunkie#CB]

Ugh my green dot tour just started acting up on me today... scroll left is still working but scroll right is giving me same issues as the 4 tours before this.. been about 2 weeks

[2000 Man]

Ugh my green dot tour just started acting up on me today... scroll left is still working but scroll right is giving me same issues as the 4 tours before this.. been about 2 weeks

Yup. Nothing special about the green dots. If you want a working Tour, swap the trackball assembly from a Curve or 8830.

[danmcq]

last I checked the issue lies with the magnets on the trackball assembly and not the trackballs themselves I work at a sprint service center and I had a few tours come in with faulty trackballs I had a customer leave his for repair and opted to come back for it later. With his permission I experimented with it, I gutted my 8900 and his tour swapped trackballs and I had the issue on my 8900 and not his tour.

Obviously at this point I know its the trackball and or assembly. I take it one step further and swap the trackballs themselves and not the magnetic rollers on the assembly and I still had the same issue on the 8900 and not the tour. so the trackballs themselves are not to blame its the magnets on the assemblies that I believe are bad from manufacturing defects. the 8900 and tour assemblies are identical.

So there has to be a quality issue in the magnets themselves thats causing them to go bad after a short period of extended use.

Thanks for this informative update. I had a feeling it might be the assembly. I'm going to try putting the black trackball into the 8330 assembly I'm currently using in my tour.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[CFD323]

isn't the Tour (black) trackball smaller than the older white trackballs?

[danmcq]

isn't the Tour (black) trackball smaller than the older white trackballs?

They actually seem to be almost identical, but I am not certain about this.