[Wireless Vet]

I can't wait to see how many of you complain about the phone.

You know it's coming, it was the same with the Tour.

I mentioned earlier in the month that I got to play with it. I'm very unimpressed with Blackberry these days, and the Bold certainly solidified the way I feel. I know the new "webkit" is "coming" along with the 6.0 operating system, but "coming" is something Blackberry users shouldn't have to hear. There is so much more competition out there.

[pr1nce]

I love my Tour especially since I upgraded to .643. I want the 9650 for the added memory and OS 6 in the future. Was there something specific that you didn't like about the 9650?

[mjbesen310]

I love my Tour especially since I upgraded to .643. I want the 9650 for the added memory and OS 6 in the future. Was there something specific that you didn't like about the 9650?

dont mind WirelessVet.. hes just a Verizon rep that talks down to everything including his customers. Yet, he claims to hate Blackberrys so much, but yet hangs out in a Blackberry forum?? He's not really all together if you ask me...

[tourboy]

Indeed, so if you like it, you buy it. If don't like it, you don't buy it.

BTW, it is great to see Palm owners heading out in the BB Bold 9650 section....something tells me alot of those Palm devices are going to be traded in.

jaydee5799 said it best...Enjoy the holiday and God bless our men and women in the service and our veterans...

You know it's coming, it was the same with the Tour.

I mentioned earlier in the month that I got to play with it. I'm very unimpressed with Blackberry these days, and the Bold certainly solidified the way I feel. I know the new "webkit" is "coming" along with the 6.0 operating system, but "coming" is something Blackberry users shouldn't have to hear. There is so much more competition out there.

[bodeb]

So with only 3 days to go now, it got me thinking...

What accessories to get with it at the same time...specific case, an upgraded battery, etc.?

So, "Tourboy", as of Thursday AM will we see a new handle "Boldboy" for you??

[tourboy]

Hope you have been celebrating today....not much further now.

WOO-HOO!!!

Less than 3 days and counting....tick, tick, tick

C'mon sleepyheads...get up!!!!
Less than 3 days till we order our 9650's!!!!!
Woo-hoo!!!!
Time for more celebrating today!

Enjoy the holiday and God bless our men and women in the service and our veterans...

[tourboy]

HA! HA! HA!

Actually looked into that once before, not sure if you can change your existing profile name or would it require creating a new one?

So, "Tourboy", as of Thursday AM will we see a new handle "Boldboy" for you??

[tourboy]

BlackBerry Bold 9650 Review

Ah, a Tour owner�s dream. The BlackBerry Bold 9650 started life out as the BlackBerry Tour2. It then went through a late-stage metamorphosis and received a memory upgrade and name change for a couple of different reasons. One of the reasons is to utilize a positive product name RIM has built (the Bold line), and another would be to prevent hundreds of thousands of angry BlackBerry owners from practically taking over the entire city of Waterloo, Canada. You see, the BlackBerry Bold 9650 is what the Tour should have originally been, and by releasing a Tour2 under a year from the original device�s debut would be straight up insulting. RIM killed two birds with one stone by renaming the device to be a Bold, continuing a successful device brand, and also trying to not completely obliterate an existing handset (even though the Tour 9630 will certainly be end-of-life�d very, very quickly). So is the BlackBerry Bold 9650 the best in the biz? You�ll see soon enough, after the jump of course.

We have been playing with the BlackBerry 9650 on and off for a couple months, and now that we have an official unit from RIM and Sprint, we�re able to effectively judge the handset. Instead of doing a traditional review, we figured since the device really hasn�t changed so dramatically from the original BlackBerry Tour, we�d put our likes and dislikes into different sections.

Likes:

* Durable, solid construction and hardware.
* Great keyboard as always.
* Sounds great as a phone, great reception, perfect voice performance with calls.
* Much faster than the original Tour 9630, no real slowdowns or hangups in the OS, and a much speedier overall experience thanks to a newer and faster processor.
* Wi-Fi � obviously.

We love the solid hardware that RIM has been known for. It definitely shows in the BlackBerry Bold 9650 and it�s a real work powerhouse.

Dislikes:

* The raised trackpad, menu, send, BlackBerry, back keys (they are raised up beyond the keyboard and are a little too high).
* The terrible music speaker on the phone. It�s on the left side, and is a single speaker with a single opening in the case compared to 3 openings in the BlackBerry 9700 case. Sound sounds muffled, and the volume is pretty low. Overall, it�s kind of disappointing. Note: the speakerphone sounds great, we�re talking strictly about music/audio playback.
* The camera lens is still recessed so it can collect dust and isn�t cleaned easily. It would have been great for RIM to make the entire cover go over the camera lens so it would be flat and thus easily accessibly/wipeable.
* The phone is large in size and feels pretty outdated compared to sexier, even on carrier alternatives.

At the end of the day, this is what the BlackBerry Tour should have been. RIM�s hardware roadmap seems to be 1-2 years behind other mobile smartphone powerhouse manufacturers (that is being generous), and the BlackBerry Bold 9650 demonstrates this. The device is incredibly solid, but it�s overly large, especially when compared to a sleeker, sexier BlackBerry Bold 9700 sitting next to it. With phones that are pushing CPU speed barriers at 1GHz and beyond, RIM�s using an estimated 500MHz CPU here with 512MB of RAM and no internal storage. And that�s not exploring the truly ancient operating system that powers it.

The handset itself just straight up feels outdated. It�s a logical choice for a CDMA user, but we can�t help but feel like this device really doesn�t belong in a 2010 lineup. This is a great BlackBerry, and if email is your life, great. If not, there�s not too much we can say the BlackBerry 9650 offers over competitors on Sprint or Verizon. HTC�s EVO 4G and the HTC Droid Incredible (yes, they are two Android handsets) are miles ahead of this device, and unfortunately we�re not sure we�d recommend this handset over one of those except in extreme scenarios.

[Johnny2Times]

Does it still have wifi? I wanted to use my ipod touch with it. I remember months ago it was said to have it...but I've been out of the loop for sometime...could someone chime in. Thanks

[frnak]

Does it still have wifi? I wanted to use my ipod touch with it. I remember months ago it was said to have it...but I've been out of the loop for sometime...could someone chime in. Thanks

If you are saying you want to use it to access the internet on your ipod touch, that is not going to happen. The Bold will have a wi-fi receiver, for accessing the internet on wi-fi on the blackberry; not a wi-fi transmitter for sending the signal to other devices.

[jaydee5799]

Tourboy-to fill the void between empty gin bottles and lortobs in despair, I actually ordered 2 charging cradles, a wall charger, a purple gel skin, a privacy screen and case mate gelli skin case. All tthis stuff sitting here for a phone I have yet to order but will do so in what was it again.... Oh yea: 3 days and counting!!!!
WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Oh and did I see soneone post that they can't wait to see us complain about the phone? Must be another somebody eating those SOUR GRAPES again!
LMAO! Go rain on somebody else's parade, we got celebrating to do here boys and girls!

So with only 3 days to go now, it got me thinking...

What accessories to get with it at the same time...specific case, an upgraded battery, etc.?

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[experiment 626]

I didn't realize the 9700 had 3 mini-speakers it plays music out of. I know the Bold 9000 did.The music speaker is in an odd spot(like the Tour's) but as long as it plays as well as my 8330 does I'll be satisfied I suppose. I wonder how much it grinds on Tour owners when every review calls the 9650 "everything the Tour should have been" . On a side note: C'mon only 750 posts until we reach 6000. WE CAN DO IT!

[jaydee5799]

Obviously plently cause all they do is shake their finger at us who celebrate and say oh you'll be complaining about it soon enough. They are bitter and disgusted and they begrudge us our happiness and that makes these ppl who complain lousy human beings who hide behind their keyboards. And I'm not even drunk as I'm writing this. Course as I read the replies, I will wish I was and probably will HAVE to be as they will all flame me. But no matter. I will slip on my flame retardant footie pjs and away we go...3 more days!!!!!!
Woo Hoo!!!!

I didn't realize the 9700 had 3 mini-speakers it plays music out of. I know the Bold 9000 did.The music speaker is in an odd spot(like the Tour's) but as long as it plays as well as my 8330 does I'll be satisfied I suppose. I wonder how much it grinds on Tour owners when every review calls the 9650 "everything the Tour should have been" . On a side note: C'mon only 750 posts until we reach 6000. WE CAN DO IT!

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[tourboy]

Good for you...sounds like you are all set. Bet you are wishing the weekend would be one extra day for a 4 day holiday, but then we all know its one day closer to the BIG release.

Yeah, too many pessimistic individuals...how sad it is.

WOO-HOO! WOO-HOO! WOO-HOO!

Tourboy-to fill the void between empty gin bottles and lortobs in despair, I actually ordered 2 charging cradles, a wall charger, a purple gel skin, a privacy screen and case mate gelli skin case. All tthis stuff sitting here for a phone I have yet to order but will do so in what was it again.... Oh yea: 3 days and counting!!!!
WOO HOO!!!!!!!

Oh and did I see soneone post that they can't wait to see us complain about the phone? Must be another somebody eating those SOUR GRAPES again!
LMAO! Go rain on somebody else's parade, we got celebrating to do here boys and girls!


Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Johnny2Times]

If you are saying you want to use it to access the internet on your ipod touch, that is not going to happen. The Bold will have a wi-fi receiver, for accessing the internet on wi-fi on the blackberry; not a wi-fi transmitter for sending the signal to other devices.

Oh, so pretty much I'm sol...

[tourboy]

Yeah, were you thinking it would have a wi-fi transmitter for some reason?

Oh, so pretty much I'm sol...

[jaydee5799]

So I guess Moonlessnight wasn't kidding! A whole night of HP and something liquid and WOO HOO...lead to passing out at 4 am and that's all she wrote.
HAHA
Keep celebrating!!!!

Tourboy, if this doesn't come with .699, are you gonna put it on right away?
I think I will download it now and download SAOS now and get it all ready on my hard drive just in case, right?

That way, I can blow away PTT and all that crap that VZW loads that I don't ever use anyway...

Whatcha think?

PS Did I tell u? ONLY 3 DAYS to the 9650!!!!!

[mi_canuck]

tourboy - when you switching names yo

why forth are you not boldboy yet? waiting on jun 3rd?

[mi_canuck]

.699 is very stable btw

[tourboy]

My thought exactly!!!!
Absolutely no use for that PTT.


Did you say only 3 days until the Verizon Bold 9650?????

Actually less than 3 days now, but who is counting...HA! HA!

WOO-HOO!!! WOO-HOO!!! WOO-HOO!!!

That way, I can blow away PTT and all that crap that VZW loads that I don't ever use anyway...

Whatcha think?

PS Did I tell u? ONLY 3 DAYS to the 9650!!!!!

[jaydee5799]

Canuck- You suggest I move to .699 immediately before adding any of my files to my phone when I get it?

That is IF it doesn't come with it?

PS 3 more days! WOO HOO

[tourboy]

Don't think you can "change" your name; would have to create a new one and there is just TOO MUCH history as TOURBOY!

We have come a LOOOOOOOOONG way since last November 2009. Who would have thought...7 months later!

CONGRATS to everyone for sticking through the long months and hanging in there....finally, light at the end of the tunnel!

WOO-HOO! WOO-HOO! WOO-HOO!

tourboy - when you switching names yo

why forth are you not boldboy yet? waiting on jun 3rd?

[mi_canuck]

Canuck- You suggest I move to .699 immediately before adding any of my files to my phone when I get it?

That is IF it doesn't come with it?

PS 3 more days! WOO HOO

all depends on what it ships with

[tourboy]

Guess we will find out either way in only...

3 Days ~ 3 Days ~ 3 Days ~ 3 Days

all depends on what it ships with

[jaydee5799]

Did I hear there was a countdown going on here?
LOL
WOO HOO


PS Only 3 days to the 9650!!!!!