About two months ago, I became a happy Verizon customer. I signed up for the company’s unlimited calling and data plan. I got myself RIM’s brand new release, the BlackBerry Tour, a well-balanced cross between the Curve 2 and the Bold, and was hooked onto a super-reliable network. For once, it seemed my smartphone woes were behind me. I subsequently went on a recommendation spree, urging everyone I know to buy the Tour. In fact, I convinced six of my close friends — many of whom I see almost on a daily basis — that they should switch to Verizon because of the Tour. Most of them were on AT&T and, thus, it didn’t take much convincing. But let’s just say: I should have kept my opinions to myself.
The Tour has turned out to be quite a lemon. The trackball is behaving like a 300-pound man running up a hill. Tour hangs when I am trying to send text messages or check MLB scores. There is a strange clicking sound that accompanies phone calls; furthermore, folks are complaining of a strange whooshing noise when I call them. And if all that weren’t enough — Tour’s battery dries up faster than raindrops in the Sahara. If not for the micro-USB charger that I use with my Macbook Pro, I would likely find myself with a dead phone halfway through the day.
Most of my friends are experiencing similar issues (though no one has complained about battery problems). And we are not alone in our troubles: Nearly 50 percent of Tours are being returned to Sprint, some analysts estimates, and Verizon is experiencing even higher return rates. If these numbers are real — my personal experience gives me no reason to doubt the analysts — then RIM needs to look itself in the mirror. As a company that plans to take on Apple and the iPhone, it cannot be putting out substandard products onto the market.
It will be a long time before I trust BlackBerry products. As it stands now, I wouldn’t even recommend the Tour to my worst enemy. Maybe I should wait for Verizon to launch that rumored Motorola Android phone and get rid of BlackBerry all together.
I would advise you should try also upcoming Nokia E72. I have been patiently waiting (has turned into a perennial one though). Expectantly, it’s estimated to be released around mid october. The specs look awesome. Let’s hope the phone lives up to the hype. :D
I’ve been using the E72 for a few weeks now. It’s fantastic.
I am sorry that you have had such negative experiences. I have owned 3 BB products since 2005: the 7105t, the 8700c, and now the 8900. Blackberries have always been rock solid devices for me. My 8900 has a trackball with none of the issues that you’ve experienced.
Really a nice article by Om sir ! :)
Have people still not figured out that RIM sucks?
:-)
one trick EMAIL pony
I saw recently on Engadget and elsewhere that there was a known issue with the trackball on first run Blackberry Tours, and that the problem had already been fixed. Verizon even said that the Tour has had one of the lowest return rates since they fixed the issue.
We have several BlackBerry Tours in our company and did have one minor trackball issue but that was due to something being lodged in the trackball area. Other than that this is a rock solid phone with one of the nicest screens on the market (480×360).
The analyst that reported the 50% return rate commented directly our our site when we implied that he must be a “glue sniffer”. Take a look at: http://www.mobimadness.com/analyst-who-wrote-tour-50-returned-must-be-glue-sniffer/
I personally have owned not less than 10 BlackBerry smartphones and the only one that disappointed me was the Storm (R.I.P.)
well, i’m on sprint and did the same thing – got it, raved about it, now can’t even scroll left or right and a little clock pops up when it’s extra laggy…i finally went to the store, told them that it sucks, they’ve ordered a replacement unit and – knock on wood – people in the forums are stating that the replacements solve the hardware woes, and the .53 sw update fixes much of the lag…anxious to see this myself, because as we all know, switching blackberries is a chore, particularly emailing devs for purchased apps to let them know about the new PIN id and all of that crap…
out of curiosity, how long was yours good before going bad? i figure mine was feeling good for a few weeks, then got laggy, then trackball went off a cliff…
I had an early Tour that had the left-right trackball problem. I sent it back and the new one has been working without incident.
If it is within 30 days, they’ll give you a new one in the store. After 30 days they’ll Fed-Ex a new one.
@dude – for such a sucky co. their share price sure has been favourable to me over the long term. One lemon and they’re ready for the scrap heap?? funny
Every firm has strengths and weaknesses. I believe RIM’s far better at product design than software development. I’m dating myself, but BlackBerry OS, once past the top level UI reminds me of the Net BEFORE Netscape, i.e., lines and lines of text. It’s confusing and highly unfriendly.
Granted, RIM is experiencing a surge in growth, both due to the Rise of Smartphones (sounds like a rejected Terminator sequel plot) and the blossoming of BlackBerry as a consumer brand 12 months ago.
There is a great deal of cachet in the BB brand, but I am not a fan of RIM.
Owned an AT & T BB Curve-no wifi, no 3G, as a phone it sucked-no good. Got an iPhone 2 months ago-love it and never looked back. I passed the Curve along to my teenaged son-he hates it. He’s tired of it turning on in class and getting him in trouble, and as a phone it’s terrible. I tried to warn him. He can’t wait until his plan resets in October so he can get an iPhone like the rest of the family. Sorry RIM- your stuff is really starting to look sub-par and the Tour just reinforces that view. Nothing to see here, move along…