The long anticipated BlackBerry Tour has finally been released. Sitting atop a price that ranges from $150-$700 this monster of a phone is no child’s toy.

blackberry tour 9630

Design

The first thing you will notice about this phone is that it looks a lot like the Curve and the Bold put together in one neat little package. The Tour comes with a shell almost identical to the Bold, but with a more natural look. With dimensions of (W x D x H) 2.4 in x 0.6 in x 4.4, this phone is just the right size to take on the go. The BlackBerry Tour futures a dull chrome rim which is better than a light silver one; for obvious sun reflection issues. The battery cover sports a carbon fiber-esque that can be easily removed and replaced with a 3d party cover if you do not fancy the one it comes with.
Another design feature I would like to point out is the keyboard. If you chose your new phones on keyboard design alone, then go out and buy this one. The Tour has the best and most efficient keyboard I have found on any phone. The keys are nicely laid out, well spaced, and have a real good feel and grip to them. So you won’t find your fingers slipping off one and landing on another.
Tucked neatly into the upper-center of the Tour is a high resolution 480 x 360 screen. It is perfect for reading emails, browsing the web, viewing photos, or watching movies. I give them props for upgrading the screens they put into BlackBerry phones. Gone are the days when services such as mobile tv were rendered useless because the phones could not process them. The screen however does carry a slightly annoying black border around it, why they didn’t just extend the screen size is beyond me.
Located on the upper right side of the phone is a standard sized 3.5mm headphone jack, which is always good to have so you don’t have to go out and buy special headphone adapters. The camera, what can I say about the camera? It’s a 3.2 megapixel, nothing real special about it but at least it does both pictures and videos and beats the resolution on the iPhone by 0.2 pixels. The phone also does the microSD love affair, and you will find it located under the battry. This is our biggest objection with the design of the Tour as it makes swapping memory on the phone tedious.
Over all I give the BlackBerry Tour an 8 /10 for design. You might say why not a 9/10 well the reason is out of the many features this phone comes with WiFi capability is not one of them. Sucks? Yah I know.

blackberry tour 9630

Performance

The BlackBerry Tour is revolutionizing the CDMA market. Yes a lot of the features on the “new” software are not new to GSM BlackBerrys but for CDMA BlackBerrys it’s a step in the right direction. For one the BlackBerry messenger is now a little easier to use than the previous versions. And the software comes with messenger applications for MSN, Yahoo, and Google. A built in GPS chip should allow you to use 3d party apps. so you don’t have to subscribe to any of the navigation plans Verizon or Sprint has to offer thus saving you between $5-$10 a month.
Reception for this phone is great as expected; no trouble in that area. It also comes with world phone capabilities so it can work on GSM, CDMA, EDGE, etc. take this baby anywhere in the world and you will never have to say “can you hear me now?” You will still have to pop a SIM card in the back when traveling abroad though. Battery life is what you would expect from a smart phone, about 5 hours of talk time and 14 days of standby time. So holding charge is not a problem for the Tour and definitely beats that of phones such as the iPhone and better yet the Pre.
A visual voicemail app. is included with the Tour, but as with many things from cell phone companies you have to pay a monthly acces fee for the service. If you really hate checking your voicemail the regular way, than by all means go for it. Me, I’m going to stick to my normal caveman way of dialing in the numbers.
The Tour is Bluetooth 2.0 capable. Profile (PBAP) and Serial Port Profile are supported. Bluetooth stereo audio (A2DP/AVCRP), DUN.

blackberry tour 9630

Conclusion

When it comes to choosing the right smart phone we have always been forced to compromise between productivity, size, networks, etc. But the BlackBerry Tour 9630 is offering some hard to beat features. While we will nitpick at its lack of WiFi and better situated memory card slot, those are minor compared to the advantages it brings. GSM Blackberry’s have always been ahead in terms of features, but with the Tour, Blackberry has finally decided to step up their game in the CDMA arena. And if there is one thing that should be said, the Tour does the global thing in impressive style.

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