A BlackBerry Tour 9630 has just arrived here today at Mobility Nigeria courtesy of MyCricketPDA.com. It is our first BlackBerry review, so it is a landmark of sorts.
While I have played with BlackBerry devices from friends for minutes at a go, I am curious as to how a Berry will fare as my primary smartphone. As such, over the next few days, I will be pushing the boundaries of this device. I plan on subscribing to one of the pre-paid BlackBerry services from one of the GSM network operators, so if you’ve got a Berry, expect my PIN (at least for the duration of the review, after which you may be on your own)!
I’m guessing that you all are curious too. Will I get addicted to Berry Messenger? Will the browser suffice? What of battery life, multimedia, and camera shots? How efficiently does it handle e-mail?
Not to worry, you know that when I get my hands on a device to review it, its the complete works.
In the meantime, let’s start with the list of specifications
- Dimensions: 112 × 62 × 14.2 mm
- Weight: 130g
- OS: BlackBerry 4.7
- 2.4 inch display; 480 x 360 pixel resolution, over 65,000 colors
- 3.5mm audio jack
- Trackball navigation
- GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, CDMA/EVDO Rev A 800/1900
- Micro-USB connector, High-Speed USB 2.0
- Bluetooth v2.0 including support for stereo headsets
- Integrated GPS with A-GPS
- 1400 mAh battery
- 528 MHz Processor
- 256 MB internal storage
- Up to 8 GB of additional storage with an external microSD card
- 3.15 MP, 2048×1536 pixels autofocus, LED flash, image stabilisation, 2X digital zoom, Geo-tagging functionality
- Documents editor
- BlackBerry maps application
Here’s a shot of the new guy taken with my N900:
Expect my series on the BlackBerry Tour 9630. If you have any specific areas that you want me to give attention to in my review series, post away in the comment section.
This post was written by
Mister Mobility – who has written 926 posts on Mobility blog.
Founder, Mobility blog, serial lifestyle entrepreneur, speaker, & writer. Charming, passionate, tenacious & non-conformist. Will dance! Follow him on Twitter @Mister_Mobility.
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July 1st, 2010 at 9:21 pm Browsing with
NO WLAN on it….is not complete.
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July 1st, 2010 at 9:43 pm Browsing with
Test post from the Tour 9630
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July 2nd, 2010 at 12:20 am Browsing with
My bb pin is 21D0299B, be sure to download the bolt browser from the app world, with the bolt browser you will be able to access and login to all of cpanel, whm and stuffs like that. Crunchsms is another good app
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July 2nd, 2010 at 4:12 am Browsing with
Thanks for the tips, Will give those a go, Quam. My PIN is 31098538.
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July 2nd, 2010 at 4:31 am Browsing with
So far, so good. I successfully subscribed to a 24-hour BB plan to see how smooth setup goes.
That went well. I’ve got my email running and I am browsing. Primary needs met
I’ll extend my BB subscription by a week and start digging deeper today.
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July 2nd, 2010 at 8:01 am Browsing with
What is special about BlackBerry? I am curious.
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July 2nd, 2010 at 8:22 am Browsing with
Nice one there.
I am interested in the OS, I feel a new version is available
Trackball navigation, i kind of prefer track bar
Bluetooth. BB bluetooth is stubborn or maybe not just as easy as Nokia bluetooth
Documents editor How good is it does it support Docx and xlsx
BlackBerry maps application compare to Nokia
I like BB phones but RIM has just not manufactured my type,my ultimate BB phone is a full screen min of 3.5′ with qwerty keyboard. If that does not come out by this fall i might go for the Storm series.
Happy Reviewing.
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July 2nd, 2010 at 12:47 pm Browsing with
A blackberry 9800 should be coming out this fall, it will be a slider and the screen will be touch, kind of a combination of bold and storm.
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July 2nd, 2010 at 1:16 pm Browsing with
@quam
Really waiting to see what will come out from RIM, but i dont really like the fact that the leaked pics shows a portrait slide out qwerty.
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July 2nd, 2010 at 3:10 pm Browsing with
Oluniyi,
The truth is that even BB addicts and fans are unable to explain what is special about their devices. They tell you that you have to use one to know.
I have had the Tour for less than 24 hours, and though it is inferior to my N900 in terms of features and capabilities, alas, I find that I am beginning to, well, like it.
Don’t ask me for details. Apparently, its not called crackberry for nothing by BB fans. It seems addictive.
Perhaps its the ease of use. Or the fact that while not spectacular enough for geeks to drool over, its not so basic that only fools can use it. It is sort of the device that strikes a balance at everything – it does its job.
And being QWERTY, its got the cool factor.
Hell will have to freeze over for me to drop an N900 for a BB Tour, but I can say that I have seen the light. Shall I join BB fans in saying that you can only see the light too by using one
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July 2nd, 2010 at 9:58 pm Browsing with
The Black berry service is far expensive than suscribing to a data bundle using my symbian phone and I can achieve as much or more than a B berry will .
Why do I need a Black Berry ?
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July 3rd, 2010 at 2:14 pm Browsing with
Tempting…..
@Yomi,
I see this on the specs:
GPRS/EDGE, WCDMA, HSDPA, HSUPA, CDMA/EVDO Rev A 800/1900
Does it mean it can handle cdma/evdo when used with say starcomms ruim card or there is a different version of it that is cdma?
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July 3rd, 2010 at 6:37 pm Browsing with
deoladoctor,
Both CDMA and GSM radios are built into the same model. You can use it with networks based on either standards.
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July 3rd, 2010 at 7:01 pm Browsing with
@Yomi
Thanks
I’ve had my eyes on blackberry for sometime now. This ability to use either standard my just be the deciding factor.
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July 5th, 2010 at 10:13 am Browsing with
@kay123
I believe you are not on MTN.
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July 5th, 2010 at 10:16 am Browsing with
@deoladoctor & Yomi
Each time i here CDMA i think of Starcomms, do u see them picking up this bb phone in the nearest feature.
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July 5th, 2010 at 12:59 pm Browsing with
bosun99uk,
Maybe by the year 2012. Starcomms does not have a track record of offering cutting edge devices. Usually, they offer devices that are past their prime.
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July 6th, 2010 at 9:46 am Browsing with
i share kay123′s view about BB plans being more expensive than equivalent plans on symbian smartphone devices or the likes. I subscribed to etisalat’s Eliteworld postpaid with a monthly subscription of N5000.This comes with additional N750 worth of any network voice calls and 50Mb data which is more than sufficient for use on a phone. I have never exhausted mine.
The only advantage i feel the blackberry has, and i’ll love Yomi to research this, is the email service. This service is very pathetic using other email clients on my phone.
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July 6th, 2010 at 3:03 pm Browsing with
@artwales
Nice, that is cool but i feel it is really good for a person that uses more of voice than Data.
50MB is not enough for half of my daily mp3 podcast.
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July 6th, 2010 at 4:41 pm Browsing with
Yomi, i just went through the site you got the phone from; MyCricketPDA.com. Did you have have to unlock the phone? Reference was continually made to phones being flashed to Cricket network.
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July 6th, 2010 at 10:16 pm Browsing with
@ artwales: the phones already come unlocked and all you have to do is insert your sim card. mycricketpda.com sells phones for cricket, which is an American cell phone carrier. Hope that clarifies your question. All sales inquiry into the blackberry phones can be directed to mobilitynigeria.com.
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July 9th, 2010 at 1:48 pm Browsing with
That is not exactly true across board. Both MTN and Etisalat offer unlimited access on-phone i.e. tethering is not covered. Those who do not use their BlackBerry devices as modems are getting a better deal than non-BlackBerry users subscribed to a data bundle.
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July 9th, 2010 at 4:04 pm Browsing with
Yes, Yomi, i do agree about the unlimited internet access, at least i can say that for Etisalat because i actually overheard one of their customer service representatives tell a customer that.
But the fact remains that the quality of service being rendered does not encourage one to rely on the data allowance. Data outages is a regular occurence and when it is available, quite slow. I have never exhausted my monthly 50MB data allowance which comes with the N5000 plan not because i dont use it but because it’s not always available. So telling me that you are giving me unlimited internet access LIMITED TO MY PHONE is not really a reason to rejoice.
Yomi, i do appreciate your write ups.
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July 10th, 2010 at 4:12 am Browsing with
artwales,
Thanks for both the clarification and the compliment. Cheers.
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