Tour... is it worth it?
 

Hey everyone,

I've had an 8330 since Feburary, and I absolutely love it. Almost every day I fins new uses for it, and now I think I would be completely lost without my BlackBerry.

I've been toying with the idea of upgrading to the Tour as I have my yearly Sprint Premier upgrade available. My question is is it really worth it? While I travel quite a bit for work, its all domestic, so I don't need a world phone.

I've been reading this forum, and while most people love it, some don't. Have the newer builds really fixed the trackball problem? What about the muffled sound? I went in to the Sprint Store shortly after its released, and the girl told me I'd be happier staying with my Curve.

Tour users, I want to hear from you. Do I make the switch?

I'm glad I made the switch and I havn't had any problem with my Tour. Have you been to a Sprint store and played with one? I'd recommend doing that before you decide.

My comparison isn't fair - I went from an 8703, so the difference is night and day. The 8830 is what most of the people I work with have [that plus Storms]. I was supposed to get the 8830 because the 9630 wasn't approved yet, but I begged our IT guy to let me be the Beta guinnea pig.

I am glad I did. The early adopter bugs are not that bad. My trackball has been a bit of a problem and the eternally long resets (which I keep doing because I keep playing with different apps and then deleting) are a bit of a pain, but I go get a cup of coffee and don't look at the spinning clock to get annoyed.

nevermind.

UGH. That's my son ^^ there, who was the last one to use my computer. Darn cookies.

Anyway, I have both the 8330 and the Tour. I like the keyboard on the 8330, but the camera on the Tour. The screen resolution is very nice on the Tour, but I hate having only a cursor for the Browser (on the Curve you can turn off the cursor).

Definately go try out the Tour for a bit and see how you like typing on it, and compare what features you'd like. It's not a bad device, just...different.

I would recommend sticking with what you like. If you can avoid the Tour for another 6 months, you'll probably be very happy once you switch. We're going through a lot of growing pains right now, and a lot of quality issues. Once they get those ironed out, in software and hardware, the device will be great. If you love your Curve - why change? I switched because the 8830 was very limiting in terms of application memory.

I would highly recommend putting this off until OS 5.0 comes out and is proven excellent. This is especially true if you are happy with your current device.

I am a loyal 8330 user and sitting on the fence post about upgrading to the Tour. For $199 right now through Verizon, I don't think it's worth it. But, I saw it advertised in a Best Buy newspaper ad this weekend and the price is now $99 with a 2 year renewal plan!

Speaking as a BB 8830 user who had no issues with my 8830, I would wait til they get the glitches worked out. I am on Tour #2 and am still having problems with it. The trackball is quirky, the screen freezes frequently on all apps, it will reset itself for no reason and it has some issue when I dial #'s saved in contacts and asks me for my country code, even though this has been set and saved.

I am sure that the Tour is a great phone if you get one without glitches but if you get one with glitches, it is a pain to work with. The screen freezing alone is annoying as anything. The freezing last 10-15 seconds which doesn't sound like long until you are in the middle of doing something and it happens

If you love your 8330, I think I would wait and see if OS 5 makes any difference. That's just my opinion on it.

The Tour is better than the Curve in every way. Get it! You won't regret it.

I never used a curve. I jumped from a Pearl to a Tour, which made the differences quite drastic. I changed mainly because I became eligible for a Sprint upgrade (which usually NEVER coincides with needing/wanting a new phone!) and I was wanting more application memory. Also, my Pearl had a bum USB port.
I am still getting used to the Tour, and complain all the time about how bulky and heavy it is. I like my phone in my pocket (as opposed to a holster, etc.) and after 3 years of a tiny/weightless Pearl, I can barely walk straight with the Tour! ;-) It probably wouldn't be so drastic if coming off of a Curve.
Personally though, if I had it to do again, I would wait.
I've had misery with trackball glitches (2 units), and finally said the heck with it and went ahead and replaced my trackball with one of my old Pearl trackballs. (I haven't had an issues since.)
I'd keep the Curve for another 6 mos or so and wait for hardware and software bugs to weed out a bit.
Oh! If I could get an 8900, I would have gone that route for sure I think.
(** I wish they would have made a Pearl with more app memory!! haha... oh-well...)

Like your Curve? Skip the Tour.
 

I upgraded from the 8330 (which was working perfectly) to the Tour (which I love), but my perspective is a bit different. My main reason for switching was the keypad. I love the Tour's style keypad and am not really comfortable with the Curve's more separated "chicklet" keys. Totally subjective, but it's a big deal for me. So I upgraded.

The Tour has a higher res. screen, which is nice but certainly not a killer feature or a "must have". The camera is nicer on the Tour as well, but again, not something you simply must have. So from my perspective, no, it's not worth it for most people. If you have a Curve and are completely happy with it, you can pass on the Tour and miss nothing. They're incremental upgrades and don't involve anything new. Just slightly improved.

The Curve was legendary, the Bold holds the top spot for me, but YES,, the Tour is worth it. If you get a bad one (which is increasingly less likely), just swap it out.

Maybe RIM QC isn't what it was (which I disagree with), but I would guess 40% of the complaints online are just noise. The only way you get your blog or post noticed these days is to complain. Some of the posters (I did not say everyone) who are on their 4th and 5th phones is ridiculous. RIM will never please those kind of people. The Tour is among the best. The OS improvements alone will make you happy.