![]() ![]() ![]() There are attempts to get older BlackBerry phones to work without BlackBerry's support, but they don't work very well. Bottom line, if you're a CDMA user and plan to keep things that way, the Tour is definitely the best BlackBerry available - and it will probably be that way for a long time to come.Ending support for BlackBerry PlayBook OS also means that if you are one of these people who are still using the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, you will also experience limited functionality, and your tablet will most likely become unusable. We're also disappointed that the screen doesn't make the most of the available real estate and that it seems excessively sensitive. We're well aware of Verizon's stance on the matter, and we still think it's ridiculous that they're allowing RIM to offer a device in this category that doesn't offer such a basic, universal feature, seemingly in an effort to increase reliance on WWAN data services and juice customers for a few extra bucks in data revenue. At this point in the game, we're still in denial that there isn't WiFi in this device - it's inexcusable. Put simply, the BlackBerry Tour is far and away the best CDMA BlackBerry available, and it could very well might be the best BlackBerry period if not for a few shortcomings. However, to be safe, you'll probably want to charge nightly - and your own mileage may vary depending on things like Bluetooth, GPS use, and the actual amount of calling you're doing. We don't envision people having trouble getting through the day, as we were able to browse, BBM, and run our favorite Twitter apps in the background for a solid day and a half without even getting a low battery warning. RIM is quoting 5 hours of talk time and 14 days of standby which seems to be about right. We didn't conduct a series of scientific tests to get rock solid numbers on battery life, but from what we can tell it seems to be pretty decent. We don't know if this means Verizon doesn't anticipate that many users being interested or if there's some other justification, but either way it seems to get the job done - though it probably won't shut your iPhone-toting friends up. A link to the app is included as a service book, but it has to be downloaded separately for use. Verizon has gotten a lot of flack in the past about the decision to lock it down only for VZ Navigator, so we're glad to see the company following through with its promise to start opening up.Īlso bundled is the new visual voicemail app, which - you guessed it - is being offered for an additional fee each month. We're also glad to report that the built-in GPS chip seems to be unlocked, meaning that it will work with third party apps. It works pretty much as expected - and it's virtually the same as VZ Navigator on other devices, so we'll spare you the nitty gritty details. As always, the service carries an extra charge which can be billed monthly or daily depending on how much you plan to use it. Verizon is also offering its VZ Navigator software with the Tour, which integrates with the built-in GPS chip to allow turn-by-turn navigation - and it will support global navigation at the time of launch. We were told that the software build on our device isn't the final build, and we're glad to hear it because we had a bunch of complete freezes that required a battery pull to remedy. Software-wise, there isn't all that much new here that hasn't already been around on more recent GSM BlackBerry devices that said, for CDMA users, it's still a big leap forward in terms of functionality and polish. ![]() We've never seen this issue with the Bold, and it raises questions about build quality on a device that business users will be counting on to be rock-solid day in and day out. It's too minute to properly demonstrate in a photo - but if you go play with a unit in a store and switch from the main screen to the full splash screen with 18 icons, we're sure that you'll notice it too. It just feels "softer" than the one on the Bold, and there's a bit more give than we believe there should be. This might be a result of the screen being flush or just not being sufficiently secured, but it's somewhat noticeable and a bit annoying. Even light touches on the screen or some of the navigation keys underneath it caused weirdness with the LCD. Also, the screen itself seems to be incredibly sensitive to pressure - overly sensitive. ![]()
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