[dstone001]

I recently upgraded from the 8830 to the Tour. With Verizon's $100-off on-line purchase, $100 "new every two" promotion and a $50 price support from my company, it was free. The only downside is another 2-year lock with Verizon, which limits any option to move to the iPhone.

Set-Up. My mind boggles at how BB could fail to include basic instructions for upgrading to a new phone. It took three calls to Verizon to get instructions as simple as "move the SIM card from the old phone to the new one." In fact, when I purchased the phone and on my first trip to a Verizon store, I was told not to switch SIM cards because one of the bonuses of the Tour was that it came with a SIM card and a memory card. The change-over ended up being quite simple, but it's annoying as hell that the manual doesn't include a short section entitled "Upgrading from an older BB." I find this is becoming more common with high-tech products. It's as if by including instructions, the manufacture is admitting that the product isn't simple to use.

The switch to a micro usb charger is annoying. Of course, Verizon and BB dont' sell adapters. I've ordered a bunch of adapters on-line at $1 each. Screw-'em. I hope they work.

The phone is pretty good. I'm getting used to the screen, although I don't know why everything is so dark. I don't like all the folders -- I know understand the iPhone criticism of BB -- things that take one button on an iPhone could take 4 on a BB.

The response time is very slow. Entering the password or opening mail folders is not instantaneous. I want instantaneous dammit!! Yeah, I feel silly about complaining over 1 second, but it is noticeable and annoying.

The browser seems much improved.

Why does the clock come up when I plug the phone into a charger? Is there a way to turn this off? My charger is next to my bed, and I don't want a night-light.

[aiharkness]

Wirelessly posted

The Tour may be new to you, but it's not new. I've seen your questions asked and answered numerous times. You should have no trouble using thr forum search.

As far as finding instructions, I don't know what to tell you. I haven't had any difficulties finding what I need.
And as far as the Tour, from my reading it doesn't appear to be the finest example of a blackberry.

[aharrison]

Originally Posted by dstone001

The switch to a micro usb charger is annoying. Of course, Verizon and BB dont' sell adapters. I've ordered a bunch of adapters on-line at $1 each. Screw-'em. I hope they work.

Where did you get them? I'd like to get another one just so I can leave one at work and one at home.

Originally Posted by dstone001

The phone is pretty good. I'm getting used to the screen, although I don't know why everything is so dark. I don't like all the folders -- I know understand the iPhone criticism of BB -- things that take one button on an iPhone could take 4 on a BB.

It's using an ambient light sensor and trying to automatically adjust the brightness of your screen to the brightness of your surroundings. Nice idea, but mine always seems to be annoyingly dark as well. It'd be nice to have an option like "ambient +10%" or something so that you could retain the dynamic adjustment and kick it up by an amount relative to that. It's sort of an all or nothing deal the way it is.

I just bought my first app yesterday, though. With QuickLaunch, it's super easy to create a convenient menu to adjust brightness. With *so many* people saying great things about QL around the forums and that it's on sale for like $2.50 right now, I figured it was worth it. It is.

Originally Posted by dstone001

The browser seems much improved.

I'm not a fan of the browser myself. It happily renders pages in a completely unreadable fashion, giving you nothing more than a magnifying glass to try and read the page. But when you zoom in, it does not readjust the margins so, more often than not it seems, you're unable to read a page without a serious amount of trackball mileage.

I've been using Opera Mini 5 beta 2 for any pages where I want to read something of any length. It does a fantastic job of page rendering.

[dstone001]

Originally Posted by aharrison

Where did you get them? I'd like to get another one just so I can leave one at work and one at home.

I think I just did a search on Amazon for Mini USB to Micro USB adapter. We'll see if they work.

[Motorcycle Mama]

Originally Posted by dstone001

Set-Up. My mind boggles at how BB could fail to include basic instructions for upgrading to a new phone. It took three calls to Verizon to get instructions as simple as "move the SIM card from the old phone to the new one." In fact, when I purchased the phone and on my first trip to a Verizon store, I was told not to switch SIM cards because one of the bonuses of the Tour was that it came with a SIM card and a memory card. The change-over ended up being quite simple, but it's annoying as hell that the manual doesn't include a short section entitled "Upgrading from an older BB." I find this is becoming more common with high-tech products. It's as if by including instructions, the manufacture is admitting that the product isn't simple to use.

If you are using the Tour on Verizon in the US, then the SIM card doesn't matter anyway because CDMA networks don't use them.

The switch to a micro usb charger is annoying. Of course, Verizon and BB dont' sell adapters. I've ordered a bunch of adapters on-line at $1 each. I hope they work.

Of course, this is a RIM issue not a Verizon issue. Verizon doesn't manufacture the device. But it's also worth noting the the microUSB connector is becoming the standard across many manufacturers.

Why does the clock come up when I plug the phone into a charger? Is there a way to turn this off? My charger is next to my bed, and I don't want a night-light.

You can control this in the clock settings. Go to the Clock. Press Menu. Select Options. Next to "When Charging", select "Do Nothing".

[jzachlee]

Originally Posted by dstone001

It took three calls to Verizon to get instructions as simple as "move the SIM card from the old phone to the new one." In fact, when I purchased the phone and on my first trip to a Verizon store, I was told not to switch SIM cards because one of the bonuses of the Tour was that it came with a SIM card and a memory card.

The SIM card is the thing that identifies you (via your phone number) on the network, regardless of what phone it is plugged into. So when you change phone, you'll need to swop the SIM. Unless VZN did a backend system switch of the SIM details to the SIM card provided with the Tour, then you will not need to put the old SIM card into your new Tour.

I have not once opened the manual provided with the Tour. I found all I needed to know through forums like this one. You will be surprised how much you can find out online. In fact, there are more to know and find out online than you will ever get through the manuals. RIM cannot possibly put everything down into a manual and ship it with the device, it'll probably be thick as a dictionary. Does Nokia, HTC or Apple do that? Don't think so too.

[FF2]

Actually, as someone else posted, the SIM is not required in the Verizon Tour on Verizon.

Verizon shop swapped my data (not the sim card) from 8830 to Tour.

I swapped my 8gig card to the Tour from the 8830.

The micro-usb port is a mandate of the European Union = finally maybe some compatibility in the future.

I actually purchased a very small adapter that goes from micro (Tour) to the mini (other devices I have including the 8830). I should have purchased 2 of them. I also got some of the reverse ones, too.

Enjoy the phone.

Oh, and for the browser, put it in COLUMN mode and it will not require scrolling to extreme left/right - make it the default. Press Z to toggle that mode.

[jzachlee]

Yup, I am aware that the Tour, being a CDMA phone, does not require a SIM card. But since he mentioned the moving of SIM card, I had assumed that he might have wanted to use it on the GSM network.

Thanks for the tip on the browser! I had to live with the scrolling left and right all this while and didn't realise this feature! Browser is fantastic now!!