Blackberry Email and Call quality v. everyone else

[roguerower]

Right now I have a Blackberry Tour that I picked up this summer. I got it primarily for the email aspect because of school and coaching and being able to respond to emails quickly was a big necessity for me. The only thing that I don't like is that it is god awfully slow. I get pauses and shuttering when playing the standard pong game that comes with it.

Since email and phone use are big for me, with a little bit of goofing around required, how do the other OSes (WM, Android, etc) stack up? I don't want an iPhone. I agree that they're cool, but I refuse to buy an apple product (don't even use iTunes).

 

[vshah]

are you using blackberry for work email, or just gmail. if the latter, the gmail client in android phones is unrivaled and a great experience even on my 2 year old g1. i can't say anything about WM..never used it.

 

[roguerower]

Currently using Gmail set up as IMAP. When I graduate I might try and get my work emails forwarded to it. My company uses Lotus software suite.

 

[DivideBYZero]

If your device gets laggy, i.e., you get the clock in the middle of the screen, etc, pull the battery to reboot it.

If you have Desktop Manager make sure you have updated your Tour. There is at least one OS update that has been released for that device, IIRC. This will help with the lag and sand timer issues.

 

[vshah]

Currently using Gmail set up as IMAP. When I graduate I might try and get my work emails forwarded to it. My company uses Lotus software suite.

android is your best bet currently if gmail is very important to you. what network are you on?

 

[tdawg]

I personally felt the gmail app for blackberry was superb. Really full-featured. The gmail app was probably my favorite blackberry application. It's far better than the iphone's mail application.

 

[roguerower]

I'm on Verizon. I haven't updated it since I got it so I'll try that and see what happens. I really like the default email service that comes with it.

 

[roguerower]

I double checked my OS and my tour is running 4.7.1.61 which the manager says is the latest.

Is the hardware in it technically inferior to the storm, storm 2, or bold? Looking at a friends iPhone it seems to fly along and i figured that since blackberry's are known for their business aspect and security, the hardware specs may not be the same as other consumer smartphones. Can anyone shed some light on that?

 

[CurseTheSky]

Hmm, crazy coincidence - I also refuse to use Apple products (iPhone, iPod, iTunes, Macbook, etc.) simply due to arrogance that some of my "early adopter" friends have toward non-Apple products. It left a bad taste in my mouth. I also happen to have a Blackberry Tour as well.

I don't find it to be ridiculously slow, but the occasional "waiting" clock does get annoying. I also find that the layout of the menus and whatnot is sufficient, but not always intuitive. The email client and browser both do their job well enough, but it definitely feels too business oriented for me.

With that said, I'll be jumping on the Android bandwagon as soon as I'm due for an upgrade (September).

 

[roguerower]

I'm not eligible for an upgrade for a while but I might have to jump on android a little sooner than intended.

 

[DivideBYZero]

OK, as far as Verizon are concerned, that is the latest OS, but it is not. There are later official OS's for other carriers around the world.

This link is for an Official 5.0 release:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f141/newest-9630-official-os-v5-0-0-419-mts-mobility-410624/

Also it won't hurt to check the CrackBerry Tour forums for fixes to common issues:
http://forums.crackberry.com/f141/

 

[uli2000]

Im running the 5.0 update. Runs smoother, but battery life has taken a hit. Verizon is supposed to put out their official 5.0 release in Feb or Mar. In the meantime, pull the battery about once a week.