Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Which Cell Phone is Best?


Replacing the Blackberry 8830 World Edition, the Blackberry Tour 9630, available on Verizon Wireless and Sprint, impresses with its updated design. Sascha Segan at PCMag.com calls it "best choice of the bunch" among Verizon smartphones and a "positive jump forward from the BlackBerry Curve 8330," while Bonnie Cha at CNET names it the top smartphone for business users and "messaging fanatics." Like the BlackBerry 8800 series, the Tour works on GSM networks abroad and CDMA networks in the U.S., making it ideal for frequent business travelers. It is not compatible with GSM networks in the U.S., however. The Tour measures 2.4 inches by 0.6 inches by 4.4 inches and weighs 4.6 ounces; that makes it just a little bit heftier than the BlackBerry Curve 8900.
Reviewers say the Tour, which shares a number of features with the Blackberry Curve 8900 and the BlackBerry Bold, is the easiest to handle of Research in Motion's current line of smartphones, and it incorporates the best features of its brand-mates, including an excellent 2.4-inch screen and keyboard. The Tour has a 528 MHz processor, a small bump up from the 8900's, and the same 256 MB of memory. It supports most messaging and email clients, has GPS functionality and runs version 4.7 of the Blackberry operating system, previously limited to the Storm. Reviewers say messaging is seamless, but they aren't impressed with Blackberry's web browser.
The Tour also includes a 3.2-megapixel camera for photos and video, as well as a media player. PhoneArena.com notes that while videos look very good on the Tour's LCD screen, it doesn't come with Xvid or DivX support, as other Blackberrys do. But the Blackberry Tour 9630 is primarily a business-oriented phone; reviewers find that its multimedia features fall short of Apple's iPhone 3GS, for example. Voice quality on the Tour is almost universally praised, though opinions about the speakerphone and call reception are mixed. Talk time is rated at five hours, with a standby time of two weeks, but it varies depending on use. Tests and anecdotal evidence suggest that, if anything, the manufacturer's estimates are conservative. PCMag.com's tests, for instance, yield more than six hours of talk time. On the negative side, the Bluetooth-compatible Tour 9630 lacks Wi-Fi connectivity, an oversight that reviewers are unanimous in bemoaning, calling it "disappointing," "unforgivable" and "inexcusable."

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