TechCrunch » tour

RGM Pennsylvania Tourbillon MM 2 Watch: American-Made At Its Finest

Contributor — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 12:19:09 +0000

I wasn't sure what to expect when I first laid eyes on the movement for this RGM Pennsylvania Tourbillon watch (which I discussed here). Sure the final version isn't much different than the preview I saw a while ago, but seeing it all put together with case, text, hands, and finishing is really satisfying. I feel a nice level of price seeing this timepiece, knowing it is all American. It really doesn't have too much to do with the fact that "we can do it." If Americans needed to build a tourbillon watch a while ago, we would have. This isn't an achievement in technology or engineering. Rather, it is a signal of our American appreciation in fine watches. That we care enough about good looking, traditional watches to invest enough to make our own. That for me feels good, and a positive sign that Americans are taking timepieces seriously again. A lost appreciation (to a large degree), that is coming back, bit by bit.

Apparently Sprint and Verizon have refuted the BlackBerry Tour high return rate claim

Matt Hickey — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:08:28 +0000

The story goes like this: A TownHall Investment Research director was quoted by Barron’s as saying that Sprint is seeing almost a 50% return rate on the BlackBerry Tour primarily because of trackball issues. We ran a simple poll where 36% of participants said they have returned a BlackBerry Tour because of trackball problems and another 16% have returned the phone for other reasons – that’s a 52% return ratio btw. But a tipster just sent us a little note stating that both Verizon and Sprint are calling bullshit (our words, not theirs) on the claim.

It’s not surprising that the companies that profit off of these handsets would publicly refute damaging statistics. But the fact remains that if you search the forums at CrackBerry, HowardForums, or others, a lot of users are having tackball problems. RIM has used the trackball with what I guess could be called moderate success over the last few generations, but perhaps this is why the new models will have trackpads instead.

Video: A good BlackBerry Tour trackball vs bad trackball

Matt Burns — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:00:41 +0000

Almost 40% of the BlackBerry Tour users who participated in our quick poll voted that they have returned a BlackBerry Tour because of trackball problems. That’s a clear indication of a problem. The dude in this video is on his sixth BlackBerry Tour and shows the difference between the two. [via CrackBerry]

Have you returned your BlackBerry Tour like you just don't care?

Matt Burns — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:30:05 +0000

The BlackBerry Tour is apparently being returned in droves. It seems that the trackball is easily mucked up, which requires constant cleaning and sometimes just outright fails. RIM’s recommendation is to clean the trackball with compressed air. Serious. Barron’s quotes a TownHall Investment Research director as saying that Sprint’s return rate on the Tour has “been climbing toward 50%.” Yeah, Waterloo, that’s a problem. Personally I used the Tour for several weeks and didn’t see any trackball issues. Although, my usage consisted of it sitting on my desk and occasionally on the center console of my car as I don’t get out much.

{democracy:68}

Sprint now offering a cameraless Blackberry Tour

Matt Burns — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 19:30:57 +0000

File this one under: What took so long? Sprint is finally offereing the Blackberry Tour without a camera. Why you ask? Well, some jobs do not allow cameras in the workplaces and so employees need such a phone. The cameraless option carries the same price of $199 with a 2-year agreement. It’s just strange that it took Sprint so long to offer this model as Verizon’s had both options available since launch.

Review: BlackBerry Tour 9630 (Sprint)

Contributor — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:05:28 +0000

Short Version: Unless you’re shopping specifically for the Palm Pre, this is the smartphone to buy for Sprint customers. The weight is right, the speed is right, the OS is at the perfect point in its evolution.

Review:

I have no issues with recommending this phone to anyone. It’s the perfect fusion of everything that makes a BlackBerry device what it is. The screen is extremely sharp, the camera does well in almost every situation, and despite what Peter said, the keyboard is perfect. Yes, Peter is wrong, I found absolutely no problems with the keyboard on the Tour.

Voice quality is significantly improved over the other BlackBerry devices I’ve used or tested, and calls are clear and sharp, with minimal background noise. Of course, this is to be expected from Sprint’s network, and during the testing period, I experienced no dropped calls. They’ve even added a “lock” button on the top of the phone. This is something that I always look for, and usually end up reprogramming one of the other buttons on the phone (typically the camera) to do this very function. Good idea, RIM!

This phone also supports overseas networks, so you will be just fine leaving the country with it. Again, watch those data overages that companies love to gouge you for, especially if you leave the US.

The software package that comes with the phone is acceptable, and if you are a sports fan, Sprint also includes the option to install their MLB Premium, NFL Mobile, and NASCAR Sprint Cup Mobile software. The phone also has Sprint TV installed, and it streams quite nicely. While waiting for my wife at the doctor’s office, I was able to sit and watch a full episode of one of my favorite shows with no problems.

The web browser is still junk, no question there. A commenter on Peter’s review recommended installing an alternative browser, however I didn’t get a chance to do this. It might be an option if you absolutely hate the default one, but for my purposes it did fine. Just keep in mind that it’s a mobile browser, through and through. You won’t come close to replicating the desktop browsing experience like you would on, say, the iPhone or Android.

If there is one thing I didn’t like about the Tour, it’s the lack of a Wi-Fi antenna. I don’t understand why this is not a standard feature on more phones? It makes perfect sense to me to have it so you can use your Wi-Fi connection when you are at home, instead of running up your data bill. Or maybe that is the point.

Conclusion

Despite the lack of a Wi-Fi option and the so-so web browser, the BlackBerry Tour is a great phone. If you want a BlackBerry OS smartphone, this is the best you can buy. The Tour is currently available to Sprint subscribers for $199.99

VZW now pushing Slacker Radio to the BlackBerry Tour

Matt Hickey — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:45:47 +0000

Last week Verzion pushed Slacker Radio onto the BlackBerry Storm. This time around, the BlackBerry Tour is getting the same treatment. Why you ask? Well, Slacker Radio has put a little icon within the app that links available songs to the VZW V-Cast music store. So when a tune plays through Slacker Radio, customers will be able to purchase the song right there.

If for some reason Slacker hasn’t been uploaded to your Tour, pull the battery and restart. You should see a icon on the home screen when it powers back on that prompts you to download the app.

VZW now pushing Slacker Radio to the BlackBerry Tour

Matt Burns — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 15:20:50 +0000

If for some reason Slacker hasn’t been uploaded to your Tour, pull the battery and restart. You should see a icon on the home screen when it powers back on that prompts you to download the app.

The BlackBerry Tour gets torn apart, reassembled

Matt Burns — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 17:59:02 +0000

I don’t get the fascination with gadget tear downs. I mean, who cares? It’s not like any of us understand what the hell is on the circuit boards. I say as long as the product works, lets leave it intact. But apparently like Internet loves herself some gadget tear downs so here is the BlackBerry Tour dissected while a terrible soundtrack is played in the background.

Blackberry Tour to launch on Verizon Wireless on July 12th

Contributor — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:10:16 +0000

If you’ve been biting your nails off anticipating the launch of the Blackberry Tour, you probably want to visit a psychiatrist ASAP. But you can also be happy to know that Verizon Wireless just announced that they’ll be releasing the Tour on July 12th. The Tour provides anyone hell-bent on Verizon (like people who actually want their phone to make and receive calls) a good multimedia phone in the $200 price range.

According to the offical press release, the Blackberry Tour has an optional camera (yes, optional: meaning you can actually choose NOT to have it but still pay the same $200), a media player and a beautiful high-resolution display. K Street and Obama rejoice, as now they can watch episodes of How I Met Your Mother between National Security briefings and shooting hoops at the White House. Anyways, if you want to find out the full specs, you can access the Verizon site here.

Leak: Full specs of BlackBerry Tour 9630

Matt Hickey — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:32:54 +0000

The BlackBerry Tour 9630 could go down in history as the most leaked cell phone ever. The phone isn’t suppose to hit carriers until mid-July and we already know everything about it after this latest leak. Heck, there have been full reviews done of the upcoming BlackBerry. In case you missed those, or just want a handy-dandy spec list, here ya go.

MobileSyrup.com dug up this info from the Canadian carrier, Bell. It’s safe to say that the Verizon-spec’d model, which will be available on July 13th btw, should ship with the same stuff. Now, if we only knew the price…

Leak: Full specs of BlackBerry Tour 9630

Matt Burns — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:32:16 +0000

Leopard gone gold, Apple posts 'how to' video

Nicholas Deleon — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 20:00:40 +0000

Leopard has gone gold, with Apple declaring Build 9A581, which has not been leaked on the Internet yet, the winner. As such, Cupertino today posted a cute little “What’s Leopard?” video on its Web site. There’s no real heavy lifting in the video, especially for those of us who have been following its development like we’re the paparazzi, but it’s still worth having on in the background as you whittle away the day’s remaining hours.

Apple apparently refused to seed the Golden Master build (that’s the final code ready for mass duplication) to its developers in order to prevent unauthorized leaks. I wonder if Apple is implementing any sort of serial number for Leopard. I don’t remember inputting any on the previous OS X releases, but maybe Apple has changed its tune. I guess we’ll see next week.

Leopard Guided Tour [Apple via Mac Rumors]

The iPhone Tour: I Give Up

John Biggs — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 17:54:40 +0000

Please don’t hate us, Mike. See, reader Mike emailed me asking us to stop talking about the iPhone. But we can’t. We really can’t. It’s taken over the entire news cycle. Everyone is afraid of the iPhone and they won’t launch anything to compete for it. Imagine releasing, I don’t know, a fairly cool sci-fi movie the same week Star Wars 7: Attack of George Lucas’ Prostate. Would you do it? No. You’d wait until the holidays, maybe. You’d time it just right to avoid the huge shadow Star Wars casts on the landscape.

So please, go watch this crazy video. Manufacturers: go and watch it twice. This is what EVERY PHONE HAS TO LOOK LIKE FROM NOW ON. I will repeat. NO ONE WANTS YOUR PHONES ANYMORE UNLESS SOME GUY IN A BLACK SHIRT TALKS ABOUT IT FOR 20 MINUTES AND UNLESS CLICKING THROUGH THE PHONE REMINDS ME MORE OF MINORITY REPORT THAN NORBIT. This is your Windows/MS-DOS moment — everything that came before this phone was MS-DOS. Sure, you had Norton Commander and that weird graphical DOS shell, but when Windows — and MacOS — hit the street the game changed entirely. MS-DOS doesn’t cut it, EVERYTHING THAT CAME BEFORE THIS IS MS-DOS. End of rant. I’m sorry, Mike, but I had to do it. Only a few more days and then we can all get on with our lives.

iPhone Tour

Samsung Announces New Spokesperson

Contributor — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:24:35 +0000

Gob Bluth has been named the new spokesperson of Samsung. As a former semi-professional magician, Gob knows that it’s important to create the illusion that Samsung makes decent products. Already, the board members have been extremely pleased with his work, pointing out that you must take a loss to receive a gain (or something like that).

In the coming months, Gob will perform a series of magical and musical acts to impress investors and to restore confidence in the company. You can catch the act on the following dates:

Friday, April 6th – 8pm @ Jacob Javits Center, NYC

Wednesday, April 11th – 8:30pm @ The Sands Resort and Casino, Las Vegas

Saturday, April 14th – 10:00pm @ Borgata, Atlantic City

Each ticket is $100 and goes directly to the Samsung Charity for the Magicians Alliance of America. When asked about how he felt being chose as the new spokesperson for Samsung, Bluth replied:

“I just want to let everyone know that I’ll be giving it my all – 93% – for everyone looking up to Samsung as a telecom company. I like what they’re doing with some of the products like the Blackjack and I intend to help sell as many units as possible. Even if it means stealing a few crates-worth and dumping them into the bay.”

Press Release [Samsung]