The Tourp has a 2.4 inch display, a row of shortcut keys (call, Blackberry, back and end) and a trackball on the front with a full keyboard.
The phone also has a miniUSB charge port, a 3.5 mm headphone jack, a volume rocker and a camera with an LED flash.
While
it may have been specific to the device that I tested, the trackball was less
responsive than I would have liked.p In fact, it was very difficult to get the
cursor to move left and right.
The Tour's design is reminiscent of other BlackBerry models, particularly the
Curve. The
keyboard, however, has little space between each key unlike the curve. It
provides a
typing experience that I found very comfortable. The weight of the phone feels
nice in the
hand, and while the exterior is made of plastic, it doesn't feel cheap.
The Tour has the BlackBerry OS and comes with all of the tools that keep
BlackBerry users coming back. BlackBerry messenger or BBM, which BlackBerry
users
seem to love, is on the Tour, of course, and works worldwide so you can BBM pyour
friends and coworkers while you're away for work. Unfortunately, the Tour is not
Wi-Fi
compatible, so if you do want to use the phone out of the country, you're stuck
with networks in other countries, and roaming fees are quite expensive.
Roaming fees aside, the Tour comes in handy abroad just as much as it does
domestically. VZ navigator has a global variant that works in a variety of
countries. I
tested it in England and it worked just fine, although the way it handles
directions on
roundabouts leaves something to be desired.
Other applications like Internet and e-pmail work just the same abroad as they
do in the U.S.
The Tour works well abroad and domestically, but Verizon offers other
BlackBerries that
do have Wi-Fi capabilities and have switched from the trackball to the trackpad.
I would
recommend looking into those other BlackBerries before deciding on this one.
6/10
