My GPS craps out. Alot. So much that nearly every time I want to use it (for awesome apps like GPSlogger), I have to reboot the phone to get the GPS chip to wake up. Not cool. It takes ages to reboot, too – like 7 minutes or more. My old Pearl did it in half the time..

Further GPS crap – even when it is working.. it occasionally reports INSANE data. You can see it in action in these images.. two are from a round of golf I logged, where I apparently broke the sound barrier, and another is from a run – where I broke 80mph on foot. Right.

To ice this cake, the signal reception has issues as well. I can be sitting on the couch here and watch the signal drop from full 1XEV to no bars, to just 1X (which I think is like ATT Edge vs 3G).. then lose data connectivity altogether.. then it bounces right back. Meanwhile, Kim’s Curve, also on VZW, right next to my phone, maintains a strong signal consistently.  WTF, RIM?

So this Tour is over – going to swap for a new one at the VZW store. And apparently, the newer “batches” of Tours are much better built, so say other folks on the internets. So I’ve got that going for me, which is nice. We’ll see. So far I am not happy – at all – about these shortcomings.

Update.. timed a reboot: 6.5 minutes before it was “awake” and then almost another minute before it was useable. and… it is on 1X vs 1XEV – unreal. I’ve had enough of this. And today’s lesson for CDMA networks:
1X: Connected to the cellular network on 1xRTT as well as connected to RIM’s servers
1XEV: Connected to the cellular network on EVDO as well as connected to RIM’s servers

So compared to GSM, 1X is like EDGE, 1XEV is like 3G.

So far, the Tour is fantastic.. except the GPS is very flakey on mine. The GPS chip seems to stop responding very often, which appears to only happen to me.. can’t find anyone else with these issues. More to come on that – may have to get the unit replaced.

Its very fast, both hardware-wise and network-wise.. though I do find some funky slowdowns at home (seems I live right between two towers or something). I’ve downloaded a bunch of apps and it runs everything without a hitch – except when the GPS craps out of course. Even Google Maps runs just as well as it did on the iPhone – without the giant screen of course. Latitude is nice to have again, and of course my chat clients – Goog Talk and BBM.

The web browser is good – better than any other BB I have used. Still doesn’t handle Javascript well, but overall displays most content quite well. I suspect once Skyfire is released, that will solve any issue.

Camera – auto focus is REALLY good. Flash is insanely bright, however the device is smart enough to lower the flash output as it needs to, based on the auto focus. Video camera is pretty good, too.

The switch from ATT to Verizon went well. Got the phone activated immediately, and am now signed onto a cheaper plan.

More to come.. but so far, I’m a happy camper.

I gave ATT a few days to get my contract and stuff back to normal – ie, back to before I got the iPhone. After 4 days, my account is still claiming I have the iPhone contract.. yet is aware that I am using my old BB. MMhmmm.. about that iPhone contract – shouldn’t it like.. NOT WORK with my BB? That’s how ATT seems to sell it – as if it is some separate beast..

Figuring it would be a quick fix, I called ATT last night before heading to the Verizon store. Funnily, the ATT stores close at 7pm, yet Verizon stores are open till 9pm. I talk to Regina for a bit and explain the situation. She has to talk to her manager.  This goes on for a while – she can’t do anything without her manager. Sure, fine, she seems new, no problem. After a good 10 minutes of awkward questions (“did you eat dinner yet?”) she finally announces that ATT cannot help me over the phone, that the store has complete control over this issue – as it is an error on their behalf. Fine, just another nail in the coffin, ATT.

I hang up and go check out the Verizon store. Busy place even after 8pm on a Tuesday. The Tour is a popular item. I played with it a bit – and yup, its a 100% mashup of the Bold keyboard in a Curve sized body. Its a really nice looking device. Typing is different, but good. I checked out the Storm, and ugh what a mess that thing is. Not a fan, could never deal with it. Touchscreen just is not for me. Also played with the Pearl Flip – nice device.. much faster than my 8100 but not as nice as the Tour, etc. The size is kinda funny – oddly large when its opened – but its lightweight and has Suretype (which I do enjoy). Went back to the Tour – tested out some web action, camera, and other toys. Its a powerful phone. I figure I could get used to the keys and be happy. Not wanting to “take a number” to talk to a rep, esp since my ATT account is in limbo, I left, content.

Swung by ATT today. Talk to the doood who sold me the phone initially. Apparently my contract was already in their sites – was sitting on a desk – and he pulled it right up and acknowledged the error. “Didn’t you get a new Blackberry or something?” he asks. “No.. you could not give me my upgrade price due to the iPhone contract.. and I still can’t get that”, I calmly added. Further explaining that “I need to know what my pricing will be before I buy a phone.”

He seems to understand, however.. he could not FIX my contract error without his manager, who was.. “out”, possibly back in 20 minutes. Ugh. He says they will take care of it and will let me know. Ok.. so I go and play with the phones a bit more. Bold – still the best keyboard of all. Really awesome. Unfortunately the phone is a really gigantic. Sure feels nice, but way too big. Curve 8900 – typed a bit and came to decide that I’d be happier with the Tour keyboard. I made less errors in less time, so figured that’s sign enough. I did test out Youtube on the 8900 and it worked just fine.. though I am not sure if that was via edge or wifi. As I am playing, the sales guy goes up to my cancellation guy and tells him he screwed up. Yeah, rub it in, smart guy, but no one’s fixing my issue..

I left after about 10 minutes and have decided to give them a whole day to fix this. No call yet, and the store is now closed as its after 7. Tomorrow afternoon I will give them one final chance to give me my old contract back.. and then it will get ugly. Little does ATT know.. that as soon as they fix this, I am cancelling them and moving over to VZW. This stupid debacle has sealed it.