a cheap trick to get people to buy more from the blackberry universe---

lame.

The Tour's trackball is black, not white, but that's irrelevant to this story and I'm a picky bastard.

see the title.

Anyone who has the Tour knows typing on it is a pain if you have the micro usb plugged in. It is dirrectly in the way of how you normally hold it when it is not plugged in. The worse place I have seen the usb port on any BB.

That's pretty shady of RIM to change the charging port ever so slightly so all the Tour owners who were PLANNING to keep and use their skins, cases etc on the Bold now have to buy new stuff....FAIL RIM!

Corporates and their marketing ploys. Blahh

So RIM choose not to move the horrible placement of the USB on the tour to a better more user friendly place, but decided to move it just enough to render any cases that people had for the tour useless on the 9650? What rip-off.

The skin I have for my Tour "cant remember the company" The USB hole is more than big enough to use on a 9650. I bought the Skin from a Verizon store last week.

The location of the USB port is irrelevant to me, and I know some people think it's omgtheworstplaceever for it to be placed, but it's not a deal breaker for me. I just want Verizon to release it already! :)

I doubt RIM moved the position of the micro USB port only to make customers buy new skins or accessories. It doesn't make sense.

Even so....why would you want to have your brand new phone on an old skin anyway. Just get a new one. If you had a Tour and are going to spend full retail on a Bold 9650 why not get a new skin as well.

JHC isn't this just typical? We get the issue of uniform usb ports taken care of and now they move it just enough that existing cases won't fit. How about the charging docs? Does anyone know if these will still work? Or did they move that just a tad too?

Agreed--the Usb port is in an awful location!

Get a better battery cover as well. I mean since it's a Bold, shouldn't it have all the Bold trimmings as well? Just my 2 cents...

qq moar plx

i'm sure RIM moved it accommodate internal hardware differences.

nice try though.

Rember, the 9650 now has a trackpad, and wifi in it, so more stuff had to be cramed inside. Im sure they did the best they could to keep the sync/charging port in the same location, even with the addition of other stuff inside.

Im looking at my Seidio Innocase 2 for my 9630 and looking at the charging port opening. the port is actually towads the top (right if you look on from the side) of the opening, so I dont think there will be an issue with that case.

I doubt RIM intentionally moved it this slight amount, but they SHOULD have gone out of their way to make it match up. Bad enough they screwed all of us Tour buyers by re releasing an already obsolete device, then to rub salt in the wound like this is a shame. Next we'll hear the rear charge contacts are different do pods don't work? Wouldn't surprise me.

from my BlackBerry Storm...

What a pain to type on the 9630 with the microUSB cord plugged in. If you're going to move the port to accomodate internal hardware anyway, why not place the port in a more desirable location? OTOH, having BOLD printed on the back case makes up for this design lack of insight I suppose...

Why why why why did they leave the headphone jack on the right side near the volume keys...

stuff on the storm/storm 2. They flared the ends out just enough to make sure the cases and charging pod would not fit. Had to buy new for my S2 after upgrading. They are not one of the most profitable for nothing.

If you don't like it, don't buy the phone. Like others have said, it is close enough to fit most cases. If it isn't, you could spend as much time as you do whining with a razorblade in your hand and customize it enough to make it work.

Kevin, Thanks for looking out for us. I'm glad you're on the ball and watching that our hard earned money isn't wasted on ill fitting cases.

What idiots... Should have moved it to same place as the real Bold...

yet another reason why iphone is so damned popular... - the plug in is the same spot for almost all their devices (iphone/ipod)..

this makes 3rd party companies happy because they can design products to work with iDontWantIt stuff.

I have a nice logitech speaker dock - made for iStuff -- my blackberry will sit in the 'cradle' - but, I can't have the usb charger on it and I have a headphone cord hanging out to attach to the aux in of the dock.

the mount I have for the car needs replaced because - you guessed it, I can't plug anything into my BB because ports are covered by the grips on the mount. Why - because RIM changes location of ports with the model changes!

sigh.

What a bunch of whiny cry babys. You people who have to run to your analysts over some tiny irrelevant sh*t on a damn phone need a life. The difference in the placement of the plug aint even worth talking about, and for that matter move your hand a little when using the thing if it has the cord plugged in. You can type with it plugged in or not easily. If you fill your pants because such a little thing annoys you like this then you got issues. Big issues. Get over it and move on. Its a fine device and will be even better when it comes out. Dont buy it if you dont like it. In fact buy an Android and go troll their boards and sites.

why release make the 9630 knowing your making another 'TOUR' with track pad and wifi but to avoid upsetting people they call it the BOLD. CASH GRAB OF COURSE. gimme a break RIM don't piss on my face and tell me its raining. i am done with RIM and Blackberry, on to the iPhone. all the RIM device are all the same with the exception of the STORM (touchscreen). not is innovative about the products or services. same devices launched on different days. i will give RIM email support hands down, nothing beats it and BBM but i can do without those 2 services. i use my iPod touch more than i do my 9630. better step it up and start thinking outside the box RIM or get left in android and iPhone's dust

...into the weeeeeeeeds?

...keep on digging guys,...keep on digging!

JMD
Have Bold,...Will Travel~

So, their able to move the charging port slightly lower (in a worse position!) but not able to move it to the "correct" side? Moving it lower too, makes existing skins unusable.

Is the design of the tour that limited they couldn't move the charging port to the correct side? Why not make the device totally different! It still looks like the tour 9630 minus trackpad! Should have changed the whole look, design, shape of the design if you want to get people to buy new skins for it and call it a BOLD.

They should have at least given it a leather battery door to keep with the BOLD line. They gave it WIFI, and the BOLD's processor (not to mention doubled the memory again). Still looks like the CDMA Version of the 8900.

I always knew the Bold was a bottom!

It's funny that all these people are complaining about how they are getting "screwed" by RIM. Unlike the government (US) forcing you to buy health insurance, RIM is not forcing you to buy the 9650, any of the accessories or any other product they sell. If enough people stop buying their products, they will be forced to comply with what the market demands of them or they will go out of business.

Go buy an evo, droid or iphone if you don't like it.

i thought the usb port location was going to be on the top left? what happened to that idea? i honestly thought that was a great idea cause it is hard to do things with the usb plugged in...

someone please fill me in on what happened to that idea?

And I dont mean my DROIIIIDDD....wow a year late, same OS...with the features it should have come with and now this.

Glad I switched. :)

Ha! I wasn't on planning on spending money on another phone unitl my two years is up on my Tour anyway. At that point, I'll upgrade to the Bold 2, which will be renamed the Tour 2 and have 1 Gig memory, one extra pixel screen resolution, wifi+, and two track pads, while rocking OS 6.1. Go RIM!

NOT 'Greedy' !!! noooo i say Business Bitches.....
This won't even matter to most of you complaining damn annoying much !

I don't know whether it has been done before, but i think we should have a pooling on where the MicroUSB should be. Not to force RIM to change it, but just as an awareness of how many people prefer where it should be.

I myself feel the annoying of having to use my Javelin while the MicroUSB cable is in use.

Regards,

All yall consumers do is bitch, shut the fuck up, what do yall really expect? A companys main goal is to make as much $$$ possible lol if any of yall run a business u would understand that Stop being gay & crying all the time Jeez all I ever see & hear is yall bitxh, u bought the damn phone now live with it There's always some type of buyers remorse STFU

put the damned thing on the bottom of the phone for qwerty phones and the left side for touch screens. make it uniform.

Looks like the difference is just 1mm or so. Use an exacto knife or a small file, whatever, to elongate that hole a bit. Sounds like that's what RIM will do with their skins/cases.

RIM decided to move it slightly THINKING people would buy new cases and skins from them, but seriously, how many people buy accessories directly from them? People get them from Crackberry.com, the immigrant vendor in the mall, really anywhere other than RIM. No only is this a marketing and financial fail, but it makes them look greedy and shady as a corporation in the consumers eyes...

My Tour charging port measures to be in exactly the same position as the bottom photo which is labeled as being the 9650, and NOT in the same position as top photo which labeled as the 9630. Is the photo labeled incorrectly or does my Tour already have the moved usb port?

Wasn't the microUSB port supposed to be moved to the upper left hand portion of the device such as the way it appears on the Curve 8330??? This would allow for much easier texting/BBMing while charging as well as playing games and pretty much anything else you can think of other than talking on a headset, which would be unaffected. Besides the trackpad, this was to be my second favorite upgrade to the Tour 9630. In my opinion, the placement of the microUSB port on the lower right hand portion of the device is the most striking design flaw of the Tour other than a sticky trackball. I am truly disappointed...

Just bought a hard case for my 9630 and was thinking i would keep it for the 9650

Why the heck are they doing this to us. The Tour has been just that a long and winding tour to stay on board. I no it's about making money in the end but, come on?. I will purchase a the new 9650!. There was nothing wrong with the nameTour2, and now throw all the other crap out and start again. Come on you guys, help the little guy out once in a while.

I wonder if my Otterbox Commuter will fit on the Bold. I love this case on Tour, and would hate to give it up and by another one for basically the same phone.

So much innovation from RIM here folks.

If u look at the pic the micro usb port is ever so slightly lower on the 9650 than the 9630. On the innocase II the micro usb opening is actually a little off center of the (9630) port. The port actually is closer to the top of the opening in the case. Being that the usb port on the 9650 is lower it (the 9650 usb port) should be more centered in the opening when using an innocase II. I cant say this with 100% certainty though because I dont yet have a 9650 to try this with. I'm just going off of my own observerations

EDIT: Nevermind I got the 2 phones in the pic reversed. The innocase II wont work cause the charging port is higher on the 9650. If it was just a mm or 2 lower it would clear the opening though.