9650 keeps locking itself, HELP!

[king browser]

Hello everyone, recent Blackberry owner here. I bought a 9650 (Verizon) a couple of weeks ago.

The problem that I'm having is that the phone will automatically lock itself while in use.

For example, when I'm using the phone in any capacity (typing a text, viewing the options menu, selecting ring tones - any activity), the screen will turn off and when I press the keypad or trackpad, nothing happens. When I press the return (the button on the right of the trackpad) or end call buttons, I get a message stating "Keypad is locked. Press the Lock button to unlock". So I press the lock/unlock key on the top of the phone to unlock it.

Problem is, this happens all the time and in quick succession. Sometimes it happens after 1 second to half a minute, sometimes it happens so frequently that the screen turns/flickers on and off by itself. It appears that the phone is locking itself random short intervals. This is driving me nuts as the phone locks by itself before I can even finish typing the "black" in "blackberry".

I've checked online and it seems that this problem that I'm experiencing is rare or no one has found a solution to it. I've restarted the phone with the battery, restarted the phone by taking out the battery, updating the software (running on OS 6), quadruple checked the settings (auto lock is turned off, never lock when holstered, etc), took off the top cover to check for hardware issues, you name it.

I've come to you in desperation, can anyone help? Thanks!

[lgehrig1224]

No one has an answer for this!? Mine just started doing this tonight, and I have done so many battery pulls and nothing is working.

[king browser]

I managed to "fix" my blackberry by deleting an app at a time, followed by a battery pull, then inserting the battery to restart the device. Some apps I found to be problematic include the app that lets you open Word/Excel/PowerPoint files, blackberry app world, and other misc apps. Your results may vary so looking online, I found some people had problems with apps that I didn't have any issues with. So it's a long and slow process to back up your phone and deleting apps by trial and error to find the culprit, and then restoring your phone once you've found the problem/s.

Other than apps, there is another problem with software versions. For example, when I connect my blackberry to my computer, blackberry desktop manager launches and informs me that there's an update to app world. I can't download any apps until I update my version of app world. Problem is, after I updated app world, it creates more problems such as my blackberry not being recognized by app world or erroneous plug-in errors that didn't appear before (nor did they leave after doing a plug-in check/update). This left me wondering why RIM gives the green light to updates when those are clearly faulty, as in incompatibilty with some devices and other software versions. The only way to overcome these software/version problems is to wait until RIM releases another version. In my case, I had to wait until RIM released an update to the (problematic) update of app world. In the meantime, I was SOL. Even now, with my phone working, I still cannot manage my apps with the desktop manager. I forgot the exact error message but it's something along the lines of "there's an error and now desktop manager must close". No error codes, no more info, not easy to troubleshoot.

Moreover, I'd highly advice against using blackberry outside of the US or whatever your native country may be. I've traveled to China with mine and talk about a migraine. I paid for the 100mb/month data with voice and wifi plan, but I can't browse the web on my blackberry (only says lowercase "edge" instead of "EDGE" that lets you browse). After visiting a China Mobile official store, the only person who knows anything remotely about how to solve this problem is only available on specific days and there's also the language barrier (do I need another SIM card, how do I get the service books, how do I get BIS, why can I only dial out using a specific code, etc). I was told more than once that I need to purchase another plan and forfeit my previous plan, that I already paid for (no refunds or credits)!

I'm using a Mac PC with my blackberry and this is not something that I suggest doing. If you're using a RIM product, you'll have an easier time on a Windows PC. If you're a Mac user or if you don't have access to Windows, you'll find that the desktop manager for Mac is very limited in its capabilities as compared to the Windows version. When you troubleshoot problems, most if not all solutions posted online are Windows related.

To say the least, my short experience with blackberry has been abyssmal, and I'm not even factoring in traveling issues with this supposed "world phone". There are simply too many problems associated with the device, the app world, the desktop manager, and different versions of incompatible softwares (that you won't know until you run them and very bad things start happening, i.e. see my original post - where is quality control?). This is my first and final blackberry, RIM's got to get itself together considering the plethora of other options out there (previous iPhone user here, very very few problems on that platform).