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How to change that old, beaten up, ugly colored, unwanted housing on your Curve 83xx
For an easy change, follow every step in this tutorial very closely and carefully. You can also watch the youtube or cnn.cn videos for further assistance.
Disclaimer: This tutorial is only to help and assist the modifications made to your device. Any loss of warranty, any damage, and any outcome will be your responsibility. Modifications attempted on your mobile device are done at your own risk.
This Tutorial will outline the disassembly and reassembly of the blackberry curve 83xx housings. In this tutorial, I changed my 8320 ( 8310 and 8300 will work as well) housing to a black 8330 housing purchased from GSM4WORLD. There has been talk about the 8330 housings not fitting on the other 83xx curves. This is a common misconception. Everything on the 8330 housing fits perfectly on the 8300, 8310, and 8320. The notification LED lines up perfectly and actually shines even brighter than when the 8320 housing was used. The 8320 middle housing/midplate fits perfectly with the 8330 front housing and battery door.
The tutorial will not outline the disassembly and reassembly of the middle housing/midplate as this procedure is of high risk and may cause your phone to lose its functionality if the midplate did not come PREASSEMBLED with the speaker and antenna.
If you are deciding where to purchase this housing, this is where I got my housing from. It was the cheapest price for a complete housing with the black track ball, side rails, and full keypad assembly.
BLACKBERRY CURVE 8330 OEM BLACK FULL HOUSING+KEYBOARD** - eBay (item 350178981521 end time Apr-15-09 06:56:45 PDT)
Auction contents:
- Black Front faceplate
- Black Lens
- Precut double sided adhesive tape to attach the lens to the front faceplate
- Full black keypad assembly (meaning home row keys are included)
- Black trackball
- Black unbranded bottom clip
- Side rails (and all the little buttons that are on them)
- Middle housing/ midpiece/ midplate (however you like to call it)
- Black battery door
- T5 Torque Screw Driver
- T6 Torque Screw Driver
- Housing Opening Tool
Just a note, EVERY step in this tutorial will have a picture that follows, if a picture is missing, just wait for a few minutes and it should load. If it still doesn't load, please let me know and I'll make sure it gets fixed asap. Thanks
ANY COMMENTS AND/OR CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS APPRECIATED! THANKS
Got a malfunctioning trackball with the purchase of your housing? Don't worry, you're not alone. This tutorial I made may be your solution. Also handy for trackball disassembly and reassembly.
http://forums.crackberry.com/f52/qui...6/#post2225904
See the link below to see the results of my phone!
http://forums.crackberry.com/f52/ano...ics-up-201667/
----------------This tutorial officially begins here, read EVERY step CAREFULLY ----------------
Many ask "was it hard to change the housing?"
The process took a total of approximately 30 minutes on my first time even opening a smart phone up while I took these pictures to make a tutorial. The answer then would be, be very patient with the housing and the housing will be patient with you.
Now lets begin!
IMPORTANT INFO TO KNOW FOR THIS ENTIRE TUTORIAL BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING AT ALL:
BE REMINDED THAT THE T6 AND T5 SCREWS AS WELL AS TABS IN THE SIDE RAILS ARE VERY FRAGILE. DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING WHEN DEALING WITH THE SIDE RAILS AND SCREWS AS THEY WILL BREAK. YES, OVERTURNING THE SCREWS WILL EASILY SNAP THE HEADS OFF!
Step 1:
Have everything laid out nicely and neatly on a white sheet of paper. This will allow you to see any loose lying screws or bits quickly. Be sure to have the following tools with you:
- A t6 screw driver
- A t5 screw driver
- A Housing Opening Tool/ Wedge/ Guitar pick
- Clean hands
- Rubbing Alcohol & compressed air
- A camera to take pictures of every step you make so you can backtrack if anything goes wrong.
- The new housing
Step 2:
Remove the back battery door (For dummies: by pushing the little silver tab in between the charger contacts and sliding the door in an upwards movement while applying downward pressure) and take out the battery, sim card, and microsd card if you have one.
Step 3:
- Remove the bottom clip. By doing this you will need to gently pry the two clips as highlighted in the picture below. A screw driver can be used to help pry it open but be very safe and gentle as the antenna lies right beneath the clip.
- Once the clip is lifted up, pull down with your fingers with more pressure. It may feel like the clip is about to break but just continue to apply pressure until it snaps off. When off, you'll see that there are another two clips that were holding the clip down on the front that were causing you to get the feeling like it was about to break. These clips do not break easily.
Step 4:
- Get the new front housing and clean it thoroughly with alcohol (to remove any excess oil. Then use a can of compressed air to blow out the remaining dust.
- Take the double sided adhesive tape that should have come with the housing and peel off one side. Be sure to remove all the required holes on the adhesive (there should be a total of 7 holes).
- Apply the peeled off side of the adhesive in the lens slot on the housing
- Apply pressure and run your finger over the unpeeled side of the adhesive to make sure the adhesive is completely secure on the housing with no bubbles or bumps.
Step 5:
Peel off the remaining unpeeled side of the adhesive with a set of tweezers.
Last edited by vtsang; 04-09-09 at 10:14 AM.
04-08-09 04:44 AM - Step 6:
- Apply the lens directly on top of the adhesive
- Make sure to line it up precisely with the lens slot in the housing as well.
Step 7:
Now return to your phone and remove the 2 back t5 screws as highlighted in the picture below using the t5 torque screw driver.
Step 8:
- Lift the side rails and bring them down to expose the mid section of the phone. Note: The side rails will not come off completely YET, do not force them off.
- Note 2: Be sure to place all screws that are removed in a safe area that is easily spotted and will not allow for them to roll off the desk or anything. Highlighted in picture below
Step 9:
When the mid section is exposed, there will be 2 clips that clip down from the front housing onto the phone on either side as highlighted in the pictures below. Lift these tabs to lift the entire front housing off of the phone assembly. Note: When lifting, the front housing may not want to come off completely. This is because the front housing is attached to an LCD bracket inside the phone by a piece of double sided tape/ gasket (which prevents the entry of dust into the phone. Just gently peel the front housing off of the adhesive. Try not to split the adhesive, it's ok if you do though, a replacement gasket can be bought for a cheap price from GSM4WORLD. The phone works fine without it too, you may just find that some dust gets into the screen occasionally.
Step 10:
Front housing removed, front of phone and LCD exposed.
Step 11:
-Now to remove the home row keys and the bottom of the side rails, take your t6 torque screw driver and remove the 4 t6 screws as highlighted below.
- Once removed, your phone will be completely bare and the reassembly process can begin.
Step 12:
-When putting the new home row keys into the phone, be sure that the little tabs with the screw driver holes go OVER the LCD bracket BEFORE screwing them in.
-When the tabs are over the LCD bracket, screw down the top two t6 screw.
-Then slide the new side rails in making sure the tabs line up with the slots on the side of the phone and screw down the remaining two t6 screws to secure the bottom of the side rails.
Step 13:
THIS STEP IS FOR CONVERSION FROM THE 8320 TO THE 8330 HOUSING ONLY!
- Remove the little rubber gasket on the ear piece/ microphone. Leaving it on will cause the housing to bulge on the top.
Last edited by vtsang; 04-09-09 at 07:15 AM.
04-08-09 04:45 AM - Step 14:
Some new housings may not come with a dust filter in the microphone hole of the front housing. To solve this problem, LifeOfVice has kindly posted up a tutorial on the fix, I will also outline the steps in this tutorial. All credit goes to him on this solution.
Step 15:
Take a useless set of earbuds and remove the rubber or whatever is covering the silver mesh in it.
Step 16:
Remove the silver mesh from the earbuds either by trimming them out with a knife, or somehow peeling them off.
Step 17:
- Cut the silver mesh to the proper size to place behind the microphone hole.
- Take a glue gun or some super glue and place two dabs of glue on either side. If a glue gun is used, be sure to smooth out the chunks of glue (excuse me as I didn't show the smoothed out chunks of glue and it looks quite ugly)
Step 18:
Put the new front housing onto the phone making sure to clip the two clips on either side into their respective slots on the housing as highlighted in the pictures below.
Be sure to take a can of compressed air and blow out all the dust that is on the LCD as well as the back of the lens on the housing before putting the new front housing on.
Step 19:
Enjoy the new look of your phone
See the link below to see the results of my phone!
http://forums.crackberry.com/f52/ano...ics-up-201667/Last edited by vtsang; 04-16-09 at 04:47 AM.
04-08-09 04:46 AM - Hey thanks for your comment,Great job on the tutorial and pics.
I hope the mods can move this to the "How to's and FAQS" forum.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com
Yeah...for some reason I can't post anything on the "How to's and FAQs" forum when i push the "new thread" icon...
vtsang, you do not have permission to access this page. This could be due to one of several reasons:
1. Your user account may not have sufficient privileges to access this page. Are you trying to edit someone else's post, access administrative features or some other privileged system?
2. If you are trying to post, the administrator may have disabled your account, or it may be awaiting activation.
Any reasons why?Last edited by vtsang; 04-09-09 at 02:58 AM.
04-09-09 02:56 AM - I think they don't want ppl creating threads in that forum as it would become quickly cluttered with less than helpful threads.
I believe you can, and should, pm a mod and ask them to consider moving the thread to the FAQs and How To's forum.
Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com04-09-09 03:01 AM
