I got tired with the memory leak on 4.5, so following the well written directions here and on BBF, I successfully downgraded to 4.2.2.176 with only one problem. I now suffer from the low ringtone volume curse. I thought that JRS's video would work, but after re-reading the entire thread, I realize that it is for 4.5 only. OK. Time for Audacity and some editing. I think I can live with that.
Current file free: 23071388. I never saw anything over 182xxxxx on 4.5. I will see how it goes, as I can always go back to 4.5 now that I am comfortable in loading the OS.
Unfortunately, I was not able to download that from the VZW or BlackBerry site. It just said that there was an error. I tried a Sprint version like 4.2.2.396, but I also got an error. This was the highest one I could get without the error.
So far, I have to say, I love it. Other than the ringtone issue, it is just great. It seems like the phone is so much more responsive. I don't know if 4.5 lagged or not, but it just seems to really fly now.
One thing I did notice is how the address book looks different. OK, no big deal, I can get used to that.
$20 bucks? Ouch. I think I will keep the Sound Converter program that I found for free and go with that. I don't mind paying for a good program, but when I have found something for free that works just fine, heh, you know....