[kristicat12]

Hi all:

I have been searching ebay for quite a while now .. looking for a fair priced, reputable company to order a housing from. I'm bored with my silver housing and though I use "decalgirl" skins to spruce it up .. I want to replace my original housing (it has a few teeny tiny dents from the two times I have dropped the phone) with a new pretty colored housing! I also need a new trackball. One particular place I have considered ordering from on ebay is a seller called "tmiplus". Just a few questions:

1. Is it tediously difficult to replace a housing?
2. Are these replacement housings usually of good quality?
3. Is it important to order a package that comes with the removal tools?

Thanks!

[FonLogix]

1) Replacing the housing on a curve is actually pretty easy. We have some videos on our website that show it done in just minutes. It's much easier than most other phones (especially slider phones and such).

2) Some housings can be of lesser quality. Of course the best way to find out is to check the sellers feed back on e-bay and see what other buyers have said about the products that they have received.

3) The removal tools can be pretty important. Plastic prying tool can be used to pry apart the housing and not damage it. Metal tools will scratch and dent the housing. And the screwdrivers that come with the tool kits are typically designed for these little job. They have magnets to help remove the screws easier and are the exact size that you will need to take the phone apart.

[kristicat12]

Thanks for the tips! I'm thinking I may go for it and just order one. I think the hardest part is choosing a color .. haha. I'm going back and forth between the pink and the white.

[mojo pin]

Just wanted to say good luck with changing yours! I just decided to take the plunge and change mine too. I ordered it last night - I went with pink but was also considering white or silver - so it'll be a little while before I actually do it.

Let us know how it turns out!!

[tiffany2]

I changed my housing and it was very easy but my headphone jack no longer works but I was expecting this as there's a thread around here about it. Its no big deal for me

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mojo pin]

I changed my housing and it was very easy but my headphone jack no longer works but I was expecting this as there's a thread around here about it. Its no big deal for me

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Eeeeeeek! Is this a fixable problem or is it something that's permanently messed up? I use my phone a lot as an mp3 player so that wouldn't make me very happy!

ETA: I did a search and found the thread... I hope I'm not one of the few who has that problem.

[ScandaLeX]

Changing the housing is relatively easy. I did mine yesterday. It was red.

[kristicat12]

uh ohhhhh ... now im quite alarmed about this headphone jack thing. i dont want to do ANYTHING to harm the mechanics of my berry. yikes.

mojopin- where did you order yours?

scandalex- that looks nice! did you loose use of your headphone jack?

[xlowes48x]

i changed mine out to black about a week ago. The headphone jack dont work. Not sure if it worked before as this is the first time trying. Wont use it much anyway so not going to have it fixed.

[Tony G]

Hi all:

I have been searching ebay for quite a while now .. looking for a fair priced, reputable company to order a housing from. I'm bored with my silver housing and though I use "decalgirl" skins to spruce it up .. I want to replace my original housing (it has a few teeny tiny dents from the two times I have dropped the phone) with a new pretty colored housing! I also need a new trackball. One particular place I have considered ordering from on ebay is a seller called "tmiplus". Just a few questions:

1. Is it tediously difficult to replace a housing?
2. Are these replacement housings usually of good quality?
3. Is it important to order a package that comes with the removal tools?

Thanks!

Well I ordered an all black housing from truesupplier all blk keypad/board and all blk trackball with blk ring which includes tools foam pad for lcd (dust) andthereafter I wound up getting 8900 so its now for sale for basically what I paid for it minusa the $30 express shipping from china. It is of good quality. And for 8330. If u want more info hit me up paypal only. It migjt save some time/money opposed to waiting 3 wks. Pm me or hit me up on bbm 24B2F821. Tony

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[mojo pin]

kristicat, I got mine from gsm4world.us I'd post the link but I don't have enough posts on the board to do it yet. I was having a hard time finding the pink with silver, rather than the pink with black, but this site has it. It doesn't have the FULL housing, but pretty close. It comes with the front cover, back cover, and silver keypad. I'm fine with that though... I don't need new side bars or trackball and menu keys (though they'll be black instead of silver). Plus it'll (hopefully) be easier to change out with less to do.

It also comes with a T5 and T6 screw driver which you have to have, and I ordered a plastic pry tool for just an extra dollar. Not bad. I ordered it at 1:00 a.m. this morning and when I woke up at 8:00 I already had a shipping confirmation email! It comes from Hong Kong though, so it'll take a little extra time to arrive.

I'm also worried about the headphone jack thing. Kind of makes me nervous to do it, but I guess I'll just keep my fingers crossed!

Okay, I take that back... I didn't reailze I had 12 posts now so here's the link:
GSM4World.us

[usedtotreo]

Does this void any equipment protection plans? I have a piece of white/silver reflective vinyl on the battery cover of mine but would like to have a new look so I don't get my berry mixed in with the wrong crowd...lol

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[xlowes48x]

yup i think that little white tab over the screw can screw your warranty. I took mine off slowly with a tweezer and stuck the corner to my computer screen for safe keeping. I changed over to the black housing but if anything goes wrong all i have to do is go back to the old housing and put the sticker back on. be very careful it can rip.

[ScandaLeX]

uh ohhhhh ... now im quite alarmed about this headphone jack thing. i dont want to do ANYTHING to harm the mechanics of my berry. yikes.

mojopin- where did you order yours?

scandalex- that looks nice! did you loose use of your headphone jack?

No I didn't. I wonder if the people who've lost use of the headset did so because they took the entire phone apart. I ordered a complete housing which turned out to not be necessary.

All I needed to do was pop of the red cover and replace it with the white. That didn't require taking the entire phone apart. I didn't come in contact with the headset jack.

[mojo pin]

ScandaLex, this is probably a stupid question... Forgive me, I'm new to BlackBerrys and definitely new to changing the housing on one! But your theory on the whole earphone thing makes sense. When I change my housing, I won't be doing a FULL housing change. I'll just be switching the front cover, back cover, and keypad (not including the trackball and menu keys and call answer/call end keys). What I'm wondering is, will that involve taking the whole phone apart, as you said? Basically the only extra thing I'll be doing that you didn't is changing the keypad.

Could this mess up the earphone jack do you think? If so, I may go about this differently.

[xlowes48x]

Mojo, I did the switch like your talking about. keypad front and back plate. Never did i touch or move the headphone jack but its not working. When you pull off the rails to get the face plate on it might have pulled on something in the phone. not sure but other people have had the same issue. My first berries vol down button stoped working after i changed the housing. Could not live without this so i changed it back and they gave me a brand new phone (within 30 days of sale) Now this time the headphone jack is not working.

[mojo pin]

Crap!! Now I'm becoming too scared to try this. I'm really annoyed with the way my phone looks, but I'm not sure if having a more aesthetically pleasing phone is worth it if it means it doesn't function properly!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

[HellKatzX]

Crap!! Now I'm becoming too scared to try this. I'm really annoyed with the way my phone looks, but I'm not sure if having a more aesthetically pleasing phone is worth it if it means it doesn't function properly!!

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

I just changed my housing to black last week from gsm4world. It was pretty simple and theres a really good tutorial video in the How To forum here on cb. I haven't tried my headphone jack since I changed it, I'll give it a try when I get home and post back

[MikeG7265]

I also ordered mine from GSM4World, changed it out no problem, and my headphone jack works just fine. I really wish I knew why some work and some don't. I was kind of thinking like ScandaLeX, that if you changed everything, it might have messed up something. But after reading more, I see that isn't the case. I guess I am one of the lucky ones. Especially since I use mine as an mp3 player, and use Slacker and Pandora quite a bit.

[ScandaLeX]

ScandaLex, this is probably a stupid question... Forgive me, I'm new to BlackBerrys and definitely new to changing the housing on one! But your theory on the whole earphone thing makes sense. When I change my housing, I won't be doing a FULL housing change. I'll just be switching the front cover, back cover, and keypad (not including the trackball and menu keys and call answer/call end keys). What I'm wondering is, will that involve taking the whole phone apart, as you said? Basically the only extra thing I'll be doing that you didn't is changing the keypad.

Could this mess up the earphone jack do you think? If so, I may go about this differently.

Nope, not at all. In essence, by just replacing the front/back and keyboard, you're not changing the entire housing.

[ScandaLeX]

Mojo, I did the switch like your talking about. keypad front and back plate. Never did i touch or move the headphone jack but its not working. When you pull off the rails to get the face plate on it might have pulled on something in the phone. not sure but other people have had the same issue. My first berries vol down button stoped working after i changed the housing. Could not live without this so i changed it back and they gave me a brand new phone (within 30 days of sale) Now this time the headphone jack is not working.

Not once did I remove the rails- there was no need too. Maybe people who removed the rails are the ones with the headset jack problems. The rails that came with the new housing, I didn't need at all.

[jhnhll]

I want to change mine out for the white. Go witht the storm trooper look!

[godofdeath]

my exp is that
its a pain in my **** to get the screen on the faceplate

[xliderider]

I agree about not messing with the side rails when doing a housing change. The plastic tabs on them are suposedly very easy to break also.

No one has mentioned, be very gentle with the tiny T5 screws at the top of the BB. They will break if you apply too much torque to them, both loosening/tightening.

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[kristicat12]

i'm thinking that with all this headphone jack talk .. i'm too scared to change out the housing. however, im wondering about just changing out the front and back plates like some people mentioend? does the screen come off with the front plate when you pry it off? also, does this change require the special screwdrivers?