When I had trackball questions I looked here, an aftermarket ball seemed like a good idea based on what I saw. Well I am here to say do not waste your time or money on the aftermarket balls that are direct replacements. I do not know about the "Atomic" balls and my comments have nothing to do with those. I bought 2 aftermarket balls that lasted me a grand total of 3 weeks. What a waste of money. I then bought the OEM ball and can't beleive the difference in feel and quality. Pay the extra money and get the OEM BlackBerry ball. I wouldn't care if it was a saving of 20.00 I would never chance an aftermarket ball again.
Funny, I'm using an aftermarket trackball for the last month with no problems. My last one lasted 6 months an� was AM. My OEM was thrashed in 4.
There are cheap knockoffs out there. Might've been more helpful to have passed on the supplier of that lousy part, so others can decide where they buy.
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Good advice, I would also suggest buying one and keeping it as a ready spare. I spent $30.00 today to have mine replaced. Went in to just buy the trackball but they wanted to do it so the trackball could be tested. I had taken mine apart to clean it and couldn't get the silver ring clip to snap back. Went ahead and let them do it since they were the only ones around with one in stock. Will be ordering one soon to have when I need it, will definitely get oem.
I would have to name the e-bay store and I am reluctant to do that. It was clearly a cheap knockoff however. Unless you spend the time to figure out what your buying, which I thought I was, you could have problems. I think OEM is the easiest way to go.
30.00 bucks what did they do ? Mine cost 8.00 and they put it in for free. I normally never cheap out and regret doing it this time.
I too am keeping a new ball on hand. I can't wait to upgrade to the new Bold though and try that touch pad.
I have purchased a trackball that was not oem and have had a little trouble, but nothing that was really bad. Guess it really does come down to you get what you pay for. And a little word of mouth on cb never hurt either
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These 'atomic' trackballs are the newer trackballs that are more responsive with the ball being more rubbery, supposedly attracts less dirt and lint and hides the gross dirt colors which the regular trackball gets but since the atomic trackball is black it doesn't turn color. Their the trackballs you find on the curve 8900 and the tour
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I tried two aftermarket black trackballs and they both were pretty bad. They didn't always scroll correctly and just didn't have the same quality feel of the OEM.
I was using an aftermarket trackball for my 8320 for 6 months before I upgraded to my 9700. I never had a problem with it. I guess it's buyer beware. The trackball is a poor design anyway. I'm glad they replaced it with the trackpad.
Ok this is what I did, I took the aftermaket track ball, out of the housing and clean the oem housing and put the after maket track ball in there . Works better then the oem track ball , there is a video on youtube , on how to snap the track ball back together. Good luck
