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Long time user of BB and lurker on these wonderful forums.
I'd like to replace the hybrid English/Korean keypad on my Pearl 9100 with just an English one and would be grateful if anyone can help with the following:
1. Where's a good place to buy an original Pearl 3G keypad from? I need it in white and whilst there are plenty on eBay, they're all from Hong Kong so most likely a cheap knock-off. The CrackBerry shop doesn't seem to have spare parts
Alternatively, does anyone have a spare white original keyboard they would like to sell? (don't need PCB or membrane or anything else)
2. I've been looking at the various YouTube videos floating about to disassemble the Pearl 3G and they all seem to show the LCD cover having to be removed first. Others show cover and keypad being removed as one piece of the casing. Do you need to remove the LCD cover first before the keypad or can I just leave this on? Will the keypad lift out easily enough?
3. Is it possible to leave the PCB and membrane on the Pearl and just remove the keypad as that's all I want to change? If so, how is this done? If not, once I've removed the PCB with membrane and keypad, how does the keypad bit come off for replacement?
Thanks in advance for any help
11-03-11 05:03 AM - I'll try to give you some answers but English is not my native language so I hope that you'll be able to understand everything.
1. I've used truesupplier.com and cnn.cn to get my keypads. On these sites they said they sells OEM but I'm pretty sure it's wrong. I've ordered three keyboards (in black). From the order, it took one month for me to receive everything. On the 3 keyboards, two were decents (very usable but they look a bit cheap) and one is just crap (in a very soft and feeble plastic, almost unusable).
2. I've seen the videos, but on mine, the keyboard was not really linked to the screen. You just have to gently move the keypad a little bit and it can be taken appart.
I was very new to this but it was really easy !
3. If you want to change a 9100 keypad for another 9100 keypad, you just have to install the new keypad and you can keep the same PCB and the same membrane. But to remove the old keyboard, you'll have to remove the PCB from the Blackberry. On the PCB, gently remove to keypad by pushing on the sides (as on the videos).
Good luck
11-03-11 06:49 AM - Thanks for the reply and your English was great
This is problem with buying from Hong Kong or China, it's pretty much the luck of the draw as to whether you get anything decent. I've half a mind to just keep the proper English/Korean keypad that I have and which is excellent quality and not bother with replacing it with a cheaper one. Is there no place that sells proper BlackBerry spares?11-03-11 07:10 AM - Top Store for Original BlackBerry Accessories and Parts - Blackberry Accessories seems to be from the US. They used to have some keypads for the 9100 but I'm not sure if they have some white ones.
Here's a picture from the white keypad available at truesupplier for 7.99$:
It doesn't seems to "pro" but it's really usable.
I have forgotten to say that on one of my black keypad they made a mistake with the color ! One key is dark purple
11-03-11 05:39 PM - Had a search on the forums here and Truesupplier, sw-box and cnn seem to be the Big Three for OEM parts with cnn edging ahead on customer service. I think I might just end up buying from them although their pciture of the Pearl 3G keypad looks shockingly bad:
Also, I don't get why the bottom tabs of some keyboards are white like cnn and truesupplier, whilst others are black like this one on Amazon Original Genuine OEM Brand New BlackBerry Pearl 3G 9100: Amazon.co.uk: Electronics:
Another useful post here with other online shops so maybe worth checking them out too.11-04-11 04:25 AM - Thanks for that, I've ordered mine from Deal Zone on Amazon, will post some pics and let you know once it arrives.
@dairadatzu, did you find the white OEM keypad from True Supplier was good quality an identical to the black Orange one you removed?
@tattri, thanks for the confirmation, is any risk of breaking tabs when jiggling it around to fit? Any tips on what tool to use (if any)?
One thing on my Pearl which I've seen on other Pearl 3G's too, the fitting of the LCD cover is not brilliant, there's too much of a gap between the bottom of the LCD cover and the top of the keypad. This wouldn't be such a poblem if the two covers were flush but they are not so whenever you scroll up on the touchpad, you end up snagging a bit of the LCD cover with your thumb.
11-08-11 07:30 AM - Yup, it's not exactly as good, but it's really almost the same. But i'm affraid that it won't last like this forever.
And on the ease of typing I would say it's equal.
Yeah !!! And because of that small gap, the pearl looks cheaper than other BB phones because the screen is not linked on the keyboardOne thing on my Pearl which I've seen on other Pearl 3G's too, the fitting of the LCD cover is not brilliant, there's too much of a gap between the bottom of the LCD cover and the top of the keypad.11-08-11 07:54 AM - Just an update on this, I got the new keypad from DealZone within 5 days. However, the first one they sent me had mixed up keys, some of the letters were repeated and others were upside down. Clearly a fake then and not genuine OEM kit it seems although it did look identical to the one I removed and was the same build quality.
Emailed them and sent them a picture and they straightaway sent me another one which also arrived quickly. This one again had a some of the letters wrong on the keypad and I was beginning to think they had a batch of fake keypads that they were just sending out.
Emailed them again with the picture and after apologising again, they said they would have a word with their "supplier" and send me a replacement.
Third time lucky, the one I got was absolutely fine. Interestingly, the first two with wrong keypad characters had a black tab at the bottom like the picture on Amazon. The thrid one they sent me was white so it looks like it was a different batch and/or supplier.
I've installed the new pad which was easier than I thought and as an added bonus, positioned it so there's less of a gap between the screen bezel plus the trackpad is a lot tighter now. Looks perfect and works well, better than old genuine one I removed as the clicks are more sharper and defined.
In short then, a cautious recommendation for DealZone, they sent me two dodgy pads the first time but were quick to replace without me having to return them and it was very quick delivery from the Far East.12-03-11 10:22 AM
