[Misterb]

I decided to switch the housing on my Curve 8330 to all black. Found one on ebay for under 40 bucks, that included not only the entire housing, but also a new keyboard and trackball. It also claimed to be made by RIM.

Well, it didn't go so well. The torx screws are really flimsy. One of them snapped when I was putting everything back together, so I had to get a replacement screw and do it over (and remove the broken one). In addition, there was an issue where if I put any pressure on the screen (like wiping fingerprints off it), the screen would turn white and stay white for about a minute. To top it off, I don't think the housing is made by RIM. Seems like a cheap chinese knock-off. The silver earpiece looks painted on and ready to chip off, the screen developed scratches much easier than the factory one after just a couple days, and overall it just felt flimsy. Oh, and my headphone jack doesn't work anymore now.

About the only plus, is that the trackball and keyboard work better than the old ones and have a tighter feel. So, I decided to switch back to the stock housing and just leave the new keyboard and trackball in. The screen problem is now fixed (I think I must have overlapped the side things wrong originally), and the phone is back to feeling tight and nice. The headphone jack still doesn't work, and it appears that lots of other folks are having this problem after changing their housing.

Anyway, it really wasn't worth it. Especially now that I know the Tour will be here very soon...

[raji.t]

Wow, that really sucks ... but at least you got a new keyboard and trackball! .. the keyboard on my 8900 is very wobbly, but i'm noticing that i'm not the only one so that makes me feel a little better

[Pilot Prop]

Dang, and I've really been considering changing mine....guess I'll think twice

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[xxwckdxx]

Sucks you had a bad experience but alot have had a good one also : i switched mine out to all black including black trackball and ring no problems here and the case fits perfectly

[skullgame45]

That's why you only look for OEM products! There's a reason why they're sometimes cheap on eBay.

Propa, don't take one persons word for it! If you go to cnn.cn and order from them, you'll get great products! Just make sure to follow the guide you'll need to disassemble your phone.

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[skullgame45]

I don't know how many times (maybe 15, 16) that I've ordered housing parts from cnn.cn and always been satisfied with their products.

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[Misterb]

That's why you only look for OEM products! There's a reason why they're sometimes cheap on eBay.

Propa, don't take one persons word for it! If you go to cnn.cn and order from them, you'll get great products! Just make sure to follow the guide you'll need to disassemble your phone.

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Yup. That's what I was supposed to be getting. It said OEM, made by RIM, American seller, blah, blah, blah.

Glad to hear that other place sells good stuff, but at the end of the day it is a bit tedious to replace the housing. I'm no greeny at building and working on things either. I've built computers, fixed cars, motorcycles, etc. and I'm not ham handed, but this was a bit more involved than I think most people expect. The online videos and instructions tend to leave out important steps too. The screws are just really fragile. I hardly tightened it at all, and the thing just snapped like a dry stick. Also, it's really easy to get it wrong and overlap certain parts that aren't supposed to overlap and then it doesn't work quite right.

[errzone]

I agree with the cnn.cn recommendations. I just bought a sapphire case with a blue track ball. Only issue I had with installing is the T5 torx screw. They are really flimsy. Got impatient and overtightened one of the T5s. Broke the head off. Didn't feel like ordering another screw just for that, so now my upper right hand corner is not a snug fit. Ahwell, it's something I can live with until the driftwood comes out. Lesson learned; slow down and take your time when tightening those T5 screws.

Overall, I'm really happy with my purchase. Cost came to $58 after shipping, and the case looks fantastic with the glowing blue trackball. Made me wish I would have done it sooner. The stock silver case just looked dull and boring. But the sapphire case with blue track ball looks really sharp. Plus, no more annoying T-Mobile logo!

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[kentusmc#CB]

So I'm sorry to hear about ur troubles but I do not believe that one persons misfortune should discourage anyone from personalizing their berry. I blacked out my bold about a month and a half ago and love it. I work in a rather dirty environment and have to disassemble my berry about once every 2 weeks to clean it, even though it is always in a case when I'm at work, and have yet to break/strip any of the t5 screws. I would advise anyone who is planning on modding their berry to 1 read all the reviews of the product u are purchasing and ensure its the correct one, and 2 take ur time when re-assembling ur berry keeping in mind that when tightening the screws that they need only to be snug, remember ur working on a phone not an engine! Once again I'm sorry about ur berry and I hope that my advise will help someone.

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[reeneebob]

Another vote for cnn.cn here, as well as berryware. I have a white and a blacked out housing...and I started with red but being able to change from stock when I'm bored is pretty sweet.

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[Misterb]

So I'm sorry to hear about ur troubles but I do not believe that one persons misfortune should discourage anyone from personalizing their berry. I blacked out my bold about a month and a half ago and love it. I work in a rather dirty environment and have to disassemble my berry about once every 2 weeks to clean it, even though it is always in a case when I'm at work, and have yet to break/strip any of the t5 screws. I would advise anyone who is planning on modding their berry to 1 read all the reviews of the product u are purchasing and ensure its the correct one, and 2 take ur time when re-assembling ur berry keeping in mind that when tightening the screws that they need only to be snug, remember ur working on a phone not an engine! Once again I'm sorry about ur berry and I hope that my advise will help someone.

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Glad yours went better than mine. Now that I've done it so many times with this one phone to get it right, I feel like I've got the experience to do it again with another phone, and have it go better- but at the same time I'm really hesitant. You know? I hate that my headphone jack doesn't work anymore now, and if you do a search on here you see TONS of people who replaced their housing and rendered their headset jack useless.

[J_lacolla]

The title of this thread should be changed to think twice before ordering off ebay

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[Misterb]

The title of this thread should be changed to think twice before ordering off ebay

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No, there was more to it than that. The torx screw that snapped was a factory RIM screw. The headset jack still doesn't work even after switching back to the factory housing, and in general the process of changing everything is a bit more involved and easy to screw up than I think people sometimes realize.

[skullgame45]

That's why you shouldn't do something if you don't know what you're doing!

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[Misterb]

That's why you shouldn't do something if you don't know what you're doing!

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Yeah, right. Everybody that changes their housing is an experienced expert in the matter...

[ninja please]

funny how threads like this would actually change someone's mind.

if you don't know what you're doing or if the equipment is good enough, then don't do it. simple as that.

[skullgame45]

Yeah, right. Everybody that changes their housing is an experienced expert in the matter...

No, but like ninja said, if you or anyone would follow the directions, you wouldn't run into problems like breaking a screw that isn't big to begin with in the first place! Your mistakes shouldn't be the reason why others can't try changing their housings! They just gotta use common sense and obviously, you didn't use any!

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[kicker69]

never change anything if you dont know what you are doing....ive broken 2 ipods trying to swap out hard drives and batteries and a couple of old htc phones lol..now i wont even touch my blackberry without 2 cases on it

[JORB]

Never once had a problem with changing my housing. If I had a problem I just kept taking it apart and putting it back together until every thing was perfect. Trial and error I guess haha.

[shfjcs]

I must be really lucky to have never received an ill fitting faceplate or complete housing. I've ordered from eBay (China & USA), Amazon (from US vendors), and direct from China (cnn & gsm) and 99% of the replacement stuff has been satisfactory. When there were "problems" they took care of it quickly.

The only housing I have had a problem with came from a company in Texas for a Pearl 8100. The logo on the bottom cover looked fake (but fit okay) but the battery cover was just a bad fit. Live and learn.

As far as replacing a faceplate or housing, I'll agree that people are over confident of their skills and that's why I end up doing these replacement jobs as a hobby. But I think people should attemp it anyway to understand why repair shops charge what they charge.

[FireWarrior]

When is anything gotten off ebay real. Housing outside off their normal colors are made in china. And heck all or most of the hosuings are from china. I think you just got a really bad one. Shoulda looked for gsm4world or something

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[Misterb]

No, but like ninja said, if you or anyone would follow the directions, you wouldn't run into problems like breaking a screw that isn't big to begin with in the first place! Your mistakes shouldn't be the reason why others can't try changing their housings! They just gotta use common sense and obviously, you didn't use any!

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Jesus, dude- you're pretty confident in your "wicked BlackBerry assembly skills" (said in a nerdy, Napoleon Dynamite voice). Nobody can touch your excellence. Please.

[Misterb]

funny how threads like this would actually change someone's mind.

if you don't know what you're doing or if the equipment is good enough, then don't do it. simple as that.

The same could be said for the threads that post up some pics of their shiny new assembly in which everything happened to go fine, because they lucked out by getting a better housing than someone else and happened to get it put back together just right.

[skullgame45]

Where in any of my posts does it say that you have to "over tighten" a screw? Nowhere! Where in any of my posts did I ever say that if you tighten it too tight, your phone will work? Nowhere!! Your rebuttals are a joke! Goodbye!

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[Misterb]

Where in any of my posts does it say that you have to "over tighten" a screw? Nowhere! Where in any of my posts did I ever say that if you tighten it too tight, your phone will work? Nowhere!! Your rebuttals are a joke! Goodbye!

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What a strange post. Almost like you're mixing up 3 or 4 different threads in your head and responding to the wrong one. Add to that all the exclamation points and animation, and it begs for one to ask you to get a life.