No "cracking" is necessary. Even if you had no fingers you could still do it. It's dirt simple! You run zero risk of damaging anything inside your Berry--as long as you're a little careful. You may end up having to do it anyway, because unless you keep your Berry in some kind of case, you're going to have to replace the side rails at some point--they're notoriously scratchable.

Seriously, six screws and the shell comes off. Simple! Plus, the housing kit also comes with a complete set of tools: two Torx wrenches and a prybar for the side rails. It really is a complete kit.

My only suggestion for doing the swap: wear latex gloves to avoid getting fingerprints on the inside of the LCD cover and on the LCD itself, and have a can of compressed air standing by.

I had a buddy of mine worry about voiding the warranty and his Verizon-based insurance plan:

1) If you ever need your 8830 replaced, they will not do it in the stores--they mail you a new one and you mail back the old one. You'll have plenty of time to switch the shell back before you send it back to them.

2) If your 8830 is lost or stolen, how will the insurance company know if it's in a different shell!?