Sugar Trick on White Pearl - Good Idea?
 

I used the sugar trick to get rid of the T-Mobile branding on the lower face of my black Pearl and want to do the same with my white Pearl. I'm afraid that the pearlescent finish may only be a surface finish, though, and that while rubbing off the T-Mobile branding I'll also be rubbing off the pearlescent finish. Has anybody tried it yet?

I hope you know that taking the logo off will void your warranty.

I doubt that very much. I've sent in BlackBerry with far more severe abraisive damage than simply rubbing off the logo.

Sanfran posted T-Mos exchange policy somewhere, that says you need to have the logo on there. Not including normal wear and tear.

T-Mobile/Cingular/Rogers or whatever logo is needed to use the warranty. When you return your phone, they will check it unless you get very lucky and someone over looks it. Reason why the logo is so important? Well think of it this way, you have a T-mobile plan but a Cingular Pearl, they aren't going to help you fix that phone since you aren't on their plan, your friend can give you his phone and tell you to use the warranty, it would cost them money to fix and they wouldn't do it for a non-customer. The logo is very important.

Exactly what i was trying to say.

Maybe you got lucky. But when I exchanged my T-Mo phone they said that the phone would be exchanged provided that the phone was in fact a T-Mo phone, "as indicated by the logo in front."

Yes, one might slip by and it may not become an issue, but why risk it and cause the Returns Dept. to ask questions and possibly delay an exchange, or in my case, risk that they charge me for returned phone followed up by questions.

It's just too risky IMHO, all just to give the Pearl a custom look, or for whatever reason one wants to attempt taking off the logo.

I don't doubt the existence of the legal fine-print but do you really think a technician is going to stop and say "no logo, no warranty"?

Or by the unique serialization of each peice of hardware ...

Perhaps I'm missing something key here since my background is with a CDMA carrier. Each peice of hardware on our network is serialized and tracked. If I were to submit a Verizon BlackBerry for warranty replacement it would be the ESN that got flagged not the logo on the device.

Yes being a former rogers employee
i can tell you that every piece of hardware that any carrier sells can be traced back to the original carrier by esn or imei number

Focus People - The Sugar Trick on White Pearl
 

I don't have a white pearl, but if I were in your shoes I would try the sugar on the battery door. That way if it rubs off a little bit it is not as noticable and soon they will have replacement doors.

I definitely would not. I just returned my black one with it rubbed off. I would buy a small piece of pearl white vinyl and cover it. Thats what I will be doing with mine.

I never tried the sugar cube, but have done this successfully with a penny on my previous T-Mobile Pearl.

Hey! how do you guys do this sugar or penny trick? I'd like to know :)

As for the logo issue.... IMO you'd really have to be an idiot not to look at the IMEI/SN on the phones you are servicing to realize that it belongs with a certain carrier, since they should all be registered as such. The whole "no logo, no warranty" thing sounds like they're doing it just because they can, and not for any practical or technical reason.

"sugar trick"? Sounds strange. I assume that you are using it as an abrasive to remove logo. If so, 600 grit (or maybe higher) sandpaper, easily found at automotive stores or many Wal-Mart's, might be a better, smoother solution.

Why do many people get uncomfortable when someone wants to modify equipment? The cosmetic modifications don't really interest me, but if it makes it more useful to it's owner (speaker sound, light/backlighting on/off, etc.) why sound the "panic" alarm when someone shows off their work? I'm sure each modifier understands and accepts the risks involved. If such "risks" make you uncomfortable, simply don't take them. The panic cry of "you are going to void your warranty!!" is really unnecessary and obvious to most.

There are plenty of threads out there that explain how to perform the sugar trick. Use the search feature at the top and just type in "sugar trick". No it does not use sandpaper.

Please re-read my post. I never said that this "sugar trick" uses sandpaper. Nor, did I ask how to find out more about this "sugar trick".

Many times the phrase "use the search feature" is a common way of degrading someone that appears to be less knowledgeable/lazy. I guess we can debate my knowledge (or lack of). However I was simply offering another way (perhaps better?) than using sugar, which isn't very uniform in grit size) of removing the label.

My appologies, i quoted you instead of the post above you. The only reason i said to use the search feature was to attract attention to it, not to make you feel lazy. As for the sandpaper comment, i thought that you used snadpaper instead of sugar and wanted to let others know that it was sugar this is used in the sugar trick not sandpaper. I dont want people to read that on here and not search for the actual thread.