To make a long story short, this is my third replacement Pearl w/ Cingular. The 1st one I had froze on me so I exchanged it. I was going to exchange it for another Pearl, but the Cingular rep convinced me to get the Cingular 8525. After a couple of days, I wasn't too impressed with the Cingular 8525 so I exchanged it for another Pearl.

The second Pearl I had was fine until Valentine's Day. It completely froze on me with the "App 523 Error." Once again I brought it back to Cingular ready to return it, but the rep replaced it for another one. That's just my luck another Lemon phone.

Now on my third Pearl, so far so good (crossing fingers). The only complaint I have about this one is that the case makes a loud snapping sound when you squeeze it on the left side like its loose. The 1st Pearl that I had made the same sound on the right side, but it wasn't as bad. What kind of workmanship do they put in for these phones?

All in all though, I really like this phone. From its sleek form factor to its smartphone usability. I hope that I don't encounter any more problems with this phone!

You might want to try ordering one online rather than buying from the store you're going too. It should NOT make any snapping sounds when you squeeze it.

Sorry to hear that mate doesn't sound too good. I dont have such problems only the well documented loose battery door which can be quite annoying.

oh, i had to return mine and get a replacement too. on my first one, all the keys "felt different" - some needed more pressure than others to press. and my 4 key kept making this clicking noise. i put up with it for a little under a month and got it replaced.

replacement version - oooooohhhh, soooo much better. i am so glad i got it replaced. keys work perfectly and now i know what i've been missing. although....i do miss the feeling as i press the 4 key of whether or not i'm going to hear a click or not (not really).

customer service people were real understanding about the problem, so props to them. now, i'm just crossing my fingers hoping i don't find any problems with this one.

I am very happy with my Pearl so far (got it Dec 23rd) but my OP key makes the click sound when i click it after a long time. What did they say the reason was for your key clicking?

they didn't give a reason. they just apologized and understood that could be annoying and shipped me out a new/like-new one ($10 shipping fee).

i'm probably implicating myself here (hopefully no one on this board works in the warranty department for BB), but i opened the pearl up before finally calling it in. it seemed like the layer of plastic that holds the keys to the keyboard had somehow became "cut" under the 4 behind the key. so, each time i pressed the 4 the cut opening was scraping against each other and making the clicking noise....not sure if you can visualize that...and not that i would encourage anyone to do that but that was the cause of it.

i really do like my pearl too. but that was just a little annoying.

Once again, I returned my Pearl for another one today. That clicking noise was just annoying! Hopefully this one works out!

my alt key clicks - other than that its ok

I exchanged my Pearl for another one yesterday. This will be my 4th one. Earlier when I was driving I had my bluetooth headset, the BlackBerry HS-655, connected. I never had any problems in the past with the headset with the previous Pearls I had.
Anyways, after I finished a call the headset would beep & disconnect from the phone. It would connect & disconnect over & over about 3 times. I had the phone holstered on my right side with the headset in my right ear. Later when I tried to make a call the hour glass was just going with the white background.

Has anyone had this problem?

Ever consider something like a Razr?

Looks like someone got a lemon everytime... I had my pearl for 3 weeks so far and no issues yet, and hopefully not...

I had a black Razr & it was ok for just making calls. Other than that nothing else impressed me with that phone. The only good thing about it was that it had a very sturdy case. I dropped it so many times & it just kept working. I even dropped it one time from a ladder & it worked just fine after.

That's what I'm saying!!!!

Often, when you exchange your device for another, you get someone else's return. They trade you your lemon for another lemon.

Are you kidding me?

Hopefully that's not the case with mine.I made sure everytime I exchanged it that the box was still sealed.

Often? That's a very strong word. Any information to back that up? Just wondering...

They can't do that leagally. If you are exchanging UNDER the 30 day (or 15 day or whatever with the store), they MUST replace with a new sealed device. Giving you a referb is illegal (and unethical to say the least). Like other poster said, I will only accept a sealed box on replacement. Now what BB does with the returns and puts in new boxes is beyond us. I doubt they throw away bad units unless it is cost justified... so some of their parts probably wind up as new again...

I know several people in the business. None of them own their own stores, just work as reps. It's a common practice, especially with hot new devices or ones in short supply.

I guess that can be true especially if the problem is not as noticeable. There not going to just chuck that phone away.

It's a totally sleazy thing for them to do, yet it's common. Buys them time for a new shipment, plus some folks return devices with problems so minor another user might not notice, or if he does he may just ignore it. Often these returns are "remanufactured" or refurbished prior to being handed out as replacements. Sometimes the device will pass the initial tests they run and go straight back into the out bin for an exchange. But just because the techie checking it back in couldn't recreate the problem for which it was returned doesn't mean it won't happen again.

That sucks!