I want to upgrade my 8703 to a newer 8800 series like the curve or the 30. All my local Verizon dealer can get is silver or red...neither of which appeal to me. When I look on the web I see black phones used in marketing for RIM and others but my rep tells me he can not get a black one. Is this a Verizon thing...a lazy rep thing or this color is just not out there for general consumption.

Side note...I just returned from the dark side...my company is getting ready to install servers which would not work with BB, so I picked up a treo which is very popular in the real estate world....hated it. Slow, sucked batteries, it was clunkly to use and was not as easy to look up contacts. I've decided to keep my BB and pay my company to install the BB server system that will support my phone and 4 others.

Wirelessly posted (life goes on! yes it is tough)

You can always buy the housing and replace the silver or red!

www.horizonwirelessonline.com

Or

www.CNN.cn
Are two places I would look for a housing

Wirelessly posted (life goes on! yes it is tough)

Verizon to my knowledge doesn't itself carry the black 88XX

Verizon doesn't carry the black 8830. I wish they did, but they don't. As mentioned above, you can change the housing yourself if you wish. I personally don't mess with factory housings anymore because I never feel like the keypads (or keyboard in this case) ever feels the same. IDK if this is the case with the blackberry, but from past experiences with other phones that was almost always the case. I might be a little picky though

-Jeff-

Red really is not bad. Please be aware that the silver and red are NOT the same. The keys on the silver are backlit in blue. I can tell you that it is almost impossible to read the silver keyboard in the dark. The red backlight is white and the red is a dark ruby red so that the keys are much easier to read to this 50 year old BB user. Buyer be ware.

Great advice...thank you....I don't think I'll mess with the case, just asking for trouble I think on that one....good input on the red's backlighting....That alone would make me consider the red..thanx

nah the case replacement takes only 10-15 minutes to replace....very easy and nice looking!!

Wirelessly posted

I swapped my silver housing for a black one and it took 10 minutes. No regrets. The swap is simple.

I would look at Cellular Accessories - BlackBerry, Samsung, Panasonic, Alcatel, Acer, BenQ-Siemens, Apple, Dopod/O2, So Their prices are probably the best around.

i think the reason they don't have any 8830's is because they want to match their devices with the company colors. but who knows.