Is anyone brave enough to try the sugar or penny removal technique?

Plenty of people have done this before. There are past threads about it with mixed results... Some came out great and some not so great

Sugar did great on black Pearl, but on white Pearl, it removed the pearlescent finish. Haven't seen the 8800 in person yet (hasn't made it to Mississippi), but be careful of special finishes. Solid color finish should be ok, though.

I removed mine using the penny trick (plus a couple other items, outlined below). I think it turned out great! Especially after the use of my secret ingredient...

Items used:
-"new-ish" penny
-Q-tips
-nail polish remover
-water
-cotton t-shirt
-Colgate Total Whitening Gel toothpaste (the secret ingredient)

General methodology:
1. Used nail polish remover on a q-tip and rubbed back and forth for a while over logo to try and "soften it up". Rinsed with a Q-tip soaked in water, and wiped dry. Not sure how effective this step was, looking back, but it worked out in the end.

2. Used the edge of a penny to gently rub up and down over the letters (and orange guy) only. I held the penny horizontally and rubbed vertically, so if the bottom of the phone is this ___ then I was holding the penny also like ___ and moving it ^ and v over the letters. The letters will eventually start breaking up into a fine powder which I would wipe clean regularly. I would also stop and check regularly to make sure I wasn't damaging the finish, since I've never done this before.

3. Once I'd gotten rid of most of the logo, I gave it another nail polish + rinse treatment per step 1, then continued with the penny until all colored lettering was removed (but you could still see the "ghosts" of the letters").

4. This was the best part... In trying to figure out how to get rid of the "ghosts", I decided to try some of the Colgate Total with Whitening Gel on a Q-tip, and it did a fantastic job of not only getting rid of the logo remnants, but also of polishing the area I'd been working on! I used a very minimal amount to make sure I wouldn't get any into the keyboard or the seams of the phone, then rinsed with a water Q-tip and wiped dry. Success!

Attaching a photo below. Unfortunately, I'd already applied my ShieldZone before this photo was snapped, but I can assure you that the above steps worked VERY well for me.

Looks pretty bad from where I am sitting.... Another example of why NOT to do it....

The photo is a bit unrepresentative, isn't it? The glare of the flash or backlight is right on the area where the logo was located. Can you try a few other angles/adjust the lighting to reduce the reflection?

I assure you, any imperfections you think you see are either a result of A) the Invisible Shield, B) my inability to take photographs of shiny objects, or C) all of the above. If things had not gone well, I would have said so and not encouraged others to try, trust me.

Here's another attempt:

Mucho better! Thanks and yes it does look pretty good!

Thanks! I'm happy to take additional pictures if anyone has tips on how to do so with shiny, up-close objects. Every time I tried to capture the metallic shine I ended up with too much glare... Not sure of the best way to light the subject.

That second photo does look much better.

Great walk through (a yes better 2nd pic)!

Here is a simple answer, buy a unbranded device, that's if you know where to buy one from.

Regards,

GB

Great work akgrown!

Even got yourself on bbcool.

You need a very soft light source -- preferably with a dimmer. They make small white "tents" for shooting like this but there are definitely other ways to achieve a similar effect.

Thanks! I'm not sure I've ever been blogged before...it wasn't as painful as I expected.

And thanks for the photo tips, takeshi...I'll have to play around with that some more in the future.

Success!

I was feeling brave last night so decided to give akgrown's instructions a shot. It worked like a charm. No scratches, no ghosting.

And it fights tartar build up! (sorry, could not resist).

I used the sugar trick on my 8800. Worked like a charm with absolutely no scratching. Also, the Cingular logo on the 8800 was by far the easiest I've ever removed using the sugar trick.

I'd try it but I'm clinging to my Cingular branded device before my next BB has at&t on it...lol

Honestly.... What is the big deal????


Just a logo people. Go make some themes or apps.

For me, I don't use Cingular, so why would I keep the phone branded with a Carrier I don't use?

Plus Cingular is being rebranded, so therefore, I'm de-branding my BB

Also, if you don't find it a big deal, why do you change or install new themes? Why don't you just use the theme it comes with?

I have recieved my code to unlock my gsm blackberry from cingular. however I cannot seem to find instructions to use my unlock code can someone help me please?

Not that it's part of this thread, but
3Select "Options" THEN SELECT ADVANCED OPTIONS
Scroll down and select "SIM Card"
Type "MEPD" (please note that you will not see what you type on the screen) Type "MEP2"
Enter the Unlock Code
Press enter
Reboot device.

why would you want to remove it?

Does this remove the provider name from the home screen/network screen? Also how do you put it back?

...a matter of personal preference. I mean you could use the same argument for any personal preference. What's the big deal with color? What's the big deal with wanting a camera? Heck, what's the big deal with wanting email so quickly? We could go on and on... ;)

There are plenty of reasons. One might not like the color or look of the logo. One might not want to advertise for Cingular. One might have an unlocked 8800 and be using it with another carrier. Why do you prefer what you prefer? Regardless, there are people that want to do this and this forum is here for people interested in Blackberries to share information.

Personally, I'd prefer not having the carrier's logo. If I can easily remove it I might or might not do so. It's not a strong preference but luckily there are others who are sharing their experiences with removing the carrier logo.

Anyone figure out how to put a different logo on once we sugar out the Cingular logo?? A tatto or something??

so i did the nail polish+toothpaste trick and it worked freaking great. toothpaste i was leary of but you know, it actually did polish it and whiten it up ahaha

you could always try this

Making homemade decals -- the art of making decals!

My logo removal went great until I got to the toothpaste step. That did not remove all of the ghosting, and on top of that, scratched the finish of the BB 8800. It went perfect up until I used the toothpaste.

mine went well until that phase too but mine didnt remove ghosting but it did polish it up to a nice shine. but still want to get rid of ghosting.