I got my replacement device today and saw some very minor differences, and thought I would post the pics here to see what the general consensus is about them. Will these differences make a difference with the dust issue? I hope so! Check under each photo set for descriptions - and in each set the top photo is the OLD BB and the bottom is the NEW BB.


Ok, you can see the old BB has a gold-ish colored something behind the plastic - you can see it through the cracks. The new BB has a silver-ish one.



Here you can see the difference in the SIM card areas. The old is squared off on the bottom edge, while the new has a little tab thing there. Probably won't affect anything with dust, but I wanted to point out all the differnces I found.



Here you can see that the old BB battery cover was very brushed-metal looking, while the new has a very glossy finish. You can even see my reflection in the new one, but not in the old. Also, the words on them are different - old had CAV 1 and new has CAV 3 - no idea what that means...



Different type of knob thingy on push tab - very minor differnence. Also another good shot to show glossy finish of new BB.



Lastly, and most importantly, the DUST! My old one is loaded with it, and the new one has NONE! (Small ones you see are on top of screen, not underneath.) Granted, it is brand new, never been used, but I am hopeful that it remains this way. Nice, isn't it? Look how much was on my old one! Terrible...

I am expecting my new Sena case this week, and I am not going to use the new BB at all until I get it in the safe confines of the case!

Does your device have a loose keyboard?

My old one does not, but the new one does. Is that normal for the newer batch?

Apparently a lot of people were complaing the keyboard was to tight. So RIM modified the device to make the keyboard a little loose to make it easier when typing. My opinion it makes the device feel cheap but who am I to complain..

Yeah I've noticed my new one the keyboard does that, I thought it was weird, But I don't care, And the Trackwheel is tighter, Thats pretty much it.

I got my replacement and also noticed that the keyboard has a little wiggle room. I don't think this it affects my typing, but it cheapens the phone a little in my mind.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

I find that the movement of the key feels a little odd when they move as I type. It is good to know that the state of the keyboard isn't just with my bb though. I imagine I will get used to it. My battery door was a bit loose too. A small piece of paper under the latch fix it though. Typing on my old 7290 was eaisier but not worrh going back.

These plastic parts are injection molded and the CAV1 & CAV3 notations are the cavity positions in the mold. If a problem is found in the parts, they can go to that mold position and repair or replace it.

For what its worth...

Randy
Two Mike Romeo

Also note the battery door (CAV1 and CAV3 examples): The first one has a date wheel in the upper right corner pointing at 10 (month) and "05" (year) in the center. The second one (CAV3) door seems to indicate December 2005 (12/05).

I recently had my 8700r replaced due to the amount of dust that got into the screen. I haven't had any dust penetrate the new one (thank god) I haven't noticed a difference in the key pad but I did notice the holster has a strip across the top that covers the top portion of the blackberry where the speaker is. The holster that came with my first 8700r didn't have that.

This topic post is so interesting that it got mentioned at:
http://www.bbhub.com/

Must be a slow news day.....

That's amazing. It's funny how the CAV issue was taken out of context in that article. They missed the fact that my point of the thread was to generate discussion about whether any of the differences I noted could actually contribute to a design difference, particulary as a result of the dust issue many are experiencing. Since I am clueless to molding categories, etc., I included it in case it possibly meant that different plastics were being used in the design of newer models. I certainly didn't intend it to be thought of as nit-picky BB owners and how fanatical we are about the devices - so much so that we analyze the molding plastics of battery covers! (though it is definitely TRUE!) Regardless, it's kinda cool that my thread made it out of the BBForums realm...

"Fellow BlackBerryForums Member Two Mike Romeo believes he has the answer. I believe he is right."

At least he believes that I am right! Now my life is complete.

Molded out of an engineering grade thermoplastic resin - parts like the battery cover a injection molded in a steel mold made up of "cavities"...sometimes there are many cavities - mold buiders generally number the cavities so it's easy to track down quality control issues.

therefore cav1 = cavity one, cav3 = cavity 3 in the steel mold.

Hey, did anybody order a sena case for the 8700, did you receive it? thanks.

xedmoc

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The other "news sites" must be watching us. I guess that's a compliment.
I find this site THE most informing on Blackberrys (even though I'm a moderator at pdaphone.com)!!!!

As TreoCentral is to Treos, Aximsite is to Dell PDA's, and Engadget is to Gadgets: This forum Rules for Blackberrys.

You said the trackwheel was tighter. New ones always are, then they loosen.
Is there any indication you have that the new one will stay tight?
(That's my biggest complaint...the wheel has gotten so loose that you can't press as quickly...invariably it slides to one up or one down.)

Hello all. This is a very general and perhaps stupid question but as I am considering buying a Blackberry, specifically the Nextel 7520 model, I would like to be well informed before purchasing. Do Blackberry's sync with .Mac e-mail accounts? Or perhaps, do they sync with the Mac Mail program is the better question to ask. Thanks in advance. Cheers!

Wirelessly posted (Blackberry 8700: BlackBerry8700/4.1.0 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102)

Wrong forum and try searching next time. For mac syncing try pocketmac.net.

No, it does not sync with your email. You need to get a hosted BES and use Entourage for that. I hate Entourage, but it is the only way at the moment.

Yet another reason why it is better to wait just a little while after the device comes out. While it will take tests and daily use to really discover if there are benefits to the changes in the model, it looks like they caught on and have remedied any issues that will occur regarding dust