Just got an 8700c off eBay and was wondering if there's a easier way (easier than the elaborte and very clear, but daunting, description in the sticky above) to replace the case? I prefer black or dark gray. Is this possible without surgical skills?

You don't need surgical skills to replace the case. Just remove the screws, pop the tabs, and replace.

If that's so, what is this elaborate stick msg about? I don't get it.
http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...-pictures.html

It's not very elaborate. Once you pop her open it's pretty straight forward...just don't strip a screw like I did...

Don't you have to buy a 8700g or 8700v case in order to get a black one, and don't those have different keyboards than the 8700c?


I was looking at http://www.cnn.cn

i ended up sanding mine down to make it black thanks to a diy and broke the lens, so i ordered another one and it still didnt feel right.. so i ordered a black case from china store on ebay and the fit was not the best but works... i think oem case is best but hardest part is not scratching the lens in the inside when getting a new one b/c when you rub it to clean it no matter how soft of a tissue or material your bound to scratch it...

The only black housing is the 8703e, and like the 8700g/v it has a different keypad than the 8700c/r and 8707

A lot of people are complaining about the DIY being very confusing. I will admit when i first look through the DIY i was like ?????? But i customized all of my previous phones before so it was pretty simple for me. I might post a DIY with pics of me actually changing the housing sometime soon.

how difficult would it be to paint the case?

I may just leave mine the way God made it.

Or put a new 8700C case on it.

Where can I get a new 8700C case--from RIM?

Delmarco was just very detail-oriented. Just do it and it's not that bad. You won't need the instructions the second time around unless you're really awful with a screwdriver and just didn't pay attention. ;)

The only black case I've found was via ebay and it didn't look like it was for any carrier. It doesn't have any carrier logo under the screen and instead there's the older-style depressed area just under the keyboard for a carrier logo plate.

The 8700g is blue and the 8700r is a very dark blue (but not black). You do have to be careful about the keyboard issue. The black case I got from ebay worked fine with the 8700c's keyboard.