[Gmonkey]

I guess I'm unlucky or hard or have been hard on my 7100, but I have had three keys fall of in the lower lefthand corner of the keypad. I've only had the phone for about 3 months now and was wondering about two things. First, has anyone else encountered this with this model. I was floored that the keys appear to only be glued on. Secondly, since neither T-Moble or Blackberry want to cover this under the warranty I am going to have to fork out some money to replace the phone or the keypad. I've got hot glue so if the keys are out there I could try that first. Any one have any suggestions?

I was actually told by a customer service manager at T-Mobile that I must taking my phone out of the holster too much. Didn't know there was set allocation of times you could remove it without worry. Funny stuff, please help.

Gmonkey

[aristobrat]

FWIW, we have 9 T-Mobile 7100ts and 4 Cingular 7100gs and nobody's had a key fall off yet. :(

[NJBlackBerry]

I don't think they fall off unless you drop the BB. Never seen this or heard of this from our customers.

[Mark Rejhon]

Incidentially, the Cingular 7100 keyboard is much more durable because of differences in construction. The Cingular 7100 series keyboard is much better than the T-Mobile 7100 series keyboard too.

The keys are manufactured very differently on the 7100g versus 7100t.

[Gmonkey]

Originally Posted by NJBlackBerry

I don't think they fall off unless you drop the BB. Never seen this or heard of this from our customers.

Yeah, well this phone wasn't dropped. I ended up simply doing the insurance claim on the thing and bought a holster which covers the keys this time. I guess it wasn't nice to know that I experienced an anomaly. Hopefully this phone holds up better.

gmonkey

[earpon]

Wow, this is the first time I've read regarding keys falling off the 7100T. Weird.

[arobryn]

I just posted a note about this, also. My girlfriend's 'hang up' button has fallen off. I assure you, she has NOT dropped this phone - at best she's a victim of this funny 'don't use your phone' rule we didn't hear about BEFORE we bought it. I'm in the same boat - T-Mobile won't replace this defective device and I'm not hopeful RIM will, either. She and I both got 7100t's - this is our first experience with a RIM product and after only 3 weeks it's tainting our experience. If I'd known they were this flimbsy I'd have considered a different product, I'm afraid.

~L'

[7100t disappointed]

No, you're not the only one. My second key fell off of my 7100t yesterday. I believe RIM is aware of the problem, and that's why subsequent generations (such as 7100g) have a corrected key design. The problem is that now I'm stuck with T-Mobile for the term of a contract, and this is the only 7100 model they have. I've always handled the phone carefully. The problem is that the keys are not perfectly flush with each other, and their edges are not rounded, so they catch on clothes, and then easily fall off. They cannot be put back on - I've tried epoxy glue and plastic hot-glue. It's simply a wasted $200, and now I'm going to have to go to a full-qwerty unit, for another $200 - $300. VERY irritating. Live and learn: never buy the first generation of a new product!