Customer Reviews

Silver AT&T GSM Original OEM Full Complete Housing for BlackBerry Curve 8300 8310 8320 Faceplate with Lens Trackball Keypads Joystick Navigate Ring

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I got my housing to fix a battered Blackberry Curve 8320, which also had a bad trackball.
I spent the night changing the circuit board + screen from my old BB to the new housing, wich includes almost everything you need, but requires some parts from the old phone.

Here's what to expect:
1) Since there are several vendors of this same item, possibly the packaging may vary. The product page includes a picture of a screwdriver and a tool to open the phone, but mine didn't include anything. Mine just came in a plastic bag inside an envelope.

2) Again, depending on seller, some pieces from the old phone may be needed. The product page on Amazon shows a picture of the "inner housing" that is complete. But in my case, I had to take from my old phone two parts:
- battery contact: Very easily removed. This is the part that holds about 4 golden pins that touch the battery and other two that touch the circuit board of the phone.
- microphone channel: Easily removed, but be careful not to rip it. This is a black soft rubber or latex piece that connects the pinhole in the bottom of the phone to the actual microphone in the circuit board.
- AND, all screws from the old phone need to be used with the new housing. Mind that you'll need both a Torx 5 and a Torx 6 screwdriver. The 5 is for the first two screws under the battery cover. The 6 is for the remaining 4 screws under the front plate.

3) There's no instructions. BE SURE to look at some instructions on the web. There's even videos on one site. You may break some plactic tabs very easily if you don't! (I did).

4) THE MOST IMPORTANT THING!!!
I have the Curve 8320. The product page describes this product "for 8300 8310 8320" models. BUT it also says at first "AT&T".
Mind you: AT&T and T-Mobile have different Curves (T-Mobile has the 8320, but I don't know which is the AT&T model). Why are they different? Because the 8320 has Wi-Fi, and one of the others has a GPS (none have both).

To put this short, this AT&T housing doesn't have the Wi-Fi antenna! It's a thin paper-like film glued under the "spongy" soft rubber thing near the camera hole, on the "inner housing". So, in the end, I had to use the old "inner housing".

So, now you've been warned. The product itself is good and may work flawlessly for an AT&T phone, but for the rest of models, the description and pictures may be misleading.
Ask the vendor first!

I started using my brother's used and abused curve some time ago after he got married and switched phone companies. After buying and switching to this new housing he didn't even realize it was his old phone. With the addition of protective case and screen protector the phone "STILL" looks like it was just bought from the store.

Good stuff. not too hard to take apart the old case and replace with this one. Only problem i had is with the new keyboard plastic piece that the keys sit on, it was too thing and therefore did not let all of the keys function. I just took the new trackball out and swapped it with the old one. works great.

Product was exactly what I needed -- made a beat up phone look brand new. Fit perfectly and the included tools made it a quick and easy job. Excellent for the price -- shipping was fast.

did what we needed. it was fast shipping but did not receive email of when shipped. Was ready to call company. It came that day. product as described and fit/finish was perfect.would get a five star except for communication.

It would have been nice to know that there was a need for a special screwdriver. It was a bit difficult to find thus making the process of changing the shell quite anoying