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11-24-2007, 09:02 PM
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#1
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Greystone, NY
Model: 9790
OS: OS 7.1
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 403
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What Color is Your Trackball?
Please Login to Remove!
If you've been using it for a few weeks I'm willing to bet its brown or black with dirt.
I just bought mine (T-Mo's Titanium) and realized after putting it side by side to my co-worker's Curve (At&T) that her trackball was really dirty and brown/black after a mere month of using it. She is a neat freak, very clean and works in an office so I was concerned whether this fate awaited my $300device in a few weeks.
I did an extensive 'Search' and found that people over in the Pearl and 8800 forums have this problem and no one has yet found a solution on cleaning the ball. They've tried everything from Air-In-A-Can, Rubbing Alcohol on a Q-Tip, Hydro-Peroxide, Acetone-Nail Polish Remover, etc and nothing works. The final solution was just buying a new trackball every few weeks or so. The consensus was the Trackball WILL eventually get dirty regardless of trying to keep it clean.
I realized the Curve forum doesnt have a thread like this yet but if you guys have any solutions on this, please posts tips here.
Thanks.
here you can see the dirty trackball on a Curve after a few weeks of use.
Whiles here on the newer Curves you see the trackballs are still pearly white.
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9790 Bold
Everything I had before was practice!
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Last edited by delmarco; 11-24-2007 at 10:58 PM..
Reason: added pictures
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11-24-2007, 09:39 PM
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#3
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Greystone, NY
Model: 9790
OS: OS 7.1
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 403
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Clark
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Sweet. $12 is a pretty good price.
Thanks John Clark.
Hopefully this thread will get us Curve users thinking on solutions for reversing the dreaded dirty trackball.
I was also wondering if it is the holsters and cases that folks are using that may have black rubber or leather dyes that rub off on the trackball since it tends to poke out a bit?
I've been using the OEM leather pocket case and I noticed a groove that allows extra space so the trackball does not rub against the inside of the leather.
__________________
9790 Bold
Everything I had before was practice!
9790 9700 8900 8320 8700 7290 7280 7230 6230 all R.I.P!
Last edited by delmarco; 11-24-2007 at 09:40 PM..
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11-24-2007, 10:54 PM
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#4
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Thumbs Must Hurt
Join Date: Jul 2007
Model: 8310
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 174
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My trackball isn't that dirty and I use it quite a bit. You might need to wash your hands more often.
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*the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off due to budget cuts.
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11-25-2007, 12:26 AM
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#5
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: May 2007
Model: 8300
PIN: N/A
Carrier: at&t
Posts: 288
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i second what avanden says - mine is nowhere near that dirty..."The final solution was just buying a new trackball every few weeks or so." wow, that's a little overboard and i haven't heard of anyone doing that - at least not that often...
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11-25-2007, 09:57 AM
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#6
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Greystone, NY
Model: 9790
OS: OS 7.1
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 403
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Curse of the Black Pearl a.k.a Dirty Trackball!
before:
after:
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9790 Bold
Everything I had before was practice!
9790 9700 8900 8320 8700 7290 7280 7230 6230 all R.I.P!
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11-25-2007, 10:25 AM
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#7
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Greystone, NY
Model: 9790
OS: OS 7.1
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 403
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before:
after:
__________________
9790 Bold
Everything I had before was practice!
9790 9700 8900 8320 8700 7290 7280 7230 6230 all R.I.P!
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11-25-2007, 10:36 AM
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#8
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Crimson Tide Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: North of the moss line
Model: Z30
OS: 7.0sumtin
PIN: t low
Carrier: Verizon
Posts: 41,921
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And there are many "how do I clean my trackball" threads/posts on the Forum here. Some even work!
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11-25-2007, 10:38 AM
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#9
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CrackBerry Addict
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Frisco, TX
Model: 8800
PIN: Montblanc
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 771
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Dude - how often do you wash your hands?
:p
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11-25-2007, 10:56 AM
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#10
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: May 2007
Model: 8300
PIN: N/A
Carrier: at&t
Posts: 288
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i use my phone ALL THE TIME and my trackball looks nothing like that...wow...
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11-25-2007, 12:06 PM
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#11
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CrackBerry Addict
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: NJ, USA
Model: 8900
OS: 5.0.0.238
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 726
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I have to agree with thaKing and others with clean hands -- I've had my Curve since the 8300 first hit the market, and I use it A LOT -- yet the trackball is just starting to show signs of yellowing a tiny bit if you look closely.
I was thinking about this, though, and I believe that when I decide to brighten the trackball, I may try dipping a cotton swap in liquid bleach and touching it to the trackball. Have to be really careful to not flow liquid into the trackball assembly, so I'm not sure how practical this will be. I may explore removing it first. If it seems practical to bleach the ball in place, I'll start with the top - and let it work for perhaps 10 mins, then blot any remaining liquid; rotate the ball and do it again - avoiding rolling any wet surface into the BB. Again - no idea if this is practical, or if I'll just wind up getting liquid into the BB. Might really be smarter to remove the assembly first. But my guess is that liquid bleach will do the trick if we can find a safe way to apply it.
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11-25-2007, 12:48 PM
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#12
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Thumbs Must Hurt
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Arizona
Model: 9700
PIN: 2157A6BC
Carrier: T-mobile
Posts: 52
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Could be a cigarette smoker, smoke gets on your fingers then you use your phone. Wouldn't doubt it.
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11-25-2007, 01:38 PM
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#13
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Greystone, NY
Model: 9790
OS: OS 7.1
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 403
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vinmontRD
I have to agree with thaKing and others with clean hands -- I've had my Curve since the 8300 first hit the market, and I use it A LOT -- yet the trackball is just starting to show signs of yellowing a tiny bit if you look closely.
I was thinking about this, though, and I believe that when I decide to brighten the trackball, I may try dipping a cotton swap in liquid bleach and touching it to the trackball. Have to be really careful to not flow liquid into the trackball assembly, so I'm not sure how practical this will be. I may explore removing it first. If it seems practical to bleach the ball in place, I'll start with the top - and let it work for perhaps 10 mins, then blot any remaining liquid; rotate the ball and do it again - avoiding rolling any wet surface into the BB. Again - no idea if this is practical, or if I'll just wind up getting liquid into the BB. Might really be smarter to remove the assembly first. But my guess is that liquid bleach will do the trick if we can find a safe way to apply it.
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A lot of people over in the Pearl and 8800 claimed to have tried this. I believe it is MUCH SAFER to remove the trackball before bleaching. Even then many people said this didnt work to reverse the damage "after" the ball was black brown dirty. It only works when you do it daily or weekly to "prevent" the ball from getting dirty. Remember its also plastic and not fabric so bleach is only so effective.
At the end of the day, regardless of if the blame falls on customer's dirty hands or "smokers fingers" its still up to RIM to own up to it and regard this issue as a quality control issue when making these rather expensive devices in the future.
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9790 Bold
Everything I had before was practice!
9790 9700 8900 8320 8700 7290 7280 7230 6230 all R.I.P!
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11-25-2007, 02:50 PM
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#14
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Thumbs Must Hurt
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Model: 8320
PIN: N/A
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 87
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vinmontRD
I have to agree with thaKing and others with clean hands -- I've had my Curve since the 8300 first hit the market, and I use it A LOT -- yet the trackball is just starting to show signs of yellowing a tiny bit if you look closely.
I was thinking about this, though, and I believe that when I decide to brighten the trackball, I may try dipping a cotton swap in liquid bleach and touching it to the trackball. Have to be really careful to not flow liquid into the trackball assembly, so I'm not sure how practical this will be. I may explore removing it first. If it seems practical to bleach the ball in place, I'll start with the top - and let it work for perhaps 10 mins, then blot any remaining liquid; rotate the ball and do it again - avoiding rolling any wet surface into the BB. Again - no idea if this is practical, or if I'll just wind up getting liquid into the BB. Might really be smarter to remove the assembly first. But my guess is that liquid bleach will do the trick if we can find a safe way to apply it.
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Maybe a bleach pen.
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11-25-2007, 03:07 PM
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#15
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Knows Where the Search Button Is
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: UK
Model: 8300
PIN: N/A
Carrier: Orange UK
Posts: 47
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I haven't had this problem, (yet!), but if I did I believe I would think very carefully before using anything as strong as bleach on my Blackberry. I don't think bleach would truly clean it anyway would it, wouldn't it just whiten the 'muck'?
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11-25-2007, 03:11 PM
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#16
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Thumbs Must Hurt
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Model: 8310
Carrier: AT&T
Posts: 108
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Haha this is funny...I've seen some PITCH BLACK ones...it's nasty looking but it seems like those have smoother rolling.
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BlackBerry Curve 8310 - AT&T
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11-25-2007, 04:04 PM
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#17
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: Chicago - Atlanta - Houston
Model: 9700
PIN: 30EC5097
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 421
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It is pretty nasty looking when they get that dirty. I refuse to touch people's phones when they are like that. I make a reasonable effort to keep it clean and if that doesn't work I will just replace it.
RIM really needs to come up with a solution. The directional pads on all of my other phones attract little to no dirt but these seem to have a real problem.
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11-25-2007, 04:46 PM
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#18
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Thumbs Must Hurt
Join Date: Oct 2007
Model: 8320
PIN: N/A
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 50
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Wow, I'll have to keep an eye on mine and do my best to keep it clean. Glad I'm not a smoker!
As nice as the trackball is, I think a stick pointer (like is used on laptop keyboards) would have made better sense.
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JohnC - Kechi, KS
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11-25-2007, 04:50 PM
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#19
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Talking BlackBerry Encyclopedia
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Greystone, NY
Model: 9790
OS: OS 7.1
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 403
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pinhead
It is pretty nasty looking when they get that dirty. I refuse to touch people's phones when they are like that. I make a reasonable effort to keep it clean and if that doesn't work I will just replace it.
RIM really needs to come up with a solution. The directional pads on all of my other phones attract little to no dirt but these seem to have a real problem.
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Whats even more wierd is that the blackest/dirtiest trackball still lights up to about 90% whiteness!!??
My co-workers ball is pitch black yet still her ball lights up as almost as bright as my brand new 8320's trackball. And its only noticable when you look at the balls side by side. But the minute the light goes off her ball is black again and mine stays white.
I think this is why most people would never see the gradual change unless they know about it.
"Alas ye maties, It be a filthy thing this curse of the black pearl!"
Capt'n Jack Sparrow.
before:
and after:
__________________
9790 Bold
Everything I had before was practice!
9790 9700 8900 8320 8700 7290 7280 7230 6230 all R.I.P!
Last edited by delmarco; 11-25-2007 at 04:54 PM..
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11-25-2007, 06:34 PM
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#20
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Thumbs Must Hurt
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Model: 8320
PIN: N/A
Carrier: T-Mobile
Posts: 82
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I've had my Curve for over a month or so and the trackball is no where that dirty. Overtime, it's expectant that the trackball will not remain in it's pearl white color. Being a neat freak, I clean mine with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol and just rub it around while I use the other end of the q-tip to dry it.
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