My Pearl is Black...

I've had a few people e-mail me asking about keeping their blackberry in mint condition. I've done my research and found there are some good and bad ways to care for your phone.

The majority of Pearl users will find that after owning the phone for about 6 months, there is an obvious discolouration of the pretty white pearl. The first thing I can recommend is rubbing alcohol and a soft cloth (without lint). Dip your cloth into a small amount of rubbing alcohol. Flip your phone upside down (pearl facing the floor), then rub in circles, cleaning all sides of the pearl. Rub that for a few minutes, making sure that no drops get into the phone. Note; it's crucial you turn your phone off first! If your pearl is black beyond the point of cleaning, I recommend seeing my earlier entry about changing the backlight on your pearl; it really helps.

Next we've got our precious screen. The 8100 Series has a special finish on the screen that prevents it from large scratches. If you get a big scratch, there’s not a lot you can do aside from buy scratch remover and buff it out.

Never use Windex or cleaner with an Ammonia base. This will permanently damage your LCD screen and it will never be the same again. Use a very fine cloth (silk or polyester), rub the screen with either water or your breath.

A great item to keep handy is compressed air. You can buy this suff anywhere you can buy a computer. I use this stuff to blast bits out from under the keypad frequently. In addition, I like to take the back plate off, remove the battery, SIM card and the memory chip (if you have one), and give the whole thing a good air blast. You'll find there is all sorts of built up dirt inside your phone. Too much dirt can cause overheating and decreased performance.