[arnie2nirvana]

I am posting this thread to encourage views and takes on where and how to customize your BOLD and the pros and cons!

Now before I start off, let me give you a little background. I am based out of Toronto (the home of Rogers who carries the BOLD), where your options of customising are pretty much limited to the chinese malls and what little they have to offer. I was born and brought up in India and hence being from that part of the world I am completely in sync with the huge after market or replica industry based out of Asia. So it was a welcome relief for me when my bud Mandeep told me about this website "cnn.cn" where I could get loads of stuff to pimp up my blackberries.

A few hours later I was on the cnn site browsing through their products. I must say I was impressed with their product range and for the most parts, their pricing as well. It opened up a world of opportunities that I could now explore with my Blackberries.

So I have a Curve and a BOLD. After a lot of speculation and consideration, I placed orders for all the tools I needed along with the sunshine full housing set for the curve, the black crocodile skin battery6 cover and the snake skin battery cover for the BOLD, the OEM bezel with side buttons for the bold, the car charger and a leather pouch for the bold.

The turn around time was pretty impressive. I had everything at my doorstep in Toronto within 6 business days. Now here's my reviews on the products:

PRODUCT REVIEW:
most of the stuff had excellent quality. Now you have to realize that Blackberry would never market a crocodile skin or snake skin battery cover. So, but ofcourse these are all after market stuff. But what matters is that the quality is great and has perfect snug fit. Looks awesome and stylish, not tacky and cheap immitation. So in the looks department its 10 on 10. But I want to say something here. The snake skin and the crocodile skin battery covers are not exactly how they look on the cnn website. In reality they have a slight "plasticy" look at a very close distance. That goes for the texture and feel as well. So it does not feel or look like 100% leather. Other than that, great buy. Looks great. Infact I ordeered the Brown crocodile skin cover as well. No comments on the trackballs though cause I did not order for that initially. But I have ordered a black trackball now and am waiting on it. So will post my comments on that once i receive and install it. same goes for the Black bezel.

EASE OF USE AND INSTALLATION:
as compared to the assembly of my curve, the way the BOLD is designed, this one was a walk in the park. Super easy to open it up and put it back. I just followed a video tutorial on you tube. You can find loads there. Just make sure you have the right tools. That reminds me...the tools!!!

TOOLS REQUIRED:
Well, I got over adventurous and ordered a whole load of crap. I got the following:
1. T5 & T6 screwdriver - great quality and feel
2. cell phone case opening plastic triangular tool - nice quality and very useful
3. The lens Dust pen and blower combo - absolutely needless ( I feel you dont need this)
4. double sided tape - aaaah! again depends if you really need it
5.metal twizer - absolute must and is great quality as well
6. the plastic long case opening tool - i just ordered for it specifically for the curve

Actually the twizer, the screwdriver and the tringular case opening tool will see you through...rest you dont really need. I would reccomend watch the video on you tube. That will give you an idea.

as for the ease of doing it I already said, its really simple and you really have to be talented to mess it up. Lol!!!

PRICING:
I was pretty happy with the overall pricing at cnn. And guys, please post up alternate places that are available to get similar stuff so that members like me can compare and get the best deals.
Couple of items though the pricing could have been bettered. For example the black bezel for the BOLD does not come with the black buttons. Nad thats extra money. these should be included at a fair pricing.


All in all, I am super happy with my experience. After I pimped up my BOLD, it has got a new dimension now. And it did not burn a big hole in my pocket. Very simple do it yourself routine. I would encourage everyone to venture similar options....taking their BOLD to the next level!!!!!

[Mista Stringfellow]

Congrats I pimped my bold bout a month ago with a all white bezel and blacktrack ball.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[todbanner]

I'm currently on my seconf device with my third in the mail from the att warranty dept. I haven't maged to hold on to a device long enough to customize it yet

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[arnie2nirvana]

Congrats I pimped my bold bout a month ago with a all white bezel and blacktrack ball.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

nice!!!!!

where did you get a white bezel? I would love to see it if you have some pics. was it a web store?

[arnie2nirvana]

I'm currently on my seconf device with my third in the mail from the att warranty dept. I haven't maged to hold on to a device long enough to customize it yet

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

Wow!

Sounds messy........what happened?

[raznikk]

I'm just curious...what do you need tweezers for?

[Neewbie555]

Thanks Arnie. Great synopsis for us novices. Just a few more comments if I may add.

1) I accidently broke my headfone jack when dismanteling my Bold. One needs to be careful to clear the jack and charger port when taking the bezel apart. I have ordered, and received a new headphone jack from cnn.cn. This is a part that is soldered into the motherboard so I am looking for assistance on how to correctly affix it.

2) You are spot on the crocodile battery covers. Despite the plasticky look, they fit very well.

3) I have used a red trackball that lasted about three months before it got sticky. Moveed on to a black one that did not fit very well, and am now on my second black one. It is decent, but not quite as good as the original. I have noticed that the trackballs tend to adapt (get smoother) after a day of use.

Hope this helps those that want to "pimp up" their Bolds.

[todbanner]

Wow!

Sounds messy........what happened?

Standby button stopped working, and it throws fits where it thinks the media card is being pulled and inserted repeatedly. hats off to att warranty though. They shipped me a new one same day I called. Now I'm just waiting for it in the mail.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[jackie treehorn]

I'm just curious...what do you need tweezers for?

It's the easiest thing to use to move the speaker mesh from one bezel to another, if the one you bought did not already have it one there. Also it makes changing out the trackball easier too

[arnie2nirvana]

I'm just curious...what do you need tweezers for?

lol.....good question......I find them handy to handle thye delicate parts. for instance I prefer to deal with the buttons with the tweezers.....also the trackball

[arnie2nirvana]

Hi all,

I am soon gonna post different options for buying stuff. The reason why I am holding back is because I am still waiting on my 1st shipment to arrive from the new place..........If the shipment is cool, its gonna be way better than cnn....trust me on this. So wait up...

[arnie2nirvana]

Also, I got a nice discount for my purchases and got a committment that the same will be applicable for crackberry.com members. Like I said I am just waiting on the package and if everything is good, I am going to post all that good stuff. I will also post the contact person at the store who will provide the discount. I hope everyone is excited about this deal.

Cheers fellow crackberrians

[arnie2nirvana]

Thanks Arnie. Great synopsis for us novices. Just a few more comments if I may add.

1) I accidently broke my headfone jack when dismanteling my Bold. One needs to be careful to clear the jack and charger port when taking the bezel apart. I have ordered, and received a new headphone jack from cnn.cn. This is a part that is soldered into the motherboard so I am looking for assistance on how to correctly affix it.

2) You are spot on the crocodile battery covers. Despite the plasticky look, they fit very well.

3) I have used a red trackball that lasted about three months before it got sticky. Moveed on to a black one that did not fit very well, and am now on my second black one. It is decent, but not quite as good as the original. I have noticed that the trackballs tend to adapt (get smoother) after a day of use.

Hope this helps those that want to "pimp up" their Bolds.

Thanks for your persepective view of this. I am a newbie too, just that I am too hooked on. Lol. I ordered the oem bezel as well and its great. Now I am waiting for a black and a red bezel with side buttons and mesh built in from this new place one of the forum members told me about. Now only is the price better but I got a sizeable discount as well just by chatting with their sales rep. Watch out for my posts. I will put in all the details as soon as I receive the shipment. And I will post reviews on the coloured bezels as well the black as well as yellow trackballs that I have ordered. Dunno if I can post some pictures though. That would have been cool.

Cheers and BE BOLD!!! Pimp UP Your BOLD!!!!!

[Mista Stringfellow]

nice!!!!!

where did you get a white bezel? I would love to see it if you have some pics. was it a web store?

I got the Bezel off ebay..

[ARSC]

looks greattt...

[arnie2nirvana]

I got the Bezel off ebay..

looks very nice. Did you know you can get a white keypad and a white front lcd screen glass to go for the final kill..........I have got myself the full red and full black look.........still waiting on my package.....if it goes well my next project is the full white..........

[arnie2nirvana]

Finally, the long wait is over. The much anticipated pimped up version of the "BOLD" is here. I did it up in full black and full red. Here are some pictures. It looks totally awesome. Cant wait to jazz it up in all white next.

[The_Little_Azn]

Turned out really nice, have you tried skinning your bold? In square one, there's a kiosk that sells decal skins for phones and iPods. I picked one up and it looks great!

[arnie2nirvana]

Alrighty,

So here's the post I was waiting to put up. I tried out this new place for all the accessories for my bold and curve. Super experience. Not only did it have way better variety than cnn, the prices were way better and customer service was exceptional. I was a little unhappy with one of the key pads and they promptly shipped out a replacement without any questions. Not to mention free of cost. You can check out the stuf in my last post where I posted the pics after I pimped up my BOLD. Its awesome.

I am going to start a new thread with all the details of this place. I worked out a deal as well for crackberry.com members. You just need to mention that you are from this forum and they will provide 20% discount on everything. That as well I will mention in the new thread. Its unethical to post the discount coupon code, so I wont. But in the thread I will mention who to get in touch with and say what to get that discount.

So watch out for my Thread. I am going to name it: SHOP SMART - where and how

Cheers
I am sure this will help us out a lot.

[jubu]

Alrighty,

So here's the post I was waiting to put up. I tried out this new place for all the accessories for my bold and curve. Super experience. Not only did it have way better variety than cnn, the prices were way better and customer service was exceptional. I was a little unhappy with one of the key pads and they promptly shipped out a replacement without any questions. Not to mention free of cost. You can check out the stuf in my last post where I posted the pics after I pimped up my BOLD. Its awesome.

I am going to start a new thread with all the details of this place. I worked out a deal as well for crackberry.com members. You just need to mention that you are from this forum and they will provide 20% discount on everything. That as well I will mention in the new thread. Its unethical to post the discount coupon code, so I wont. But in the thread I will mention who to get in touch with and say what to get that discount.

So watch out for my Thread. I am going to name it: SHOP SMART - where and how

Cheers
I am sure this will help us out a lot.

Cool! Can't wait to check this place out...Good job on the Bold transformations!

[alex3305]

Buttt.. you will void your warranty when you replace the bezel, don't you?

[arnie2nirvana]

Buttt.. you will void your warranty when you replace the bezel, don't you?

well, trust me when i say this......you have to be really talented to screw this up......the bold disassembly and assembly or so damn easy..........all you need to do is patiently follow the video tutorials which are available on you tube...........its really simple..........but yes, at the end of the day it does void the warranty I guess if you tamper around too much!!!

[arnie2nirvana]

Cool! Can't wait to check this place out...Good job on the Bold transformations!

Thanks, I love it myself..............I am going to post all the info we need to get deals from them. I did extensive research and made purchases form a few places. These guys were by far the best. Hope this really is helpful for other forum members. Cheers

[fehrnazer]

check out my pimped out berries (9000, and 8900) on this link:

http://forums.crackberry.com/f77/get...-party-261142/

you can get bezels and trackballs from Cellular Nationwide Network - 3G, Sony, Panasonic, LG, SonyEricsson, Nokia, Tools, BlackBerry, or The store is closed

[KeithL322]

Thanks, I love it myself..............I am going to post all the info we need to get deals from them. I did extensive research and made purchases form a few places. These guys were by far the best. Hope this really is helpful for other forum members. Cheers

Hurry Hurry Hurry, lol I just put in an order at cnn.cn for trackballs..I love the white bezel that looks sick!! would like to check out this other website too, thanks for all the info man!