My Bold with the Black Bezel
 

Here's my bold with the OEM all black bezel. Not the easiest job but with patience and the right tools it's not that hard.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/IMG_0769.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/IMG_0770.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/IMG_0771.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/IMG_0772.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/IMG_0773.jpg

That looks really good!

damm...looks so sexy!

That looks awesome.

Be sure to take your mother somewhere nice for dinner.

Different
I personally don't like it, maybe it'll grow on me

Tools I used.


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...s/IMG_0775.jpg

did you use the old buttons from original bezel?

was the sd card door hard to take off and re install?

i ordered the blk bezel, buttons and t5 screw driver...should be here soon.

any tips or advice?

I used the old buttons although it would have been a little easier with the new buttons I would imagine. The SD card door is actually pretty easy to pull off and put back on. The harder part was the little metal charging contacts at the bottom on either side. You are definately gonna need a good pair of tweezers for those.

Great job! It definitely has a very unique look to it now.

VERY NICE (y)

It looks great dude !! I think I might do the same with my Bold . . . by the way you what would make your Bold look better ?? use one of my themes ;-)

I wanted to use once of your Jolie themes but there's no download link.

Very nicely done. That is a great looking phone. Do you have any creaking in the top bezel area? ... and why didn't mine ship with a black bezel? ;-)

Looks spectacular.

Whoa! Now THAT'S how RIM should have made it! Awesome mod!!

Damn you! I was planning on being the first to do this, except that my bezel and tools won't be here until next week. Ah well... looks awesome! :razz:

I wonder if we will be able to add the trackball from the Javelin once it is released? Add that, and you can take a line from Spinal Tap... "None more black."

By the way... what theme is that?

This one.

Thanks.

how did u do this? I'd like to do the same to my bold.

is it easy to diy?

I like it a lot, how do you get your appointments to display on the front screen like that?

See several posts above. It's a different theme.

Looks better than the original, IMO. NICE!

Where can I purchase this? It looks great!


ah nevermind - found it here and purchased!

BlackBerry Bold 9000 OEM black bezel- Sony, Mobiado, Accessories Store, BenQ-Siemens, 3G, Nokia, BlackBerry, HTC, Sony

is that where you purchased it? shipping good?

DOH :oops:

thanks (y)

That's where I got mine. Shipping is slow, however. Still waiting for mine after ordering it on the 2nd. I expect it will be here next week, though.

Mine got here in 5 days, pretty quick. Seems like it may scratch easily but I'll have a shiny silver backup in case 8-)

Scratch easy? Is it painted, or just soft plastic?

Yes I purchased from CNN and the shipping was overnight with Fedex even though I opted for just EMS. It's all solid black plastic so even if it does scratch it's black underneath. The silver bezel which once scratched is also black underneath which looks bad.

Okay, thanks. I went with regular mail for shipping... wish I had done differently, but it will be here soon enough, I suppose. A bit worried about the buttons after reading about the bit of trouble you had with yours. Hm...

Don't worry about the buttons, it wasn't that problematic. Just be gentle pulling them off.

Doesn't this MOD void the warranty?????

Yes but I can always change it back.

That looks awesome! I saw that on CNN and was thinking of ordering it, and now that I see what it looks like, I'm in! ;-).

P.S. Isn't that my wallpaper? :razz:
http://www.blackberryforums.com/gene...ours-here.html

http://i277.photobucket.com/albums/k...From_Space.jpg

Probably. Lol.

lol they're going to know if you've taken apart the phone...

Did you pull the buttons off first before removing the frame? On the CNN site it isn't that clear on the video.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g1...Picture011.jpg

Here's my black bezel-ed Bold. Not that difficult to swap out but you need patience... and a strong heart!

Really, how's that?

there's a small sticker on one of the screws, u need to remove sticker to access the last screw....

Yeah I did and then I put it back. Lol.

carsmovies .. which Today theme do you use?

Already answered in this thread halfway down the first page.

This one.

Here is mine with Blue keypad

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/1...ckberryyk8.jpg

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/9...kberry1bt3.jpg

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/1...kberry2pe5.jpg

I think we got hosed. I ordered mine on the 2nd as well and still haven't recieved it.

I ordered mine on the 6th, came in today. They had a holiday last week and it didn't actually get shipped until the 9th. They are usually pretty quick with shipping 2 weeks tops. I have ordered tons of stuff off of this site over the years so you guys definitely didn't get scammed.

(y) Agreed. It takes a little while, but I always get what I order from CNN.

Hey BaRTiMuS, where on Earth is the Blue Keyboard? Or is that a Sharpie Mod? :razz:

Nice!!!


WTF why cant AT&T release it already!!

DIY Sharpie mod baby!!!!

Oh, definitely don't feel like I got scammed. I've ordered before and got stuff quick. Didn't know about the holiday so that's good to know. Just frustrating with the delay on this one in particular. I wanted to be the first one to post a photo with my black bezel! lol

Yeah... I'm hoping my parts come in on Friday, along side my Seidio rubberized holster. Will make for a nice weekend project.

Blue Keypad
 

Verry nice blue
How do you change into blue ? do you have to buy the blue keypad? if yes pls let me know where from.

Thanks bro

See: Sharpie, as in "Sharpie Mod" for more details.

If you are having issues with the search feature, its a quick mod, take the keyboard off of the main board. Get a Sharpie or permanent marker the colour of your choosing. Colour over the LED's. On the BOLD i would suggest letting it dry and going over them again. Put everything back together and you are done.

I have also heard but not seen any pictures of people using coloured cellophane but that sounds like its a bigger pain in the ass.

Loving your blue keypad Bart.

and thanks for the tips. cheers ..

my favs
 

here are some of my favs

I love that Leica!!!

And the pimped up Bold, of course ;-)

Well... just finished my replacement of the chrome bezel with the black one. A bit tricky, but as stated earlier, patience is key. Here is what I discovered:

1. There is a white piece of sticky material (latex, maybe) that covers one of the screws holding the midplate to the bezel. Don't discard this material, and be careful when removing it so that it doesn't tear. I believe this is a tamper seal.
2. The push button to remove the battery door is on little rails and slides up from the bezel to remove.
3. The buttons surrounding the bezel are held in with tiny little posts that have been melted down to secure the rubber frame of the button. If you very gently remove the button and the rubber frame from these posts, you won't do any damage. Just be very, very gentle. The rubber frame would likely tear very easily.
4. The keyboard snaps in from the bottom edge of the keyboard. Push the bottom edge of the keyboard in gently to unlock it from the bezel.
5. The microSD card door is a bit tricky. It is held in place by plastic tabs at the ends of the arms that the door swings open on. Just be very careful when removing this door so that you don't break the tabs. I very slightly pushed the door to one side to release pressure on the tabs on the opposite side of the door, and then very carefully pulled the door until it popped free from the bezel. This was the most unnerving part.
6. Don't forget the two metal charging contacts like I almost did. They are a bugger to get out, but they do come out. I found that using a pair of fine tweezers helped me pry the contacts away from the bezel. By the way, the contacts are covered with a sticky sheet of what I assume is non-conductive material. Don't discard this material.
7. There is a rubber channel to help guide the sound from the hole at the bottom of the bezel into the microphone for phone calls. Make sure to transfer this small piece of rubber to the new bezel.

When I was assembling everything into the black bezel, I did one button at a time. I took a fine tipped metal rod and heated it with a lighter for 30 seconds. Once hot, I carefully melted the little tabs over the rubber frame of each button. I did one tab at a time to ensure the metal tip was hot enough without needing it to be too hot (didn't want to damage the bezel). Additionally, when placing the mainboard (with LCD still attached) back into the new bezel, I found that the bottom edge of the screen was trapped against the part of the bezel that sits just below the LCD. This is apparently why it is recommended to remove the screen when re-assembling. No problem, though. I just carefully moved the part of the bezel bumping the LCD down just a tiny bit, and everything worked into place just right.

All told, it took about 30 minutes to complete the hardware swap. I then ran a network diagnostics test and a hardware diagnostics test to ensure everything worked properly. It did, and now my Bold is nice and black.

By the way, some have mentioned that the black bezel makes the device look fatter, and that the chrome bezel was there to keep the device looking slim. I would have agreed when looking at the pictures (and was a bit worried about this before making the swap). I can say, though, that once finished, the black bezel makes the device look slimmer. Looking back on it, the chrome bezel was so different from the black body that it stood out. Now that everything is black, it just doesn't seem as obviously wide.

Thanks for this info. i hadn't noticed this little piece so I've now taken it all apart again and transfered it over.

Yeah, I almost missed that as well. Thankfully (really, thankfully?) I am so OCD that I checked and double-checked before calling my work done.

Looks great everyone! 8-)

Curious for those of you who ordered from cnn.cn that are from Canada, how long did it take for you're shipment to arrive?

Pretty much overnight cause I paid for EMS.

Wirelessly posted

Ahhhh perfect, thanks.

Blue Led
 

Thanks for the tip, I will try latter but a bit scarry to open it

Scary, a bit. Fun, though, if you are into this sort of thing.

Finally got my bezel replaced today. I still haven't received the one I ordered via snail mail on 10/02. I ended up overnighting the buttons and bezel.

The whole process took me about 10 min and that was with my coffee shakes! lol

One awesome thing I've noticed...the standby button is raised on the black bezel and MUCH easier to press. On the silver bezel, it was recessed and I stopped using it cause it was to hard to depress.

Overall, very happy with this black bezel :)

Ordered a black bezel about a week ago from cnn and it arrived today, used snail mail to Canada. It's really not that difficult, took me 10 min and it looks great.

Just did the modification (Black Bezel) love it!

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n257/71Tito71/1.jpg

and added the Otterbox to it (didn't install the clear membrane)

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n257/71Tito71/2.jpg

Please can someone help me install this theme Streamline, having trouble installing plasmic themes

Maybe if you start a new thread instead of posting your request in this one? Just a thought.

Sorry to be a pain as you can see i am a newbie and that is the first post i have ever made

had to reopen my Bold - missed that black rubber guide for the mic! Much easier second time around.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to move it, you know?

Can someone post a link to the video guide on CNN? I can't find it anywhere.

Took me less than 1 minute to find the video on cnn's site.

yep, me too. here it is for others

YouTube - Blackberry Bold 9000 disassembly

Do you have to take it completely apart like the video shows or only to a certain point?

How else would you change the bezel?

You will take the phone completely apart.

Of all the blackberries I have taken apart, and I take apart a lot of them at work, the Bold is BY FAR the easiest and safest to take apart.

Sexy :)

Well I received my black bezel this past Monday but I have to get my nerve up to doing the the replacement.

Go for it. Nothing but an expensive paperweight if you screw up! :razz:

Really, it's not all that bad if you have the right tools.

Thanks for the encouraging words. I do have the screw driver, needle nose tweezers and lots of patience.

What I did not understand is that in the video it shows that even after the board is out of the bezel he continues to disassemble parts like the screen and the track ball.

That was just a video showing disassembly in general, and goes a bit beyond what is required for this mod. You don't need to remove the trackball, and it is not absolutely necessary to remove the screen. However, removing the screen does help a bit with putting everything back together. When I did mine, I did not remove the screen and got it back together okay, but it took a bit of fiddling because the screen is so snug in the case.

ifonline, I printed out your step by step description and will use that as my "instructions". By melting the little tabs over the rubber frames of the buttons does that make it permanent?

No more permanent than the original installation. As long as you don't melt the rubber frames, you will be fine. Just like with the original installation, you will be able to gently pull the rubber frames from your new bezel if you need to.

When I melted the tabs, I heated the tip of a mini flat-pointed screwdriver (tool abuse, I know) for about 30 seconds with a lighter. That seemed to be enough heat for one tab at a time. When I pressed the tip of the screwdriver to the tab, I pushed a bit (not pushing so hard that the bezel warped in my hands), and held it there for just a few seconds. I looked at the result, and if it appeared to be squashed, I considered it done. If not, I re-heated the screwdriver and did it again.

Of course, if something goes wrong, you can get replacement buttons with the rubber frames if you need to.

By the way, do you have a case opening tool? If not, I understand that a heavyweight guitar pick will work. Just wanted to point this out.

The tools I used:

• T5 screwdriver
• case opening tool
• flat-tipped screwdriver (for the tool abuse part)
• angled fine-tipped tweezers

You don't need to melt the tabs. The only reason that was done on the OEM silver bezel is to make assembly easier at the factory (The bezel is shipped with the buttons).

sweet job man

Only the silver bezel ships with the buttons.

I meant the buttons are attached to the bezel at manufacture. They are not assembed seperately.

Yes and that's why the silver bezel from cnn comes with the buttons already installed.

No, you don't need to melt the tabs, but you said it yourself: it makes it easier when assembling. Besides, if it is done in manufacturing, I would argue that you should do it. They did it, and I'm sure they know a bit more about assembling the device than I do, or for that matter, than you do.

That looks AWESOME!!!! To bad I just don't have the balls or the patience to do this without ruining my phone!

I did order the bezel but haven't installed it because I wanted to have it in case one day it wasn't available anymore, and to save the trouble of repainting a silver one.

One thing I have noticed that I am wondering about..

The lip for the front that sits underneath the keyboard, it seems to be a darker black than the bezel.. it also seems a bit shinier and smoother.

The lip is shinier and smoother than the Rogers lip which seems to have a very slight matte look to it but works well in 'muting' the shine. I'm not sure why this one is shinier.

The lip also has 2 small scratches on the plastic on the front. Sucks, because it should be me to make the scratches not someone else.

I have held off on installing it, because I am waiting to see if the javelin trackball is drop-in compatible with the bold, because I hate the white one on the bold and it does get stuck, etc. I do have a replacement ball, but c'mon. At this rate I have to replace the ball a few times a year.

The Javelin trackball is not drop in compatible with the older bb's cause its a completely new tech ball that uses lasers to track the ball instead of rollers.