First and foremost: My BlackBerry Bold looks gooood with the ColorWare parts installed. One of the best things about ColorWare is the sheer number of color options available. And Colorware offers two color finishes to pick from: solid and metallic. The company also lets you preview potential color/finish combinations to see what they look like on its website, so you shouldn't be too surprised by the final results. Honestly, my Bold looks better in the flesh&err, plastic, than it did on ColorWarePC.com. I'm very pleased with the product in that respect.

The Bold is one of only three BlackBerry devices--along with the Curve 8310 and Curve 8320--for which users can order ColorWare parts separately for self installation. That means Bold and (old) Curve owners don't need to send away their devices to ColorWare for a few days.

It's also significantly cheaper to assemble a ColorWare Bold yourself than to send yours in or buy a brand new one from the company: the full ColorWare treatment with self installation starts at $139.00; sending your device to the company will run you at least $179.00; and buying a brand new Bold with ColorWare parts will set you back some $715.