The full ColorWare treatment for Bold includes four painted parts: the bezel, which surrounds the device edges; the bottom section that's below the keyboard and is typically carrier branded; the back battery cover, which makes up the bulk of the Bold's rear side; and finally, the camera plate, which is attached to the battery cover and situated around the Bold camera lens. You can pick any ColorWare color and/or finish for each individual part. Alternatively, you can buy just a battery cover for $99 (you can't currently purchase individual bezels, bottom pieces or camera plates.) In other words, you must buy a battery cover if you want any other ColorWare components for your Bold.

The finish on the ColorWare parts looks beautiful--and perhaps more importantly, it's quite scratch resistant. The standard silver bezel that comes with the BlackBerry Bold scratches very easily, and I found the painted ColorWare bezel less prone to scrapes and dings. The only significant wear and tear on my device is on the bottom corners of the camera plate and the bottom of the battery cover--both of the areas that touch my desk most frequently when I place my device down. Even so, the finish is merely "scuffed" in those places, and the damage is barely noticeable unless you really look for it.

Thankfully, ColorWare sends along an installation kit with all Bold-part-purchases. That kit includes a plastic "pry tool" for removing the Bold motherboard from its bezel, as well as a T5 torque, or jewelers, screwdriver. That's really all you need, but I also employed a pair of tiny tweezers.

The installation process itself is fairly simple, though you'll want to be wearing your Patience Cap, as you'll need to be very careful when removing and replacing some parts--particularly the cable that connects the Bold's motherboard to its display. There are also a couple of tiny metal tabs on the top of the mother board that slide into the Bold's bezel which can bend and break very easily. All and all, the entire install process took me about half an hour. I won't get into much more detail than that, as ColorWare has full installation instructions on its site--I also found BBGeeks.com's Bold assembly guide to be helpful.

Oh yeah, ColorWare also offers a number of cool corporate branding options, but like the Bold parts, they cost a pretty penny.