Also important to note: installing your own ColorWare parts voids your manufacturer's warranty. RIM places a white sticker on the head of one of six tiny screws that holds your Bold together. As soon as you remove that sticker, your warranty is up. You can attempt to remove the white sticker with tweezers and replace it when you're done installing the new parts, but that's easier said than done. Note: ColorWare offers warranty options of its own, but they're only available to customers who either send in their existing devices for customization or who buy brand new devices from ColorWare.

My most significant complaint about ColorWare for the BlackBerry Bold is the fact that the painted battery covers simply don't fit very well--at least mine doesn't. The cover sits nicely into the latches at the top of my Bold, and when it's snapped in place, the left side--if you're looking at the Bold's rear--fits snugly. However, the right side, where the battery cover meets the bezel's headphones jack and mini USB port, simply doesn't fit right. The cover shifts and creaks every time you type.

Frankly, that's a deal breaker for me. I own many Bold battery covers, from RIM's standard leather-ish covers to Seidio's special Bold 3500mAh battery back, and every one of them fits better than the ColorWare cover. As mentioned above, these parts aren't cheap by any means, and the battery cover really ought to fit like a glove for the price...but it doesn't.

What's worse? ColorWare is well aware of the issue and is unwilling to help.

"Honestly, I do hear this from time to time. It seems that these backs are not always the same," says Lars Rasmussen, the company's director of sales and marketing. "We do test them on our own units but that doesn't always seem to help. This is definitely a known issue."