[morrow95]

Well, my black bezel from cnn finally came today and I installed it. The process itself is very simple and there is no need to detach the radio wire as shown in the video.

BE VERY CAREFUL when installing the lock/mute button contacts! They are held on by double sided tape and you need to be patient and take your time with a knife to peel them off. There are also two foam pieces as well as a very thin mesh grill sticker that needs to be taken off the same way and stuck on the new bezel. If you take your time and be careful you should have no problem doing this. I did need to pull out some superglue though for one of the foam pieces as there was no more 'stick' to it.

I also purchased the G1 black trackball from them as well which I must say completes the look as it removes the silver ring around the trackball.

Last but not least the black battery door as well. Took about 30 minutes and that was being very careful and slow with the transferring of the button contacts and foam.

All I can say is this thing looks SHARP - very sleek and business looking. Makes ya wonder why they didnt do it this way to begin with. I have seen posts where people claim the radio led is gone - this is not true and I don't even know how it would be possible to NOT have it after this process. Lock and mute buttons work perfect just like they did out of the box.

[Dreskills]

Wirelessly posted

Pics?

[datboi305]

this thread is worthless without pics !

[sleeper55]

i am guessing it looks like the other pics we have seen of those who have had it done.

Personally i like the "chrome/metal" on the front my issue is with the battery door, the plastic seems CHEAP! i want an alluminum battery door like the storm has. does anyone know who makes one (preferably in black) for the javilin?

[morrow95]

There are plenty of pics out there if you search - I'm just too lazy to do it. My post was meant to be more informative regarding the lock/mute buttons and foam as this had me a little worried.

[Jack T. Chance]

I have a question for anyone that has replaced the bezel on their BlackBerry 8900...

WHAT is the original (chrome silver) bezel made of? Is it actually metal? Or is it some cheap plastic, coated with some kind of metallic finish?!?

The reason I ask is that I've only had mine since the 11th, it has NEVER been dropped, it has ONLY been carried in leather pouches, or the leather holster that Speck makes (which has a soft lining on the side that goes against the ) and I'm getting scratches on the bezel already, even though it has not been abused AT ALL and even though I've babied it to keep it from coming into contact with anything rough enough to scratch it.

[StanMort]

The chrome one is just painted that way. It is actually plastic.

[flash24]

Originally Posted by datboi305

this thread is worthless without pics !

[Jack T. Chance]

Originally Posted by StanMort

The chrome one is just painted that way. It is actually plastic.

That's what I was afraid of.

The finish is so nice on it, it looks too good to be vac-metalized plastic (which is what was used for the screen bezel on the 8700g). I thought for sure it must be real metal. But real metal doesn't scratch that easily. I mean, NOTHING has touched the bezel that would be hard enough to scratch metal. So that was my clue that it might not be real metal, unless it was really soft, cheap metal. I guess RIM has raised the bar for how nice you can make vac-metalized plastic look, because that's clearly what this is after all.

[StanMort]

I thought the same thing. I was hesitant to change to the black bezel because I thought I would be giving up the durability of what I thought was a metal bezel. Once I found out that both are plastic it made the switch a no brainer.

[delmarco]

Originally Posted by Dreskills

Wirelessly posted

Pics?

No pics = FAIL!

[spade]

Originally Posted by delmarco

No pics = FAIL!

[morrow95]

Originally Posted by delmarco

No pics = FAIL!

SEARCH - there are pics of the black bezel and trackball on nearly every bb forum...

[delmarco]

Originally Posted by morrow95

SEARCH - there are pics of the black bezel and trackball on nearly every bb forum...

no we want to see your pics.

[StanMort]

Originally Posted by delmarco

no we want to see your pics.

Cause your black bezel is different than all of the others. Maybe you could also take a before pic so we can see what it looked like?

[KerriK]

Originally Posted by Jack T. Chance

That's what I was afraid of.

The finish is so nice on it, it looks too good to be vac-metalized plastic (which is what was used for the screen bezel on the 8700g). I thought for sure it must be real metal. But real metal doesn't scratch that easily. I mean, NOTHING has touched the bezel that would be hard enough to scratch metal. So that was my clue that it might not be real metal, unless it was really soft, cheap metal. I guess RIM has raised the bar for how nice you can make vac-metalized plastic look, because that's clearly what this is after all.

I was hoping the bezel would be metal as well, but I can't say I'm overly disappointed with the plastic. I ordered a full-body skin from bestskinsever.com and have had no scratches or any other issues. I actually like the chrome, and it seems like I'm one of the few who does. I had thought about trying to put my red trackball in my 8900, but I'm just too afraid to disassemble my phone to do so. I'm happy with it the way it is. Plus, I've got a Coveroo coming in the mail that I won in a contest

[jaehodge]

I'm waiting for my bezel and G1 trackball too. I agree it does complete the look without the silver around it.

I wasn't able to fully preserve my warranty sticker, a small part of it chipped off. But I will be sticking it back on after changing the bezel. I had my 8800 for 3 years so hopefully the 8900 will be as kind to me.

[wangta01]

Is this what he's talking about?

http://forums.pinstack.com/showthread.php?t=103065

Lazy man..just throw up YOUR picks ;) !!!!

[dynamic121588]

im going to change my bezel to black but i was wondering has anyone already or were thinking about a way to change the side buttons (camera,volume) to black?? kinda wanted to get that super ninja look for the phone any ideas??

Reg