BlackBerry Bold 9700 Coming Soon in White—or DIY Now for $50

Images posted on BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion’s (RIM) Thailand website show a new version of the popular BlackBerry Bold 9700—in white.

A rumor from earlier this week, gleaned from what appears to be a wireless-carrier inventory shot, suggests that this “blanc Bold” will be coming to Canadian-carrier Rogers in the future.

Presumably, the white Bold will also find its way to AT&T and/or T-Mobile, the current U.S. carriers that offer the BlackBerry 9700. (AT&T already offers a white Bold 9000.) But it’s unclear exactly when. Nor have any concrete release details been made available for the Thai-version of the white Bold.

If you’re eager to get your thumbs on this white Bold 9700, and you’re a current 9700 owner, there’s really no reason to wait—or dish out a couple hundred dollars for a new device. At least if you’re handy with a screwdriver, that is.

A couple of Chinese cell-phone part retailers already offer all of the “ingredients” necessary to “white-out” your current black Bold 9700 for around US$50.

Warning: It’s not exactly simple to fully disassemble your Bold 9700 and equip it with the new parts. And you’ll need the proper tools: tiny T5/T6 screwdrivers and a plastic pry-tool. But if you purchase your parts together, both these instruments should come as part of the package.

I recently took apart my BlackBerry 9700 to slap on custom parts I purchased from TrueSupplier.com with relative few “hiccups.” The parts don’t fit “perfectly.” And it was a bit of a headache to solder the necessary components together. But I don’t regret the decision at all. And everything you’ll need can be bought in an assembled-state, so the soldering-process won’t be necessary. Just make sure the parts-package you choose clearly states that parts come pre-assembled. (The description should read something like “The top cover and the bezels are attached.”)

Another option for a white 9700 is to go the ColorWare-route, and I can tell you from experience the company does a great job…though you can expect to drop a lot more than $50.

Customizing your own 9700 or purchasing a white device from ColorWare also gives you an almost “all-white” BlackBerry, compared to the device pictured on the Thai BlackBerry site, which sports a white keyboard and top cover but with the same “silver” bezel found on the current stock 9700. In other words, RIM’s white Bold 9700 won’t be “all-white.”

To purchase new parts for your Bold 9700, visit TrueSupplier.com or CNN.cn. And you can find a number of 9700 disassembly tutorials on YouTube.

AS