Techno Dress-up: Personalizing Your Phone With Themes
By Philip Nicosia

Bored with your phone? Give it a makeover with a unique phone theme. Phone themes are coordinated background images, color schemes, animations and ring tones. Most units come with a few phone themes, but why settle for something that several other million already have? (That would defeat the purpose of personalizing it, wouldn't it?). Instead, head for the Internet. There you'll find enough phone themes to dress up your mobile every day of the week, if you wanted to.

Most of the phone themes you'll find on the Web are grouped according to category. For animal lovers, there are themes inspired by wildlife, marine life, dogs, cats, even exotic birds. These bundles usually carry a photo of a creature that will be used as a wall paper display, a ring or message tone that's lifted from the sound it makes, and color schemes inspired by Nature. Just think of the "paws"-ibillities!

Admire a celebrity? Have her lovely face greet you from your phone each time you dial a number. (It's the next best thing to actually having her number.) Bundles will sometimes include theme songs from a movie, or if available, a message alert recorded with her voice.

Indulge your Inner Geek with Star Wars or Final Fantasy phone themes, or any of the thousands dedicated to things like computer or arcade games, science fiction movies, and popular series like X Files or Lost.

Girls can personalize their phone themes too, with sizzling-hot pictures of the biggest Hollywood hunks, uber-feminine floral settings, or funky retro styles. Now you can text your friends about your date against a hot-pink background on one day, or set your ring tone to a calming Zen instrumental piece the next. It's all about exercising your right to bring style to your mobile, which we all know is really a functional lifestyle accessory and not just a piece of equipment for you to send and receive calls. Let it reflect your mood, your personality, your image-of-the-moment. And unlike fashion collections, you don't have to wait for a change of the seasons to transform your look!

When downloading themes, you have to check if it's compatible with your unit. Some themes are configured for specific phones, and it's best to avoid the disappointment of browsing through a category only to find out that you won't be able to use it. Some of the websites will give you the option of signing up for an account to access features that pre-screen your options so only those that are compatible with your phone will be displayed in your search results. And contrary to popular belief, installing a phone theme won't necessarily shorten your phone's battery life. That's because phone themes are very efficient, and usually come with utilities that optimize the use of power. So even if it's animated, you won't really feel the impact on your battery life.

They may, however, take up some storage space, especially those that come with a lot of features like animated backgrounds, and several long ring tones and message tones. If your phone has limited memory capabilities, you can store your downloads on a memory device.