In this course, you’ll learn what customization options are available for cell phones and how to determine what your phone is capable of.

In this course, you’ll learn what customization options are available for cell phones and how to determine what your phone is capable of.

Everywhere you look people are having fun customizing their cell phones to fit their style and needs. You don’t have to use your cell phone the way it comes from the factory — instead personalize it to make it more functional and fun!

Ringtones

For example, you’ve probably heard the unique sounds that some phones make when they ring. Or you might have a friend with a phone that plays their favorite song when a particular person calls. These sounds are called ringtones and they are just one of a number of ways that you can customize your cell phone.

 

 

Some phones allow you to use their built-in voice recorder to create your own ringtones.

 

Ringbacks

Ringbacks are special sounds that callers hear when they call your cell phone and wait for you to pick up. You can download amost all popular songs as ringtones and ringbacks for a fee.

Cell phone decorations

Your cell phone’s screen can often be customized in a number of ways including “wallpaper” — a background image that appears in the background of your screen. Also the “welcome screen” that appears when you power up your phone can often be modified.

Screen savers, like their computer equivalent display an animation on your phone’s screen so that icons and other static items won’t be permanently “burned” into the screen’s pixels. Since cell phone screens are generally only on for short periods, using a screen saver is not absolutely necessary, but it’s a fun modification to make anyway.

And if you’re into beads or bling, your cell phone case can be customized too.

Once you put all these features together you can see that there are plenty of things you can do to make your cell phone your own so it reflects your personality and style.

However, that said, all cell phones are not created equal. Some cell phones can, for example, use MP3 ringtones so you can use a clip from a favorite album track as a ringtone. But others models aren’t capable of playing audio clips and are limited to playing electronic melodies instead. Some phones can store multiple ringtones so you can change them whenever you like — others store only one or two.

Know your cell phone

When it comes to customizing your cell phone, what you can do with it will be determined by a combination of the phone you are using and your cell phone service provider. The availability of most features is determined by the phone itself, however some features are determined by the cell phone provider you use.

Because of this, the starting point for this course will be for you to determine the cell phone that you are using and what customization options are available for it. To do this, you will need the manual for your cell phone manual — if you don’t have it, you can generally find it online if you know the phone manufacturer and the model of the phone. In most cases you can find out what phone you are using by removing the phone’s battery — the make and model is usually printed on a label under the battery.

Once you have the make and model of your phone, visit your cell phone manufacturer’s website and visit their support area to locate an online copy of the manual. You may also find other technical information about your phone which can be helpful in understanding what customization options are available to you.