Personalized ringtones and wallpapers help give your phone personality.
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Cellular phones are more customizable now than ever before. From cases to specialized cables, almost any part of a phone can be modified to make it unique. The two most common ways of customizing a cell phone, though, are its ringtones and its wallpaper. A variety of tools exist to help make this process easier.
Creating Your Own Ringtones
Creating your own ringtones is a fairly easy process. First, you need to locate a piece of audio editing and composition software. If you're using Microsoft Windows, good free audio editors include Reaper and Audacity. If you're on a Mac, you can use GarageBand, which comes with all new Macs. With all of these programs, simply import a song into the program using the import function. Select a portion of that song you'd like to use as your ringtone and export it into a format that is compatible with your cell phone. Some phones also let you use the phone's built-in microphone to record audio. If your does, simply hold the microphone up to the music you'd like to use as your ringtone and press "Record."
Online Tools for Ringtones
A variety of online tools exist to help you make your own ringtones. Websites like Make Your Own Ringtone and ToneBee allow you to upload a song, select the portion of it that you'd like to use as your ringtone, and then either download the ringtone to your computer's desktop or email it directly to your phone.
Creating Your Own Wallpaper
Almost any image can be turned into a wallpaper. The two tools you'll need are a camera and image-editing software. Widely used free image editing tools include Photoscape, GIMP and Google's Picasa. After you've edited your image to the proper size required by your phone, simply upload it to your phone or email it to yourself. Then follow the manufacturer's instructions on how to change your wallpaper. Most cell phones today can also take pictures via built-in cameras. If yours does, there's a good chance you can use any of the pictures you've taken on your phone as your wallpaper. Since every phone is different, browse through your phone's display and wallpaper settings to learn how.
Online Tools for Wallpaper
If you don't want the hassle of using a camera and learning a piece of image-editing software, a number of online tools exist for creating cell phone wallpapers as well. Most of these tools start by asking you to upload a picture to its website. You then select your cellular phone manufacturer and model from a list. Having selected your phone, the online tool then resizes your uploaded image so that it will be sized correctly to function as your cell phone's wallpaper. You can then download the image to your computer and send it to your phone.
Warning and Tips
Be aware that some supposedly "free" online tools may attempt to charge you. Some sites charge a monthly fee to use their site, while others may let you create the ringtone or wallpaper, but then force you to pay for it if you want to download it. Also be aware of copyright laws before using a song owned by someone else as your ringtone.
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Photo Credits
- Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
