Log In Register Now Home Page My Times Today's Paper Video Most Popular Times Topics Thursday, April 10, 2008 Technology World U.S. N.Y. / Region Business Technology Science Health Sports Opinion Arts Style Travel Jobs Real Estate Autos BASICS; Souping Up the Cell Phone E-MAIL Print Single-Page Save By ROY FURCHGOTT Published: June 28, 2001 WHEN Farhan Thawar whips out his cell phone to dial a number, he calls attention to himself. Mr. Thawar, a software engineer from Toronto, has a Nokia 8260. It doesn't look like a standard-issue phone, and it isn't. He has customized it with a shiny baby-blue faceplate and a light-up blue keypad, even replacing the standard green display with one that glows a cool, backlighted blue. Little is left of the original phone other than some circuit boards buried inside. ''It's an attention-getter,'' he said. ''Every single person that sees it wants to know where I got it.'' Customizing phones has become popular among technophiles, trend-conscious teenagers and others seeking ways to declare their individuality. It's cheaper and easier than customizing a car; it's less permanent (and less frightening to parents and prospective employers) than a tattoo. Yet it achieves roughly the same goal. ''It's part of our self-view that we are not the same as everyone else,'' remarked C. R. Snyder, director of the clinical psychology program at the University of Kansas at Lawrence and co-author of ''Uniqueness: The Human Pursuit of Difference'' (Plenum Publishing, 1980). ''The phone is a safe way of expressing that difference.'' A vast cell-phone accessories industry has sprung up to help technophiles achieve that aim. Hundreds of cell-phone accessories have been developed that go well beyond everyday carrying cases or hands-free equipment. There are light-up antennas, sequential blinking antennas and antennas that project a shape on the ceiling with laser light. There are light-up battery packs, solar battery packs and battery packs with figures like cartoon characters or animals whose eyes blink. Faceplates exist in every color of the rainbow, animal-skin patterns and fuzzy textures, and they carry the logos of sports teams, automakers and consumer product companies. There are keypads in every color and a range of metallic finishes, and many are backlighted to glow and blink.
'; s += '
'; document.write(s); } google_ad_channel= 'generic'; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_ad_client = 'ca-nytimes_radlinks_topic_js'; google_safe = 'high'; google_num_radlinks = '5'; google_max_num_ads = '0'; google_max_radlink_len = '23';
