How often have you heard someone say, “Oh, you would have an iPhone” or “way to conform” when you decide to purchase a BlackBerry.  Too often, right?  To be perfectly fair, it’s not easy expressing your individuality in tech, especially when most of the people you know have an iPhone, Blackberry, or some Android device (they all kind of seem like the same to me).  If I ever spend a night in a different place, I never even worry about how I’m going to charge my iPhone just because the odds of a friend having some kind of iDevice are in my favor.  Same goes to BlackBerrys (I confess, I even have a BB plug… why, I don’t know).  It’s time to BREAK FREE from the stereotype; don’t let yourself be put into one category or another so easily.   In an effort to inspire your individuality once again, here are our favorite ways to communicate who you really are through your smartphone.

1. Colorware

If you haven’t heard of Colorware before, no big deal.  Besides being one of the classiest ways to really personalize your device, it’s also one of the more expensive.  Colorware allows you to choose the color of almost every aspect of your device, from the keyboard to the logo.  With bright, solid, and wildly expressive colors, it’s easy to draw some attention to an ordinarily drab looking device.  One can even choose their own, custom, color- truly one-0f-a-kind.  Colorware allows you to either buy your new device through them and they will paint it per your specifications and send it to you, or send your own device in for them to paint it.  Paintable products include everything from BlackBerrys and iPhones to XBoxes and Macs.  Again, not recommended for the penny-pincher.

2. Citid Wallpapers

By far the cheapest and most instantly-gratifying way to mix it up a little, making your background a Citid wallpaper is both refreshingly creative and intensely loyal.  We actually did a post on the Citid project a few weeks ago (check it out here: http://streetattack.com/blog/index.php/2010/06/15/citid/), but for those of you who haven’t heard of the Citid project, take a seat.  You’re sitting?  Good.  Citid aims to collect a unique logo for as many cities of the world as it can, inspired by local artists and compiled through global collaboration.  Eventually there will be a book published (personally, I can’t wait), but for now, all of the accepted designs are on the Citid website.  Is it wrong to want the logo for Kuala Lumpur even though I’m a Boston native?  Below are some of my favorites, found after browsing for about five minutes.  I plan to spend hours on the site after I finish this post.

(For most smartphones, a photo e-mailed to yourself as an attachment can usually be made into a wallpaper by either saving it to your pictures or just clicking the BlackBerry button, etc.)

3. Gelaskins

Gelaskins are stickers (to put it simply) that attach to your device and can be easily removed, if or when you so desire.  The don’t leave any markings or any hint that they were there at all, allowing for any phases, mood shifts, changing styles, or fads you might indulge in.  What makes Gelaskins unique are the sheer number of professionally-designed styles and themes, not to mention the ability to upload your own design or photo and have it made into a Gelaskin.  Like Colorware, there are Gelaskins for almost every kind of gadget you may own, and come with a matching wallpaper for your device so that it can be completely decked out.  Reasonably priced, as well, Gelaskins are a happy medium between Colorware and an ugly case, while simultaneously curbing your appetite for something new and fresh.

Above are three ways that your phone can channel your personality and thirst for individuality, instead of the other way around.  Soon enough, I imagine, companies will begin marketing themselves on your device instead of though it (like those annoying banners in applications).  The outside of your device truly is one of the only untapped marketing mediums in the smartphone market, so take control of it before the Man does.  Although it is slightly ironic that I would illustrate this point through a commercial from the very company I’m referencing as personality purging, I think the message is clear: