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SIM posts

GSM Palm Pre unlocked with a little Rebel assistance

by Nilay Patel posted Nov 3rd 2009 @ 1:58PM

It's not exactly the native unlock we've been waiting for, but those of you in Europe dying for a Pre unshackled from O2 will be happy to know that the Rebel Simcard II is now compatible with Palm's first webOS device. The £10.99 / $17.95 accessory card slots in between your carrier's SIM and the Pre's SIM slot, bypassing the Pre's network locks and allowing full access to voice and data services including 3G. Sadly, the Pre doesn't have the radio support to make this work in the States on anything but EDGE, but at least it's a start, right? Video after the break.

[Thanks, Ji]

Continue reading GSM Palm Pre unlocked with a little Rebel assistance

Palm Pixi stares GSM in the face, lives to brag about it

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 6th 2009 @ 1:29AM

Though nothing's been announced, betting against a GSM version of the Palm Pixi would be a foolish move. There's certainly no mistaking that "E" for Edge logo and SIM slot beneath the battery in these leaked images from Vietnam (yes, again). Oddly, this particular GSM variant pictured only contains 4GB of internal storage vs. the 8GB model announced for Sprint. Perhaps a prototype limitation only? Let's hope.

3-in-1 External Battery packs a second SIM for your iPhone's calling pleasure

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 3rd 2009 @ 7:23PM

If you're a high-flying type rocking two contracts and, ultimately, two SIM cards, the new 3-in-1 External Battery over at USBFever could save you a lot of hot-swapping -- assuming at least one of those SIM cards is currently in an iPhone 3G or 3GS. It looks like an ordinary, bulky external battery, but inside packs room for a second SIM. Swapping is handled via an on-phone application and, according to the online instructions, it'll take about two minutes for your handset to figure out exactly what the heck is going on and reconnect to the different network. Sadly the phone can't monitor both cards simultaneously, so if you frequently receive calls on both you're stuck with that second device, but if by day you're a mild-mannered corporate user and by night you switch over to your secret personal account, this could be for you. $60 gets you in to the card-swapping party -- just leave your keys in the bowl on the way in.

[Via iLounge]

T-Mobile UK sneakily offering iPhone 3G to moneyed customers

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 4th 2009 @ 4:59AM

We really couldn't make this stuff up -- it would seem that T-Mobile has been sneaking some hi-tech contraband into the UK in the form of unlocked iPhone 3G handsets, which it is now peddling to its most valued clientele. And by that, of course, we mean the piggies that pay up the most every month. Limited to an extremely select 150 units a week, the Apple devices are being used as incentives for high-rolling customers to renew their eye-gouging contracts of £75 per month and above, though we suspect only a few chums in corner offices know exactly how much T-Mob is charging for the handset itself.

We've done some digging, and while O2 has exclusivity on the iPhone 3G until September, that does not prevent T-Mobile from essentially functioning as a reseller of unlocked SIM-free units. Further distancing itself from legal action, the carrier is only offering the handsets to upgrading customers (as opposed to newcomers), thus the phones technically come sans a SIM. So, the suits at Magenta Towers must be feeling pretty smug right about now, having danced through a loophole and secured a wildly popular (albeit older generation) phone, all in the name of keeping high-brow customers from jumping ship. While you won't hear any PR from T-Mobile on the matter, we have a full statement from O2 on the subject of losing 3G exclusivity come September. You ready?

We have a multi-year agreement with Apple to sell iPhone in the UK. This relationship continues.

Man, those Britons keep it short and sweet, don't they?

Koodo leading Telus' charge into HSPA territory?

by Chris Ziegler posted Jul 27th 2009 @ 4:12AM

It's no secret that Telus is kicking off a transition from CDMA to UMTS / HSPA starting later this year, but who would've thought its Koodo Mobile value-oriented brand would be on the front lines? Howard Chui notes that Koodo's phone activation page now shows a SIM card on its diagram of where to find your ESN (or IMEI, in this case) -- a pretty strong indication that GSM-enabled Koodo phones are just around the corner. Of course, that leaves open the question of what hardware will be involved, but something tells us Koodo won't be getting that killer LG BL40 its corporate parent has long been rumored to have in the pipe.

[Via Howard Chui]

Video: Palm Pre caught playing with GSM SIM in Vietnam

by Thomas Ricker posted Jun 30th 2009 @ 7:12AM

Having the Palm Pre on Sprint might be good for Americans driving their pick 'em up trucks down the CDMA data highway, but it doesn't do Europeans (or Palm's bottom line) any good over in the Old World. Now we've got video and images of a GSM-loving Palm Pre on the loose in Vietnam. Why 'Nam? Easy, as workers gain more rights and higher wages in China, manufacturers of all our fancy consumer electronics are heading further south in search of cheap labor. While this doesn't mean a damn thing regarding launch, it's still good to see a functioning GSM Pre in the wild on the way to launch sometime before the end of the year, possibly sooner. Video after the break, as the saying goes.

[Thanks, Enzo]

Continue reading Video: Palm Pre caught playing with GSM SIM in Vietnam

T-Mobile announces tiny new "embedded SIM" for connected devices

by Nilay Patel posted Apr 23rd 2009 @ 4:28PM

Sure, SIM cards are small, but they're not tiny, and fitting the entire assembly into an embedded device requires a lot of space -- so T-Mobile's new embedded SIM system should make it possible to build even smaller connected devices like hospital monitors and smart energy meters that can report back to a server. The new SIMs are the size of a pinhead and made of silicon instead of plastic, which allows them to be coded at the factory and hard-mounted directly to a device, skipping the provisioning and installation steps that would come with regular SIMs. Devices with the new SIMs are expected to be out and sending data over T-Mo's network in as little as six months -- the first is an energy meter from Echelon that should hit soon.

Nokia 6216 Classic packs NFC for contactless payments

by Thomas Ricker posted Apr 23rd 2009 @ 4:48AM

It's 2009 and we're still waiting for the Near Field Communication revolution. However, due to tough economic times and a lack of consumer devices, planned commercial NFC rollouts will likely be pushed into 2010. Still, we can add one more device to the NFC tally -- the Nokia 6216 Classic. The 6216 is Nokia's first handset with an embedded NFC chipset that communicates with NFC applications stored on the SIM. That little trick keeps the carriers happy while allowing consumers to keep their credit card info and contact-less ticketing and payment applications on the SIM for easy mobility between NFC devices. A good thing too, since this middling 3G candy bar with camera, FM radio, and microSD slot will be of limited appeal to most.

Read -- Nokia 6216 Classic
Read -- Economy, standards stand in the way of NFC

GeoSIM's Dual IMSI SIM to boast UK and US numbers, reduce roaming fees

by Darren Murph posted Mar 17th 2009 @ 6:31PM

While we've seen some pretty novel advances in the SIM card space, few have rivaled this in terms of sheer functionality. In a beautiful effort to cut down on roaming charges, GeoSIM has just announced that it's preparing a Dual IMSI SIM that will initially include a US and UK phone number, making it remarkably easy for those who travel frequently between American and the United Kingdom to call back and forth without racking up absurd roaming charges. We can only assume that future cards will enable any two countries (or more, maybe?) to be programmed in, and while we're still not totally clear on what the fees will actually be while using this card, we're kosher for now just knowing they'll be lower.

[Via Boy Genius Report]

Microsoft and Gemalto bring Windows Live Messenger to SIM cards

by Darren Murph posted Feb 17th 2009 @ 7:47PM

First motion detecting SIM cards, now this? Here in Barcelona, Microsoft and Gemalto are tag-teaming in order to bring Windows Live Messenger to otherwise vanilla SIM cards. The application, dubbed SIMessenger, is said to be the planet's first Microsoft-certified instant messaging SIM client solution. Essentially, this enables handsets even without a dedicated WLM client to still stay in touch (via SMS) with their long list of buddies, and evidently three operators -- Oi in Brazil, Personal S.A. in Argentina and Movistar in Peru -- have already started supplying them to customers. Call us crazy, but we get the impression that these won't be headed Stateside anytime soon.

Motion detecting SIMSense SIM card opens new world of possibilities

by Darren Murph posted Feb 16th 2009 @ 5:24PM

File this one away in the "man, I should've thought of that" category. Here at Mobile World Congress, Oberthur Technologies is making a name for itself by introducing the planet's first motion detecting and handset-independent SIM card. SIMSense, as it's so eloquently named, could open up a whole new world of interaction with phones that don't come with any sort of accelerometer built in. For instance, a user could simply shake their cellphone upon receiving a second call in order to send out a pre-written SMS that explains the situation. Or they could navigate phone menus by simply moving or tapping. Or, better still, they could program their handset to dial an emergency contact if it detected a sudden fall while close to the person's body. There's been no indication of anyone grabbing this thing and running with it, but we can't imagine this not making it out to the commercial realm.

Samsung throws two SIM slots in beefy S9402 DuoS

by Darren Murph posted Oct 27th 2008 @ 7:00PM

Just in case Samsung has yet to create a dual SIM DuoS handset that really struck your fancy, here's yet another to consider: the S9402. Expected to boast a luxurious outfit (and matching price tag, we imagine), this here candybar will tout a 2-inch QVGA AMOLED display, an all-metal frame, 1GB of internal memory, a microSDHC card slot, Bluetooth 2.0, USB connectivity, FM tuner, a 5-megapixel camera (with video mode) and a complete lack of 3G support. Word has it that it'll be launched first in Russia, though we suspect surrounding nations won't have to wait too long to indulge.

Coolpad showcases dual-band, dual-SIM handset at CommunicAsia

by Darren Murph posted Jun 20th 2008 @ 10:50AM

Dual-band? Check. Dual-SIM? Check. One phone? Triple check. Believe it or not, Coolpad has reportedly crafted a phone that's multifaceted like no other -- one that not only includes room for a pair of SIM cards, but includes GSM and CDMA radios. Furthermore, the unit can purportedly switch between GSM and CDMA accounts on a whim, making you wonder why on Earth this didn't arrive before you plunked down for a second handset. The mobile is supposedly going for anywhere between $100 to $1,000 (depending on model and "who you know on the inside"), but you'll have to trek to Indonesia, China or Africa in order to acquire one.

More dual-SIM wares on the way from Samsung

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 24th 2008 @ 9:31AM

As cool as the concept of the Samsung DuoS D880 might be, there's a big problem: it runs in the $700 range at retail. Russian site Smape recently sat down with Samsung's mobile chief for the region, and he plainly admitted that the high cost of the D880's admission is leaving out a large segment of the dual-SIM market -- folks who are looking to minimize costs by using different providers depending on who they're calling -- and the company's looking to address that in the second quarter by adding another DuoS model, the P240 candybar. The new piece is expected to cost 20 to 30 percent less than the D880 while still offering its most important feature -- the two SIM slots, that is -- along with Bluetooth, a microSD slot, and a 220 x 176 display. The rep also mentioned that a WinMo-powered DuoS is in the works for this year, and Symbian's on their radar as well -- though probably not before 2008's out. Samsung had previously shown a DuoS-based version of the Armani, too, but it looks like that's now off the table because they found that managing two SIMs proved difficult with a touchscreen; we personally think we could've managed, but whatevs.

[Via Unwired View]

No-key Nokia X-SIM: unlock your Nokia the iPhone way

by Chris Ziegler posted Feb 27th 2008 @ 9:05PM

It really doesn't look or sound any less shady than the iPhone version -- and the insistence that no refunds will be issued doesn't really help our confidence level any -- but yeah, the wizards at one-stop-china are claiming to have a version of their X-SIM that'll unlock DCT4, DCT4+, and BB5 Nokias, including modern Nseries models like the N95 and N95 8GB. All you've gotta do is part with precisely $31.69 and pair the device with your existing SIM to validate or disprove the claims.