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SimCard 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

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]

Adafruit's Citizen Engineer comic book / SIM card reader kit

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Jul 10th 2009 @ 4:16AM

The gang at Adafruit Industries are on a mission -- and they won't rest until every man, woman, and child on this planet has access to the DIY and open source electronics they crave. The most recent project of theirs, Citizen Engineer: SIM Card Hacking, is a comic book that both serves as a primer on GSM and SIM cards and tells you how to build a SIM card reader. And if that weren't awesome enough, if you purchase the title for $35 they'll throw in the reader kit -- either enabling your thirst for knowledge or jump-starting you on your path towards a new life as a hacker / fixer for the Russian Mafia. Video after the break.

Continue reading Adafruit's Citizen Engineer comic book / SIM card reader kit

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.

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]

Bonus cellphone found in bag of Aldi potato chips, charger unfortunately absent

by Tim Stevens posted Mar 2nd 2009 @ 10:07AM

When we were kids, a box of cereal wasn't worth eating if there wasn't a free toy buried in the bottom somewhere. Emma Schweiger of Janesville Township, Wisconsin has sadly forgotten those days, reacting in horror not joy when she found an unexpected free prize in her bag of potato chips purchased at Aldi. While rummaging through the greasy fragments she uncovered an aged Nokia handset, bereft of charge, covered in cholesterol, and sporting a T-Mobile SIM card. No address book has yet been retrieved to identify the phone's owner, but the discolored disc on the back where an adhesive belt clip had been applied is a pretty strong clue to how it came to its carb-laden cocoon. As for Schweiger, she's pledged to always pour her bag of chips into a bowl prior to eating -- which happens to also be the easiest way to get the toy out of a particularly unappealing box of cereal.

[Via Engadget Spanish]

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.

Gemalto embeds DVD-compliant optical disc into WIND SIM card

by Darren Murph posted Sep 15th 2008 @ 7:47AM

Movies on flash drives aren't looking like the next big thing, but Gemalto reckons its approach to getting DVD content on smaller surfaces is different enough to get noticed. In an admittedly bizarre release, the digital security firm has announced a new Smart Video Card for Italian carrier WIND, which "embeds a DVD-compliant optical disc into the card body of a regular SIM card." The card can store practically any digital content (including video, software or URLs) and can reportedly be played back on any DVD drive. So what, we buy a new SIM card each time we're looking for a new batch of miniaturized content? Fabulous!

[Via FashionFunky, thanks Bob]

AT&T says SIM-only service available contract free, 2-year plan was a mistake

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jan 22nd 2008 @ 2:16PM

Apparently, the news we got (and saw on the company's website) yesterday concerning AT&T's offer of a SIM-only service plan was off the mark... or so says AT&T. According to the telco's reps, a SIM card can be had sans-contract, saying that its attitude towards the service hasn't changed and that pre-paid, post-paid, or any other millions of varieties of arrangements can be made to tap into its sweet service. So move along folks, nothing here to see.

AT&T offers SIM-only service, attempts to maintain "most open" status

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jan 20th 2008 @ 7:31PM

It looks like all that shouting AT&T has been doing lately about its "openness" is starting to manifest itself in the way the company does business. It's come to our attention that the mobile telco has started offering a SIM-only plan, thus providing the ultimate in open options. The idea being, of course, that you can bring any random / crappy / salvaged GSM-compatible handset the provider's way, and it'll let you hook a towline onto its satellites. Of course, you could just get one of those cheapo giveaways and pop out the card, but this is so much more open and free, like San Francisco in '69, a car-less road, some land of your own, and a good old-fashioned whiskey on the rocks. Oh, you still have a sign a two-year agreement... enjoy your freedom!

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

Archos working on SIM card-equipped players?

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 14th 2007 @ 4:49PM

There's not a whole lot to go on here, but according to France's Challenges magazine, Archos is set to further expand its linup-up of players next year with some new SIM card-equipped models. While there's no indication that the devices will actually double as a phone, you will apparently be able to at least get in some 3G-enhanced web browsing, which would certainly be more convenient (albeit pricier) than tracking down WiFi hotspots each time you're out and about. Also according to Challenges, it seems that both France's SFR and Neuf-Cegetel are "starting to look very closely" at Archos' gear, although that's obviously still as up in the air as the rumored device itself.

[Via Archos Lounge, thanks JohnBe]

Infineon teams with Intel for high-density (HD) SIM cards

by Darren Murph posted Nov 13th 2007 @ 9:17AM

After buddying up with IBM earlier this year on a 32-nanometer semiconductor, Infineon is now teaming with none other than Intel to produce high-density (HD) SIM cards. Announced today at the Cartes Trade Show in Paris, the agreement will spark a "strategic technology collaboration" which will see Infineon producing modular chip solutions while Intel offers up memory capacities from 4MB to 64MB. More specifically, a 32-bit security microcontroller will be provided by Infineon, while the partnership's other half throws in its "leading-edge flash memory technologies, capabilities and manufacturing." Apparently, the HD SIM will play nice with "data-intensive mobile applications, services and over-the-air downloads" which are likely to become more pervasive in the coming years, and current market research shows that these very devices will account for "six- to eight-percent of the total SIM card market in 2010." As for availability, look for samples to land in Q2 of next year, but don't expect 'em to be manufactured en masse until the first half of 2009.

[Via EETimes]

BlueSky Positioning brings GPS down to SIM size

by Donald Melanson posted Apr 26th 2007 @ 3:45PM

BlueSky Positioning looks to have taken advantage of the altogether too cleverly-named SIMposium conference to trot out what is surely its biggest product to date: a complete GPS system embedded on a SIM card, The Register reports. Partly responsible for that shrinkage is the use of Assisted GPS (or A-GPS) instead of standard GPS, although they still had to contend with some serious power consumption challenges and the small matter of actually getting a signal. That was apparently accomplished by using the cellphone itself as a makeshift antenna, which supposedly provides just enough of a signal when the SIM card comes into contact with it. While its seems to have gotten the size right, BlueSky's SIM card does currently fall short in a few fey areas, failing to pass ISO tests for flexibility and robustness. That doesn't seem to be holding 'em back, however, with the first production samples reportedly on track for June.

Be safe, have two carriers on the go

by Brian White posted Feb 12th 2007 @ 7:26PM

Since Apple's iPhone announcement a little over a month ago, touch screen handsets have been popping up all over our radar screen. As touch screens bet more attention in 2007, the Eliya is a new entrant with an actual distinguishing feature apart from a touch screen and a smartphone operating system -- dual SIM support. There are little and unremarkable tricks to get two SIMs into most phones (yeah, we know many are kinda low-tech), but how about OEM support for two cards? If you're into having two GSM carriers -- maybe one for voice and one for data -- the Eliya will hook you up from the start. No carving into your previous SIMs so you can stick them somewhere in a single SIM slot. Ok, we saved the kicker for last -- this Eliya unit can support both SIMs at once -- and you can be registered on two separate systems as once as well. No switching between SIMs in your phone's menu. Dual registration on two GSM systems at the same time -- and it's only 2007.