retroremakes
February 2nd, 2010, 18:40
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/02/500x_appletabletb529.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/02/appletabletb529.jpg)One of the new bits of iPad viscera announced by Steve Jobs, besides the A4 chip, is that it's using a micro-SIM card for its 3G powers. What, pray tell, is a micro-SIM card?
http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/02/500x_simmmy.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/02/simmmy.jpg)It's the next generation of SIM card (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-SIM)—3FF or third form factor—which is physically smaller, with less blubber around the shiny gold contact area, as you'll notice in this helpful picture from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-SIM). The contact area, where the technobloop happens, is the same size, so it's backward-compatible with a physical adapter. But it fits in more stuff! Like a bigger internal phonebook that'll has room for emails, and a new authentication scheme that fights carrier spoofing.
Because it's the same size and stuff electrically, there's a chance you'll be able to shave down regular old SIM cards—so they'll physically fit in the slot—and use them in a micro SIM slot. Though we'll see how well that works when we get our hands on some stuff—like an iPad—to play with. [PC Mag (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358489,00.asp), Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/micro-sims-can-probably-be-fashioned-from-shaved-down-sims/#comments)]
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http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/02/500x_simmmy.jpg (http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2010/02/simmmy.jpg)It's the next generation of SIM card (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-SIM)—3FF or third form factor—which is physically smaller, with less blubber around the shiny gold contact area, as you'll notice in this helpful picture from Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro-SIM). The contact area, where the technobloop happens, is the same size, so it's backward-compatible with a physical adapter. But it fits in more stuff! Like a bigger internal phonebook that'll has room for emails, and a new authentication scheme that fights carrier spoofing.
Because it's the same size and stuff electrically, there's a chance you'll be able to shave down regular old SIM cards—so they'll physically fit in the slot—and use them in a micro SIM slot. Though we'll see how well that works when we get our hands on some stuff—like an iPad—to play with. [PC Mag (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2358489,00.asp), Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/02/micro-sims-can-probably-be-fashioned-from-shaved-down-sims/#comments)]
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