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Smaller SIM Format Standardized
New submitter mk1004 writes "ETSI members have approved a new, smaller SIM format. 'The fourth form factor (4FF) card will be 40% smaller than the current smallest SIM card design, at 12.3mm wide by 8.8mm high, and 0.67mm thick. It can be packaged and distributed in a way that is backwards compatible with existing SIM card designs. The new design will offer the same functionality as all current SIM cards.' Nokia is not happy about the decision, as they believe their version was superior, but they say they're prepared to license the patents essential to the standard."
The new design, being really similar to the old one, also means that Nokia holds the patents for it already.
That is what Nokia is saying they are licensing out, that they were threatening not to allow licensing of before... but they will go along to move the mobile industry forward.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Luckily, no one in their right mind handles these things more than once a year.
I wish. Let me know when you can get reasonable rates world-wide with a single SIM card.
Finally! A year of moderation! Ready for 2019?
If given the choice between an ever shrinking SIM card versus the alternative of getting on my hands and knees and begging the CDMA provider to allow my handset on their network, I'll take the SIM card.
Say I find a cool phone from overseas. GSM, I can use it here in the US, although I likely will get stuck with EDGE speeds. Overseas, CDMA providers use R/UIM cards (functionally identical to SIM cards). A CDMA provider here in the US would laugh and tell me where to stuff the phone, since they likely wouldn't allow any device near their network they didn't sell.
It also works the other way around. An unlocked iPhone that has dual radios can go for a world tour and generally find GSM access. A CDMA device that doesn't have a GSM secondary radio would be pretty much a neutered PDA outside CONUS.