http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and ... ll-1073744

'We need to keep charging people for essentially the same phone!'

So they're copying Samsung this time then ?

IME that would be '... essentially the same phone with the [LIFTED] interface and responses!'

Nokia went to the standards body last week to protest the Apple design - on technical grounds. The new SIM that the other manufacturers have worked on is just as small and has a different form factor the current micro SIM. The Apple variant, according to Nokia, could be stuck sideways into the existing slot.

That is one of the design restrictions the standards body has used until new, each new generation cannot be accidentally fit into the old slot.

The thing that immediately strikes me is.. how small do SIMS need to be? The current micro-sim is pretty damn small. Why do we need another form factor for sodding SIM cards?

I'm still using the same SIM card I got with my first phone in 1999.

My first SIM was the size of a credit card, and I don't mean it had a little break-out card. It was a full sized card.

Why are we using SIM cards at all? You could easily download the settings into the phone. I fail to see the need of them these days.

I think there's a value in a machanism that allows the number and contract to be easily transferrable to a new device without getting the carrier involved, but I see no reason at all for them getting smaller and smaller. IMO, you either hardly ever touch a SIM at all (in which case you don't care how big it is) or, if you're travelling abroad a lot say, you need to change them often, in which case being too small is just as bad as being too large...

If you didn't have the SIM, would it be easier for people to fake your phone's ID on the network and make calls at your expense?

In the old days you didn't have a sim. All the details were on the phone.
This meant your number was tied to your phone.
Having a sim means you can swap phones easily (providing you're on the same network/the phone is unlocked).

If you got rid of sim's then you'd be able to clone a phone by simply copying someone's backup file.
You'd also potentially need to go back to vendor specific handsets to ensure the settings were all on the phone (so you didn't need a computer to activate)

At the moment, I have a Sensation, a Mozart and an iPhone. I keep swapping between them. For that, I need a SIM...

Smaller SIMs mean smaller devices are possible. That said, how small do you want your phone to be?

My old Samsung x820 was too thin..... it kept snapping.
My older Nokia 8250 was too small (length/width).
So there are size limits. Strangly, modern smartphones seem to be getting bigger and bigger.

Is that a phone in your pocket or are you pleased to see me?


But really, I think larger phones are related to slimness obsession they seem to have, keeps the volume comparable which is needed for battery size. IMHO.

And screen size. There's an awful lot of marketing willy-waving in screen size.