Mobile Phones Glossary

SAR

2008-11-16T23:00:00.000-08:00

The SAR, or specific absorption rate, of a mobile phone is the amount of RF energy it exposes its user to. In the United States, mobile phones need to have a SAR rating of 1.6 watts per kilogram (W/kg) or less. In Europe, the limit is 2 W/kg. While there have been plenty of studies that conclude that phone based RF radiation is harmful, there are an equal amount that find the opposite to be true. In any event, a device with a lower SAR rating will pose less of a risk than one with a higher rating.

S90

2008-11-07T05:22:00.000-08:00

S90, previously known as Series 90, is the software platform that Nokia runs on top of the Symbian OS in its 77xx series of touchscreen enabled multimedia devices. Nokia has announced that S90's functionality will likely be folded into the S60 platform, and that S90 will cease to be developed.

OLED

2008-11-02T13:50:00.000-08:00

OLED is a newer display technology that creates displays that are less power hungry than existing LCD technologies. OLED displays are more efficient than LCD displays because OLED pixel sites use organic materials that produce their own light, removing the need for a backlight. Currently OLED devices are still somewhat prone to performance degradation over time, which is one of the reasons they have not replaced LCD displays on a wide scale in mobile devices.

SMTP

2008-10-09T06:01:00.000-07:00

SMTP is short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, an application protocol used to send mail from one user to another. it is the standard for email transmission used on the Internet. SMTP does not provide a method for an end user to read email, rather it simply makes sure that the mail gets to the user's home mail server.

NTT DoCoMo

2008-10-03T10:47:00.000-07:00

NTT DoCoMo is Japan's largest wireless network carrier. They offer 2G PDC service and were the first in the world to offer 3G service with their WCDMA based FOMA network. The company is the developer and licensor of the i-mode internet browsing system for mobile phones.

MMC

2008-09-20T03:58:00.000-07:00

MultiMediaCard is a flash memory card format introduced in the late 1990s. It is the precursor of the much more popular SD card. It is not used often today.

Memory Stick Micro

2008-09-01T22:42:00.000-07:00

Memory Stick Micro, commonly referred to as M2, is a small fingernail sized memory card format that is part of Sony's Memory Stick family. The cards measure about 15mm x 13mm in size, which is about the same as the competing microSD card format. M2 cards can be used in slots meant for larger format Memory Stick cards through the use of an adapter. The format can support capacities of up to 32GB in size.

S40

2008-08-21T08:18:00.000-07:00

S40 is the platform that Nokia runs on its feature phone handset models. Unlike S60, it does not run on top of the Symbian OS, but rather runs on a fully proprietary system. Formerly known as Series 40, the system generally only allows the user to install Java based applications instead of the native applications that can be installed by users of S60 devices.

Latency

2008-08-16T16:39:00.000-07:00

From a mobile phone perspective, latency generally refers to the time that passes between when an action is requested and when it actually occurs. Examples of such are network latency and PTT latency.

kbps

2008-08-05T22:34:00.000-07:00

A measure of bandwidth meaning 1000 bits per second. Not to be confused with kBps (upper case B), which means 1000 bytes per second.

DVB-H

2008-07-15T00:41:00.000-07:00

DVB-H is the European standard for digital broadcast television for mobile devices. It stands for Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld, and is a variant of the DVB-T ("Terrestrial) standard that was defined for non-mobile devices. As of 2007 there were live DVB-H trials running in many European countries as well as a number of countries elsewhere in the world. Also known as: "Digital Video Broadcast - Handheld"

CTIA

2008-07-15T00:37:00.000-07:00

The CTIA is an non-profit organization that supports the wireless industry in the United States. They loby the government on behalf of the industry as well as put on industry shows like the CTIA Wireless show in the spring and the CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment show that takes place in the fall. CTIA officially stands for Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, but the group refrains from using the long form of its name these days.

carrier

2008-07-14T00:29:00.000-07:00

Carrier is a term commonly used in the United States and Canada to refer to a company that provides voice or data services. Carriers can be companies that operate wirelessly or over traditional wired land lines. Examples of such are T-Mobile, Verizon, Comcast, and Time Warner. Also known as: "network carrier", "wireless carrier"

Bluetooth Special Interest Group

2008-07-14T00:26:00.000-07:00

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group, or SIG, is the governing body that controls the official specifications of the Bluetooth wireless technology. This not-for-profit entity is comprised of over 7000 member companies. The SIG itself does not manufacture any Bluetooth devices, it is merely the entity that defines the specification. Also known as: "Bluetooth SIG"

BenQ

2008-07-14T00:24:00.000-07:00

BenQ is a Taiwanese electronics manufacturer that creates products ranging from DVD burners to monitors and digital cameras. The company also manufactures mobile phones for the Asian market, and had plans for expansion into the world market with its acquisition of Siemens Mobile, allowing it to form BenQ Siemens. The Munich based BenQ Siemens Mobile venture failed to become successful, filing for bankruptcy in 2006. BenQ has once again pulled back into serving primarily its home Asian market.

AVRCP

2008-07-14T00:18:00.000-07:00

The Audio/Video Remote Control Profile is a Bluetooth profile that allows Bluetooth devices to control media playback on remote devices. It is typically used with A2DP devices for next/previous track selection and pause/play functions. Also known as: "Audio/Video Remote Control Profile"

Bandwidth

2008-07-13T00:21:00.000-07:00

The amount of data that can be sent over a given network connection. Used to describe the "speed" of a connection between two devices.

AWS

2008-07-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

AWS, which stands for Advanced Wireless Services, generally refers to the 1700/2100MHz frequency band pairing in the U.S. that will be used for T-Mobile USA's 3G UMTS network. Unlike typical spectrum licenses sold by the U.S. government, such as the 1900MHz PCS spectrum bands, the AWS bands use different frequency ranges for cell towers than they do for handsets. The U.S. government has indicated that it intends to offer other paired AWS bands in the future, but none are currently in use. Also known as: "Advanced Wireless Services"

Active Matrix

2008-07-13T00:13:00.000-07:00

Active matrix LCD displays are known for their superior performance when compared with passive matrix LCD technologies. From the user's perspective, an active matrix display has higher contrast and better color saturation than do the cheaper passive matrix displays. Most active matrix LCDs are of the TFT type.

4G (Fourth Generation)

2008-07-13T00:10:00.000-07:00

4G is the term used to refer to the next wave of as yet unknown mobile technologies that will be used to replace current 3G networks. It is expected that WiMAX will be one of the favored 4G technologies.

AMOLED

2008-07-09T02:40:00.000-07:00

AMOLED, which stands for Active Matrix OLED, is a hybrid display technology that pairs the active matrix backplane from a traditional TFT display with an OLED display. As a result of their active matrix natures, AMOLED displays have faster pixel switching response times than do traditional OLED displays, which are prone to ghosting when displaying fast moving animations.

PalmSource

2008-07-09T02:38:00.000-07:00

PalmSource is the operating system division of Palm that was spun off in 2002. Palm then renamed itself palmOne, but has since renamed itself once again back to Palm. In 2004 PalmSource acquired China MobileSoft, a Chinese company that was developing a version of the Linux OS for mobile devices. PalmSource then announced that the next version of the Palm OS would run on top of Linux, and that the upcoming Palm OS 6 (aka Cobalt) OS would be killed off. PalmSource was since purchased by ACCESS in 2005, and in late 2007 dropped Palm from its name completely, now calling itself ACCESS, like its parent. In January 2007 ACCESS announced that it was dropping the Palm OS name for its OS offering and would instead call it the Garnet OS. Garnet was the codename for Palm OS v5.

2G (Second Generation)

2008-07-09T02:31:00.000-07:00

2G is short for Second Generation, the name usually given to original GSM, CDMA, and TDMAnetworks. 1G, a term rarely used, would refer to the original analog (AMPS) type mobile networks first used in the early 1980s.

MMS

2008-06-15T22:56:00.000-07:00

The MMS specification allows for the creation of messages sent from one mobile phone to another that can contain text, pictures, audio, and video that can be optionally organized into slides in a presentation. Unlike SMS and EMS, the MMS system relies on 2.5G, or newer, data connectivity technologies such as GPRS and 1xRTT. As such, the configuration required for its use is often far more complicated than that of SMS. CDMA based networks and devices, such as those offered by Verizon Wireless and Sprint in the USA, generally do not support the full gamut of MMS functionality, and often offer what is simply called Picture Messaging. Such services typically function similar to email in that pictures and videos are merely attached to a text based message instead of integrated into a full presentation.

S80

2008-06-14T18:20:00.000-07:00

S80, previously known as Series 80, is the software platform that Nokia runs on top of the Symbian OS for its 9000 series of communicator devices. Nokia has announced that S80's functionality will be folded into the S60 platform, and that S80 will cease to be developed.