SAR

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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)

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

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

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)

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

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

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.

Nokia

Based in Espoo, Finland, Nokia is the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones. Nokia focuses on UMTS and GSM handsets and produces relatively few CDMA handsets. At one time the company had agreed to spin off its CDMA business into a joint venture with Japan's Sanyo, a major manufacturer of CDMA handsets, in order to strengthen its position in the North American market. That deal eventually fell through. Currently Nokia rebadges some phone models produced by Korea's Pantech as Nokia devices for Verizon Wireless in the United States.

Symbian

Symbian Ltd is the software firm that develops and licenses the Symbian OS. Originally spun off from Psion, a maker of PDA devices, the company now focuses on its operating system products. The company is jointly owned by Nokia, Ericsson, Matsushita (AKA Panasonic), Siemens, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung. Motorola was previously a shareholder, but it sold its shares to Psion and Nokia. Nokia later acquired Psion's shares and is now the largest shareholder in the company.

Memory Stick Duo

Memory Stick Duo is a small flash memory card format developed by Sony and based on the original Memory Stick format. An updated version, Pro Duo, was later released that allowed for larger capacities and faster transfer rates than the original. Duo and Pro Duo cards measure 31mm x 20mm in size.

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)

A liquid crystal display, typically referred to as an LCD, is a flat display technology that uses electrodes and polarizing filters to selectively enable or disable pixels of light to pass from a backlight or reflective backing to the eyes of the viewer. Color displays have 3 such sites per pixel, each with a red, green, or blue color filter, which allows the display to create any number of colors. Most LCD displays used with mobile phones are of the active matrix variety, but some older displays still make use of passive matrix designs. In the future, LCD technology might be displaced in mobile devices by OLED display technology.

Java

Java is an object oriented programming language developed by Sun Microsystems that allows compiled applications to be run on many different and otherwise incompatible platforms through the use of a Java compatible engine developed for each specific platform. Java's mantra is "Write once, run anywhere", which is largely true. Various levels of device capabilities exist, though, requiring the creation of the MIDP 1 and MIDP 2 Java profiles. MIDP 2 applications, which are more powerful, will not run on a MIDP 1 device.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol)

The Internet Message Access Protocol is a network protocol that allows a compatible mail client to access email messages and message folders that are stored on a central mail server. Unlike POP3, which retrieves messages from the server to be read, IMAP clients leave the actual message stored on the server. Additionally, an IMAP server tracks the state of a given message, so that a message that is read and responded to on a mobile device will show on a desktop client as having been read and responded to. This advantage is why IMAP is often used by business users and those that make use of mobile devices to read email. Version 4 of the IMAP protocol is the one most commonly in use today.

IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)

An IMEI is a serial number that uniquely identifies a GSM or UMTS mobile phone. Typically 15 digits long, the IMEI code is broken into sections that provide information about a phone, such as its manufacturer, to the mobile network that the phone is connected to. IMEI numbers of stolen devices are blacklisted in some countries so that the phone can not easily be used by a thief. CDMA's new MEID identifier system is compatible with the existing IMEI structure.

GPS (Global Positioning System)

The Global Positioning System is a series of satellites owned by the US government that broadcasts signals that GPS receivers on the surface of the planet can use to determine position through triangulation. The term GPS is often used to refer to a GPS receiver, such as those used in cars and sometimes found in mobile phones.

GPRS (General Packet Radio Service)

GPRS is a wireless data standard used on GSM networks. It offers theoretical data rates as high as 120kbps on the downlink side, but real world speeds are typically significantly slower.

UMA (GAN, Generic Access Network, Unlicensed Mobile Access)

Unlicensed Mobile Access is a technology that allows a UMA capable mobile phone to seamlessly switch back and forth between mobile phone networks and local wireless networks. WiFi and Bluetooth are commonly used for the local wireless part of the system. Simply possessing a UMA capable phone does not mean that a subscriber can make use of UMA services since the system requires back-end support from the carrier. UMA is particularly useful in remote areas where mobile phone coverage is poor, as well as inside of buildings where the network signal might not be able to penetrate building walls. In the US, T-Mobile was the first carrier to start offering UMA services. UMA has been officially ratified by the 3GPP and has been renamed GAN, or Generic Access Network, though most often the technology is still referred to by the UMA name.

Focal Length

The focal length of a lens determines how much magnification it provides. A lens with a shorter focal length will be able to "see" a wider view of a subject than can a lens with a longer focal length, which would see a narrower view of the scene, but at a higher level of magnification. Whether a lens seems to be a wide angle or telephoto lens depends on the size of the image sensor it is used with. As a result, one can not say that a given 15mm lens is wide, or that a 200mm lens is telephoto in nature since the size of the image sensor is not known. When speaking of lenses used on 35mm film systems, 35mm of focal length or less is typically considered wide, and 80mm or longer is generally considered telephoto. Digital cameras often refer to their lenses as being "equivalent" to a particular 35mm film camera lens in focal length to give people an idea as to how wide or telephoto it acts when paired with that particular camera's sensor.

Aperture (f-number, f-stop)

The aperture of a lens system is the opening between the actual lens elements, typically made of glass or plastic, and the camera's digital sensor that translates the light into image data. Aperture openings are referred to in terms of stops or f-stops that equate to the ratio of the lens focal length to the diameter of the opening. A lens system with a focal length of 50mm and an aperture opening that is 25mm in diameter would equate to an f-stop of 2, and would be known as a 50mm f2 lens. Some lenses have variable apertures that can be set to one of multiple f-stop values. Reducing the aperture size decreases the amount of light that makes it to the sensor as well as increases the amount of depth of field that the lens will provide.

ESN (Electronic Serial Number)

An ESN is a numeric identifier that uniquely identifies a CDMA phone in the United States. The ESN can typically be found written underneath a phone's battery and is generally written in both decimal and hexadecimal versions. The ESN is what a CDMA network uses to identify a phone and determine which subscriber's account, if any, it is linked to. Because of this, when switching from one phone to another, subscribers will have to provide the ESN of the new phone to the network carrier before it can be activated. This can often be done at the carrier's website. The ESN is slowly being phased out in favor of the MEID, a longer number that is compatible with the IMEI system used in GSM and UMTS phones. This is happening because phone manufacturers are literally running out of ESN identifiers.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line, Digital Subscriber Loop)

DSL is a group of networking technologies that allow for WAN connections over existing telephone network wires. Originally short for Digital Subscriber Loop, DSL is more commonly referred to today as Digital Subscriber Line. Loop refers to the short-haul connection between the end user's home or business and the local telephone company office where the DSL equipment resides. Line is merely a friendlier term that more people would understand than loop. When people refer to DSL, they generally are referring to ADSL, the most commonly used of DSL technologies.

Direct Push

Direct Push is Microsoft's Push Email system for pushing email, contacts, appointments, and tasks to a mobile device in real time.

DMB (Digital Multimedia Broadcasting)

DMB stands for Digital Multimedia Broadcasting and is a suite of systems used to send television and similar media programming over the air to mobile devices. S-DMB is a version that makes use of satellites, while T-DMB uses terrestrial (ground based) transmitters. While it is running in trials in other countries, including some European ones, it is primarily used only in South Korea.

EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution)

EDGE is a data system used on top of GSM networks that provides faster data speeds than GPRS, the technology it makes obsolete. It has a theoretical maximum downlink data rate of nearly 475Kbps, which qualifies it as a 3G technology based on ITU guidelines, even if typical implementations are configured for non-3G speeds. Generally, it is referred to as 2.75G.

Dual-band

Dual-band refers to a device's ability to function on two different frequency bands. Many CDMA devices sold in North America are dual-band capable. Dual-band CDMA devices tend to offer better roaming inside of North America. Generally speaking, a dual-band GSM device sold in a non-North American market will not function in North America. Likewise, a North American dual-band GSM phone will not function in Europe and most other parts of the world. This is because North America uses two different GSM bands than do Europe and most of the rest of the world. GSM users that wish to travel internationally should look at a tri-band or quad-band device.

Dual-mode

Dual-mode devices are capable of supporting more than one network type. Examples of such are those that support both CDMA and AMPS, CDMA and GSM, or CDMA and iDEN.

DRM (Digital Rights Management)

Digital Rights Management, more commonly referred to simply as DRM, is a system that allows use of protected media to be restricted. DRM systems are most commonly found in music files and can be used to restrict the number of times a file is moved from one media player to another, or to restrict the number of times or period of time that a file can be played back. DRM is also commonly found on video media. A wide variety of different DRM systems exist today, including Apple's FairPlay and Microsoft's Windows Media DRM 10.

Windows Mobile

Windows Mobile is Microsoft's platform for PDAs and smartphones. Windows Mobile 5 is the successor to the 2003 edition of the platform. Windows Mobile 6, codenamed "Crossbow", is the release slated for the Spring of 2007. The platform generally comes in 3 flavors: Pocket PC, Pocket PC Phone Edition, and Smartphone. Pocket PC (PPC) is for PDA devices, PPC Phone Edition is for PDAs with phone functionality, and Smartphone is for devices that lack a touch screen and are more phone-centric in functionality.

Bluetooth profile

In order for two (or more) Bluetooth devices to be able to work together to accomplish a given task, such as file sharing, they need to both support the appropriate profiles. The Bluetooth SIG has defined countless profiles, such as Headset, A2DP Stereo, OBEX File Exchange, to name just a few. This is why devices such as Bluetooth keyboards are generally not usable with mobile phones - most mobile phones do not support the necessary HID Bluetooth profile.

A-GPS (Assisted GPS)

Assisted GPS is a system commonly found in CDMA mobile phones in the US that offloads some of the processing requirements of a typical GPS receiver to a central server that can perform the calculations much more quickly. This allows the A-GPS receiver to work on devices with less computing resources than would be possible otherwise. A-GPS received a boost when the US government required mobile phones to support the E911 emergency calling system, which requires the callers location to be known.

Autofocus (AF)

Autofocus refers to a camera lens' ability to adjust its configuration in order to focus properly on a subject regardless of whether it is near or far from the camera. Autofocus lenses generally provide vastly superior image quality than do their fixed focus cousins since they do not have to rely on their depth of field.

CSTN (Color Super-Twisted Nematic)

Color super-twisted nematic (CSTN) is the type of passive matrix LCD used by many early color capable mobile devices, and is still used on some current and cheaper devices. CSTN displays are prone to ghosting, or streaking, when images on the display change quickly, and offer relatively poor contrast and color saturation.

CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)

CDMA stands for code division multiple access, a form of multiplexing that is based on mathematics rather than time slicing (used by TDMA) or frequency hopping. The term is commonly used to refer to phone networks that make use of this form of multiplexing, such as those run in the United States by Verizon, Sprint, and Alltel. CDMA phone networks make use of 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, and 1xEV-DV for data transfer. The core CDMA technology was developed by Qualcomm.

Palm OS

Palm OS is the operating system used on the Palm Pilot and Treo lines of PDAs and smartphones sold by Palm, as well as those sold by many other companies, including Sony. ACCESS, the company that absorbed PalmSource, has renamed the product to be the Garnet OS. Palm, the hardware company, formerly palmOne, currently has a license that allows it to further develop Palm OS 5, which was commonly referred to by its development codename of Garnet. The original planned successor of Palm OS 5 was Cobalt (Palm OS 6). Cobalt has since been killed off in favor of a future system that runs on top of a mobile Linux OS.

CSD (Circuit-Switched Data)

CSD, or Circuit-Switched Data, was a system used on early GSM networks to provide data access to mobile devices by allowing them to place a data call. CSD was capable of uplink and downlink rates of up to 9.6kbps. Later replaced by the faster HSCSD variant, circuit-switched data on wireless networks were eventually made completely obsolete by packet based networks such as GPRS and EDGE.

AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone System)

North America's AMPS and its variants used elsewhere in the world are the antiquated analog cellular phone networks used before the advent of digital technologies such as GSM and CDMA. AMPS was first used in North America in the early 1980s and is still used today, though mostly in rural areas.

CCD (Charge-Coupled Device)

A CCD is a type of image sensor used in digital cameras. When speaking of low cost devices, CCD image sensors tend to provide better image quality than comparable CMOS models, though they require more power to utilize. As such, devices such as mobile phones tend to use CMOS sensors. Further refinements of CMOS image sensor technology will likely lead to CCD technology eventually being abandoned as far as cameras are concerned.

A2DP

The Advanced Audio Distribution Profile is a Bluetooth profile that allows for the wireless transmission of stereo audio from an A2DP source (typically a phone or computer) to an A2DP receiver (a set of Bluetooth headphones or stereo system). Such devices typically also support the AVRCP profile as well in order to allow for track selection and such. A common misconception is that A2DP support is available on all Bluetooth 2.0 devices, which is not the case, and that A2DP is only available on Bluetooth 2.0 devices, which is also not true. A2DP support can exist in older versions of Bluetooth, it just was not commonly supported.

WiMAX

WiMAX is a wireless technology put forth by the WiMAX Forum that is considered by many to be the likely technology to be used as the basis of future 4G applications. It can be used in both point to point and WAN type configurations such as those used by 2G and 3G mobile network carriers. Its formal name is IEEE standard 802.16.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a wireless technology developed by Ericsson that is designed to be a cable replacement. It operates on the 2.4GHz frequency band, like WiFi, and is officially known as IEEE standard 802.15.1. It is most commonly used with wireless headsets and car kits, but can also be used for network access, moving files from one device to another, or with wireless input devices such as a mouse and keyboard - among many other uses. These other uses are dependent on the Bluetooth profiles that are supported by the devices in question. There are multiple versions of the Bluetooth specification in use, and in order for full functionality to be possible, the devices on both sides of a connection must be of the same version. This is not to say that a Bluetooth 1.1 headset, for example, will not work with a Bluetooth 2.0 phone - it will. It is only to say that in order to enjoy the benefits of Bluetooth 2.0's features, such as faster connection times, a Bluetooth 2.0 (or later) headset would have to be used.

802.11b

IEEE standard 802.11b defines a Wireless LAN (WLAN) technology that is capable of achieving up to 11Mbps of bandwidth between two devices. It is part of the 802.11 group of technologies that define WiFi.

WiFi (Wi-Fi)

A brand of wireless LAN (WLAN) technologies defined by the IEEE 802.11 group of standards. The two WiFi standards most commonly used by personal computers and mobile devices, such as phones, are 802.11b and 802.11g.

3G (Third Generation)

3G, or Third Generation, is a somewhat generic term for network technologies that the ITU classifies as part of their IMT-2000 specification. Generally, wireless network technologies must be able to provide a mobile device with a downlink connection speed of 384kbps in order to be considered a 3G technology. The most used 3G technologies are WCDMA, CDMA 1xEV-DO, and, technically, EDGE and CDMA 1xRTT.

EV-DO

Commonly known simply as EV-DO, CDMA 1xEV-DO is a 3G technology add-on for CDMA networks that allows for theoretical download speeds as fast as 2.4576Mbps, though actual rates tend to be far slower. Originally known as CDMA Evolution Data Only, EV-DO is today generally regarded as standing for Evolution Data Optimized for what are likely marketing purposes. 1xEV-DV (Evolution Data Voice) is the technology that was originally destined to handle the future 3G voice and data needs of CDMA networks, but has failed to catch on in North America. Instead, 1xEV-DO Rev A has been developed, which allows for faster uplink speeds than the original EV-DO spec, which relies on the older, and much slower, 1xRTT system for uplink connections.