cell phone terms | Mobile glossary

mobile terminology for user, about cell phone, carrier, and mobile features.i-e  IM, QWERTY, NFC, QUAD, GPS, WAP and more cell phone terms…

GSM  & CDMA:

GSM stand for Global System for Mobile Communications & CDMA: Code-Division Multiple Access.   Cell phones operate on either GSM technology or CDMA technology, are not compatible on each others networks. GSM is more prevailing in most other parts of the world, and especially in Europe. GSM phones use SIM cards.  The two major mobile phone technologies used in the U.S. Cingular and T-Mobile use GSM and Sprint and Verizon use CDMA. The purpose of cellular telephone network to support voice, data, text messaging and cross-border roaming. GSM is now one of the world’s main 2G digital wireless standards. GSM is present in more than 160 countries and according to the GSM Association, accounts for approximately 70 percent of the total digital cellular wireless market. GSM is a time division multiplex (TDM) system. Implemented on 800, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz frequency bands.

 UMTS:

Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service, part of the IMT-2000 initiative, is a 3G standard supporting a theoretical data through put of up to 2 Mbps. First trials started in 2001. It should be rolled out in most of the world by 2005.

 2G

In mobile telephony, second-generation protocols use digital encoding and include GSM, D-AMPS (TDMA) and CDMA. 2G networks are in current use around the world. These protocols support high bit rate voice and limited data communications. They offer auxiliary services such as data, fax and SMS.

3G

In mobile telephony, third-generation protocols support much higher data rates, measured in Mbps, intended for applications other than voice. 3G networks trials started in Japan in 2001. 3G networks are expected to be starting in Europe and part of Asia/Pacific by 2002, and in the US later. 3G will support bandwidth-hungry applications such as full-motion video, video-conferencing and full Internet access.

Dual band

Dual band mobile phones can work on networks that operate on different frequency bands. This is useful if you move between areas covered by different networks. Some networks operate on two bands, for instance GSM-1800 in town centers and GSM-900 in the rest of the country.

Quad-band:  A quad-band phone allows you to roam almost anywhere globally. It covers the 850 Mhz, 900 MHz, 1800 MHz and 1900 MHz frequency ranges.

Roaming:  It mean when you use a cell phone outside of your carriers service area You  are enjoying roaming series from your carrier.

Bluetooth
An open specification for seamless wireless short-range communications of data and voice between both mobile and stationary devices. For instance, it specifies how mobile phones, computers and PDAs interconnect with each other, with computers, and with office or home phones.

OS
Operating System: “OS” is now used to mean all software including kernel, device drivers, comms, graphics, data management, GUI framework, system shell application, and utility applications. This would define Windows, Palm OS and MacOS as operating systems. Symbian provides an operating system

Symbian OS

Symbian’s advanced open standard operating system for data enabled mobile phones. It includes a multi-tasking multithreaded core, a user interface framework, data services enablers, application engines and integrated PIM functionality and wireless communications

 GPRS

General Packet Radio Service: a radio technology for GSM networks that adds packet-switching protocols, shorter set-up time for ISP connections, and offer the possibility to charge by amount of data sent rather than connect time. GPRS promises to support flexible data transmission rates typically up to 20 or 30 Kbps (with a theoretical maximum

WAP:   Wireless Application Protocol: a set of communication protocol standards to make accessing online services from a mobile phone simple.

Wi-Fi:  is a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) technology. It primarily provides short-range wireless high-speed data connections between mobile data devices (such as laptops, PDAs or phones) and nearby Wi-Fi access points (special hardware connected to a wired network).

MMS:    Multimedia Messaging Service, a new version of SMS that is designed to be able to send photos, video and audio clips as well as text.

Mobile Instant Messaging:   is the ability to engage in Instant Messaging services from a mobile handset. Mobile IM allows users to address messages to others using a dynamic address book full of users with their online status updated constantly. That allows anyone participating to know when their “Friends” are available for chat.

The advantage of mobile IM is that messages are sent and received in real-time via mobile handsets on-the-go without a stationary computer. Mobile IM is seen as a natural evolution of the popular SMS service.  it is not always possible to use IM services between different operators.

Voice Activated Dialling:  A feature that allows the user to dial a telephone number by speaking.

AMOLED
AMOLED is one of two types of OLED display. The AM (active-matrix) type has a transistor next to each pixel, This makes AMOLED suitable for displaying video, OLED is used for main phone display.

IMAP:  Internet Message Access Protocol
An Internet protocol used to download messages from an email server to an email client (usually email software running on a PC or mobile device.  IMAP is a newer alternative to the POP protocol. Compared to POP, IMAP offers more intelligent handling of sent mail, organizing mail by folders and  checking your email from both your PC and a mobile device.

GPS:  Global Positioning System. A worldwide radio-navigation system which uses orbiting satellites to be able tell you your exact longitude and latitude. Some cellphones have GPS capabilities to help you locate where you are or map where you plan to go.

Geo-tagging:    Some phones with both a camera and GPS can record the precise location a photo was taken and automatically embed that location information into the photo file.
Some online photo services can read that data and display a map showing where a particular photo was taken.

NFC:  Near Field Communication
A technology standard for very-short-range wireless connectivity that enables quick, secure two-way interactions among electronic devices.
NFC technology typically takes the form of a small chip embedded in a phone or a plastic card (like a credit card). The phone or card is simply placed on or very near a reader device .
NFC is used most often for financial transactions, as a replacement for swiping or inserting a plastic card. In this way it can function as a credit card, debit card, transit pass, or any type of stored-value card.

QWERTY:

QWERTY is a standard layout for letter keys on text keyboards and thumboards.  On phones, the keys are usually much smaller and closer together. This means they cannot be used with two full hands like full-size keyboard, but rather are designed to be used with two thumbs while holding the phone.

VGA:
Video Graphics Array: standard screen size of 640 by 480 pixels. But Megapixel(mean 1 million pixel) is a unit for measuring image resolution the more pixels a snap become more clear.