Mobile Phone Glossary
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 support bandwidth-hungry
applications such as full-motion video, video-conferencing and full
Internet access.
AMPS
Advanced Mobile Phone System: a 1G standard which operates in the
800-900MHz-frequency band. It is still widely used in the United States.
Analog
The simple way to transmit speech, which is translated into electronic
signals of different frequency and/or amplitude. The first networks for
mobile phones, as well as broadcast transmissions, were analog. Due to
being longer established in some countries, analog networks may offer
better coverage than digital networks, however analog phones are less
secure and suffer more from interference where the signal is weak.
Analog systems include AMPS, NMT and ETACS.
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. The first generation of Bluetooth permits exchange of data up to
a rate of 1 Mbps per second, even in areas with much electromagnetic
disturbance. It transmits and receives via a short-range radio link
using a globally available frequency band (2.4 GHz ISM band).
bps
Bits per second: a way of quantifying data transmission throughput. It
is the number of pieces of information (bits) transmitted or received
per second.
CDMA
Code Division Multiple Access: a digital wireless telephony transmission
technique.
1. CDMA allows multiple frequencies to be used simultaneously (Spread
Spectrum). The CDMA idea was originally developed for military use over
30 years ago.
2. The CDMA standards used for second-generation mobile telephony are
the IS-95 standards championed by QUALCOMM.
Cellular Radio
The technology that has made large scale mobile telephony possible.
Current cellular networks reuse the same radio frequencies by assigning
them to cells far enough apart to reduce interference. A cell is the
geographical area covered by one radio base station
transmitting/receiving in the center. The size of each cell is
determined by the terrain, transmission power, and forecasted number of
users. Service coverage of a given area is based on an interlocking
network of cells, called a cell system.
Circuit-Switching
Means of creating a connection by setting up a dedicated end-to-end
circuit, which remains open for the duration of the communication.
CLDC
J2ME Connected Limited Device Configuration. The CLDC serves the market
consisting of personal, mobile, connected information devices. This
configuration includes some new classes designed specifically to fit the
needs of small-footprint devices.
Communicator
A generic name for information centric mobile phones. In effect a fully
featured personal digital assistant and mobile phone in one unit. The
Nokia 9210 Communicator is an example of such a Symbian OS phone.
Content Provider
A company that provides services to mobile phone users or network
operators. These services could be shopping, web surfing, chat rooms,
playing games, accessing data such as music and books through a server.
Crystal
Code-name for a half VGA reference design for Symbian OS.
D-AMPS
Digital AMPS (Digital-Advanced Mobile Phone Service) is the digital
wireless standard widely used throughout the Americas, Asia Pacific and
other areas. D-AMPS uses digital TDMA on the one hand, and is required
to be compatible with installed AMPS base station networks on the other.
D-AMPS operates on the 800 and 1900 MHz bands.
DCS 1800
Digital Communications System: another name for GSM working on a radio
frequency of 1800 MHz. Also known as GSM1800 or PCN, this digital
network operates in Europe and Asia Pacific.
Digital
A way of encoding information. On digital networks, data doesn't need to
go though the extra step of being converted to an analog signal, voice
is sampled and coded in a way similar to how it is recorded on a CD.
Digital networks are fast replacing analog ones as they offer improved
sound quality, secure transmission and can handle data directly as well
as voice. Digital networks include mobile systems GSM, D-AMPS, CDMA,
TDMA and UMTS.
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.
Dual mode
Dual mode mobile phones have more than one air interface and hence can
work on more than one network. One example is phones that operate on
both digital and analog networks. They are quite useful if you want the
advantages of a digital phone, but regularly visit areas where analog is
the only service available.
EDGE
Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution. An enhanced modulation technique
designed to increase network capacity and data rates in GSM networks.
EDGE should provide data rates up to 384 Kbps. EDGE let operators
without a 3G license to compete with 3G networks offering similar data
services.
FCT
Fixed Cellular Terminal - also known as : GSM Gateway, GSM Modem, GSM
Router, Mobile Gateway, channel bank, GSM channel Bank, ISDN GSM
Gateway, analogue GSM gateway.
Fixed Cellular Terminal
Mobile Device that allows fixed telephony devices such as PBX Telephone
Systems to connect directly to the GSM Mobile Phone Network - This may
be to allow PBX users to call colleages on their mobiles free of charge,
or call other mobile users at reduced rates (depending upon available
tariffs) - or for use in remote offices where no fixed line services are
available (eg building site / remote monitoring post) - for landline
substitution then Fixed Cellular Terminals are available that can
provide voice, fax and data over the GSM network.
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 of 171.2 Kbps), as well as continuous connection to the network.
A 2.5G enhancement to GSM, GPRS is the most significant step towards 3G,
needing similar business model, and service and network architectures.
GSM
Global System for Mobile communications, the most widely used digital
mobile phone system and the de facto wireless telephone standard in
Europe. Originally defined as a pan-European open standard for a digital
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.
GSM Gateway
A mobile phone device thats takes a single SIM card or multiple SIMS and
provides a telecoms interface - either Analogue (FXO/FXS) to allow
connection to Analogue trunk of a Telephone System (or to allow a
standard telephone to connect directly), ISDN Interfaces such as ISDN2e
and ISDN30 for connection to ISDN telephone systems and VOIP interfaces
to allow the gateway to connect to a Voice Over IP network. The GSM
Gateway enables these traditional telephony devices to connect directly
to the mobile phone network, usually providing the user with access to
cheaper call rates.
HSCSD
High Speed Circuit Switched Data: dedicated circuit-switched data
communications technology for GSM which boosts data throughput up to
14.4 Kbps in a single channel, and by aggregating channels, up to 57.6
Kbps. An asymmetrical service can be offered where, for instance, one
channel is allocated for the uplink and several are aggregated for the
downlink. HSCSD can provide a fixed bit rate (transparent mode) or a
variable one (non-transparent mode).
IrDA
1. A suite of protocols for infrared (IR) exchange of data between two
devices, up to 1 or 2 meters apart (20 to 30 cm for low-power devices).
IrDA devices typically have throughput of up to either 115.2 Kbps or 4
Mbps. IrDA protocols are implemented in Symbian OS phones, many PDAs,
printers and laptop computers.
2. The Infrared Data Association, the industry body that specifies IrDA
protocols, originally founded by Hewlett-Packard and others.
Java
Industry standard object-oriented language and virtual machine, invented
by Sun Microsystems and formally released in 1996. Java is an ideal
language for network applications and applets. Sun's Java specifications
include many Java APIs and platforms, including the JavaPhone API and
PersonalJava platform, which are included in Symbian OS.
J2ME
Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME): The edition of the Java platform
that is targeted at small, standalone or connectable consumer and
embedded devices. The J2ME technology consists of a virtual machine and
a set of APIs suitable for tailored runtime environments for these
devices. The J2ME technology has two primary kinds of components –
configurations and profiles.
JavaPhone
A Java API specification controlling contacts, power management, call
control, and phonebook management, intended specifically for the
programmability requirements of mobile phones.
JTAPI
The Java Telephony API is an extensible API that offers an interface to
all call control services (from those needed in a consumer device up to
those of call centers). JTAPI is part of the JavaPhone API.
Kernel
Core of an operating system, a kernel manages the machine's hardware
resources (including the processor and the memory), and provides and
controls the way any other software component can access these
resources. The kernel runs with a higher privilege than other programs
(so-called user-mode programs). The power and robustness of an OS's
kernel play a major role in shaping overall system design and
reliability.
MIDP
Mobile Information Device Profile. Set of Java APIs that is generally
implemented on the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC). It
provides a basic J2ME application runtime environment targeted at mobile
information devices, such as mobile phones and two-way pagers. The MIDP
specification addresses issues such as user interface, persistent
storage, networking, and application model.
Network operator
Company with a license to provide wireless telephony services.
OS
Operating System: historically, the minimal set of software needed to
manage a device's hardware capability and share it between application
programs. Practically, "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 – tailored for data-enabled mobile phones.
OPL
A BASIC-like programming language, for rapid application development,
used on Symbian OS.
Packet-switching
Technique whereby the information (voice or data) to be sent is broken
up into packets, of at most a few KB each, which are then routed by the
network between different destinations based on addressing data within
each packet. Use of network resources is optimized, as the resources are
needed only during the handling of each packet. This is an ideal model
for ad hoc data communication, and works well also for voice, video and
other streamed data. Mobile phones with packet-switched communication
appear to be "always connected" to the data network, whereas in the case
of circuit-switched connections, setup time takes around 30 seconds to
connect from a mobile phone to an ISP. Use of packet-switched network
can be charged according to the volume of data transferred and not to
any notion of time spent online.
PCN
Personal Communications Network: another name for GSM 1800 (it is also
known as DCS 1800). It is used in Europe and Asia Pacific.
PersonalJava
A Java platform optimized for the requirements and constraints of mobile
devices.
Platform
A set of technology, which acts as a foundation for real-world
applications, or higher-level platforms. Symbian OS includes C++ APIs, a
leading Java implementation, an application suite and integration with
wireless and other communications protocols.
Polyphonic Ringtones
Todays poly ringtones are almost as good as the original records, the
quality gets better all the time due to continuous improvement in mobile
phone audio technology. Most modern mobile phones with play 16 track
tunes. Whilst the early mobile phones that would only play monophonic
sounds are still around it is only a matter of time before all mobile
phone manufacturers produce handsets that play polyphonic tones.
Polytones sound good and most hits are available to be transmitted in
stereo to give up to 40 different notes playing at a time.
Quartz
Code-name for a tablet-like, quarter-VGA portrait screen size,
pen-based, reference design.
Reference design
User interface designs for Symbian OS delivered to Symbian licensees
Service provider
A company that provides mobile phone users with services and
subscriptions to mobile phone networks.
SIM
Subscriber Identity Module. The SIM card is the smart card inserted
inside all GSM phones. It identifies the user account to the network,
handles authentication and provides data storage for basic user data and
network information. It may also contain some applications that run on a
compatible phone (SIM Application Toolkit).
Smartphone
A generic name for voice centric mobile phones with information
capability.
SMS
Short Message Service: available on digital GSM networks allowing text
messages of up to 160 characters to be sent and received via the network
operator's message center to your mobile phone, or from the Internet,
using a so-called "SMS gateway" website. If the phone is powered off or
out of range, messages are stored in the network and are delivered at
the next opportunity.
Symbian Connect
The PC-based Symbian Connect is a system for data synchronization, file
management, printing via PC, application installation from a PC, and
other utility functions allowing Symbian OS phones to integrate
effectively with PC and server-based data.
Symbian Developer Network
The developers' support network for Symbian OS, where you will find all
the resources to enable you to develop world-class applications for
Symbian OS phones.
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.
SyncML
Synchronization Markup Language, an industry-wide effort to create a
single, common data synchronization protocol optimized for wireless
networks. SyncML's goal is to have networked data that support
synchronization with any mobile device, and mobile devices that support
synchronization with any networked data. The SyncML structured data
layer will use XML wherever appropriate. SyncML is intended to work on
transport protocols as diverse as HTTP, WSP (part of WAP) and OBEX, and
with data formats ranging from personal data (e.g. vCard & vCalendar) to
relational data and XML documents. The SyncML consortium was set up by
IBM, Nokia and Psion among others. Symbian is a sponsor of the SyncML
consortium.
Unicode
A 16-bit character encoding scheme allowing characters from Western
European, Eastern European, Cyrillic, Greek, Arabic, Hebrew, Chinese,
Japanese, Korean, Thai, Urdu, Hindi and all other major world languages,
living and dead, to be encoded in a single character set. The Unicode
specification also includes standard compression schemes and a wide
range of typesetting information required for worldwide locale support.
Symbian OS fully implements Unicode.
vCalendar
Defines a transport- and platform-independent format for exchanging
calendar and schedule information so that any vCalendar-compliant
application can send or receive calendaring and scheduling information
to or from any other vCalendar-compliant application. For instance,
users with mobile phones running vCalendar-aware applications can
schedule meetings automatically over an infrared link or via sending an
SMS.
vCard
Standard defining the format of an electronic business card. All devices
supporting vCard can exchange information such as phone numbers and
addresses. For instance a user with a vCard-aware phonebook application
on a handheld computer can easily transfer names and phone numbers to a
vCard-aware mobile phone.
VGA
Video Graphics Array: “standard” screen size of 640 by 480 pixels.
WCDMA
Wide-band CDMA: a CDMA protocol originated by NTT DoCoMo and now adopted
for third-generation use by ETSI in Europe. WCDMA supports very
high-speed multimedia services such as full-motion video, Internet
access and video conferencing.
WAP
1. Wireless Application Protocol: a set of communication protocol
standards to make accessing online services from a mobile phone simple.
2. WAP was conceived by four companies: Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia, and
Unwired Planet (today called Phone.com). The WAP Forum is an industry
association with over 200 members. Symbian is a full member of the WAP
Forum.
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