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Handhelds Wireless Networking Hardware Technology

Open Standards for Cell Phone Components 139

Posted by timothy from the snap-together dept.
PoisonousPhat writes "STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, Nokia and ARM have formed the Mobile Industry Processor Interface Alliance (MIPI), who seek to define open standards for cell phone components. Forget that expensive camera phone, just plug in a third-party device." Update: 07/30 18:13 GMT by T : Thanks to Alain Mellan for the link to STMicroelectronics.
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Open Standards for Cell Phone Components More

Open Standards for Cell Phone Components

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  • Why? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by vasqzr ( 619165 ) <vasqzr@@@netscape...net> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @08:57AM (#6570158)

    I bet it will be like PC standards are. Nobody really conforms to all of them, 100%. Plus, there are so many standards, you're not gauranteed anything.

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Lazar Dobrescu ( 601397 )
      Well, a standard to which nobody comforms 100% to, but at least brings everybody a little closer together, is way better than no standard at all.

      It is true that for computers, standard have a long history of not being very well followed. Nevertheless, they have played a major role in the speed at which the computer field has evolved since it started. Not only that, but they also are the main reason why we can now so easily share information on the internet(although some would say too much information, but

      • Re:Why? (Score:1, Funny)

        by Anonymous Coward
        although some would say too much information

        Well that depends on whether you classify porn as information ;)

    • Re:Why? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Urkki ( 668283 )
      Which standards do you mean that nobody conforms to? ISA? PCI? IDE? SCSI? PCMCIA? USB? ATX boards? Monitor cables? Keyboard layout?

      My general impression is that such standards are adhered to rather strictly. Or at least, any product that isn't quite compatible doesn't sell / gets returned to the store, and disappears from the marketplace very very fast.

      • ASCII, UNICODE? English? [theonion.com]
        Very little research shows that standardization of all kinds promotes the general welfare, though some non-standard implementations are amusing.

        • Very little research shows that standardization of all kinds promotes the general welfare

          Yeah, well common sense says that, once a platform is mature enough that people actually have a concrete idea of what it is, that standard components lower cost and improve reliability. In other words, cellphones are small enough that we can think about hardware interop standards.

      • Or at least, any product that isn't quite compatible doesn't sell / gets returned to the store, and disappears from the marketplace very very fast.

        Not necessairly, a few short years ago it was impossible to buy a Dell, Compaq, HP or any other big name PC producer without having everything put right on the motherboard. Sure, they all had ISA,PCI,SCSI,VGA cables and PS2 connectors for keyboard and mouse. However, they hardly had an ATX or even AT motherboard. SOme even had the processors and RAM builtin
        • You speak as if that's in the past. The big OEMs still do it, particularly for high volume budget systems where the margins are slim and saving a few bucks on manufacturing each unit outweighs the fixed cost of having to design custom hardware. Still, this is primarily a motherboard layout problem and the other standards mentioned are still followed.
          • Very true, but the amount of systems sold like has gone down. A few years ago, I started noticing more standard form factor stuff starting to pop up.
    • Yes and open standards are cool but open doc is *much* more better.
      For example, it's impossible to find decent documentation about Texas Instruments OMAP 1510 processors (ARM core+ TI DSP) which is found in some Palm PDAs !

      TI, I want open/free documentation ! Not pseudo open standards !
      • A good bit of OMAP documenation [ti.com] is already available on the web.

        (An AC already posted this in reply to this comment, but I think it deserves more visability)

        What do you think is lacking in this documentation? They give you CodeComposer, have a device driver writing guide, give you the instruction set, etc.

        I haven't used these particular documents myself, but have been pretty happy with other TI documentation.

    • huh? (Score:3, Insightful)

      by twitter ( 104583 )
      I bet it will be like PC standards are. Nobody really conforms to all of them, 100%

      Microsoft has given you low expectations.

      pcmcia, compact flash, ISA and PCI all work great. I really like the fact that I can take my CF from my camera to my laptop or my PDA. The M$DOS file system may not have been free, but it's well known enough to have outlived Microsoft's use of it and will live on after they abandon it for their patented file systems. I also like the fact that CF can easily be used as an IDE drive a

  • I need a charge (Score:5, Interesting)

    by maroon_dog ( 577536 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @08:57AM (#6570159)
    I been wanting a standard interface just for recharging. I hate buying new recharging equipment (desktop, cigarette lighter, etc.) every time I get a new phone. I also hate buying multiple versions of charging equipment for the multiple cell phones in my household.

    • Re:I need a charge (Score:5, Informative)

      by JediTrainer ( 314273 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:11AM (#6570275)
      I got tired of buying the car charger every time I got a new phone. My solution? Get a cheap inverter (I got a 75W one from Canadian Tire) and keep it in your car. Then just use your regular charger with it.

      • Sure I can buy an inverter for my car, but that doesn't solve the problem I want to solve. I normally charge my phone by my bed, I want my charger there perminatly. Once in a while I take a long road trip and so I want a charger in my car. However I'm forgetful and likely won't bring the charger with. So I want a charger to leave my my car. For many road trips I car-pool, so I want the people I ride with to have a compatable charger too, we can share. Considering we choose the smallest car (gas m

    • Talking about cigarette lighters, why not power it with one of those microturbines that was discussed some time ago? Then you could run your cellphone, PDA, and Zippo off of lighter fluid.

    • Re:I need a charge (Score:2, Interesting)

      by prof pylons ( 606428 )
      These guys [mobilewise.com] have an idea I wish I'd thought of first. Charging mobile devices (Mobiles/PDA's) by way of an inductive mat. Can't find anywhere that actually sells them though...

  • Good idea, this has worked so well for laptops (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Hairy_Potter ( 219096 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @08:57AM (#6570163) Homepage
    This has worked so well with laptops, which are much bigger and more expensive than cell phones, so there's obviously more of a demand for it.

    I can take any laptop, and swap hard drives. And I can swap, well, PCMCIA cards.
    • And I can swap, well, PCMCIA cards.

      And those cards can be analog modems, cellular modems, wi-fi networking transmitters, portable hard drives, flash memory, and probably a dozen other things I can't think of right now.

      All I want is a universal port on the bottom of my cell phone, kinda like that, so I can sync it to my PC, connect a camera lens, add some removable memory, attach a real keyboard for SMS messaging, or whatever else the geniuses at Belkin can think of, instead of waiting for Samsung or Noki
    • This has worked so well with laptops

      What are you talking about? Beside the hard drive and PCMCIA, there is no standard.

      On that note, if a desktop LCD vendor were to buddy up with another LCD vendor and create a chassis and power spec for laptops, then we'd be talking. You can get a 15" LCD for dirt cheap these days. Throw it in an open standard chassis and plug in some power/battery and you've got a dirt cheap laptop. If you spill your beer on it, you can go out and buy a $10 keyboard and $100 mobo i
    • This has worked so well with laptops,

      Not...

      I cant swap CD drives, Power supplies are intentionally incompatable, batteries are intentionally different even from model to model.

      Hard drive trays are all different. There is NOTHING standard in laptops... the only reason that hard drives are the same is because the HDD manufacturers refuse to play the stupid games that Laptop makers play.

  • Uhh... (Score:3, Informative)

    by Sir Haxalot ( 693401 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @08:58AM (#6570171)
    I bet it will be like PC standards. noone conforms to them
    Sorry? Haven't you heard of IBM compatable?
    • Sure. IBM PC used to mean Plug Compatible- which meant that it would plug straight into an IBM mainframe bus... even the acronyms aren't standard anymore......
    • IBM compatible? I haven't heard that one in a while. What are you, some Mac user who's stuck in the 80s?
    • Sorry? Haven't you heard of IBM compatable?

      That was a bit different. IBM designed the PC ignoring industry-standard microcomputer busses that existed at the time. In doing so, they created a de facto standard for the PC-clones that came along in the next few years.

  • Could it be? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by TopShelf ( 92521 ) * on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @08:59AM (#6570184) Homepage Journal
    An open standard could open up a huge market for 3rd-party products and accessories, much like the PC standard did for computer components. This is exactly the sort of thing that could really boost cell phone technology, by allowing smaller, more nimble companies to roll out new products into a broad market.

    Of course, it's so good to think of, I can't imagine that it would actually happen!

    • Re:Could it be? (Score:3, Informative)

      by leerpm ( 570963 )
      It is too good to be true. The standard they are establishing is for the components inside of cell phones. Not external accessories.

  • That'll need a shift of policy from Nokia then... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Boss, Pointy Haired ( 537010 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:00AM (#6570188)
    who insist on a completely new design of power supply and data cable for every phone that they bring out :(
    • I'll agree with you on the data cable, but I've had three Nokias and all use the same charger. I've also used the same charger on a multitude of other phones, many from other countries (I worked in a youth hostel). There were never any compatibility problems on that from in my experiences with Nokia phones.

      • Motorola chargers are the same way... one charger should work for a number of phones, but there are different classes of phones... the new 3G phones with cameras and big LCDs require a lot more power to run than GSM small-lcd screens (old RF tech = more optimized battery usage, to a point, just because engineers have had time to figure out how to save power). And you don't want to give a more expensive charger to a low-power phone user, so you have different sets of chargers.

    • Re:That'll need a shift of policy from Nokia then. (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Op7imus_Prim3 ( 645940 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:11AM (#6570277) Journal
      Is this the same Nokia who haven't changed the design on a charger since the introduction of the 5110 more than 5 years ago? And whose data cables are valid for a whole range of phones, rather than just the one model?
    • 1. if you don't like it, don't buy Nokia.
      2. the phone costs you $0 to $50 on average (if you pay more than that for a cell phone you are either a cell phone freak or you are crazy) they have to make money on accessories (just like Lexmark printers, the printers are $0 - $99 and their ink is $30/pop)
    • It used to be bad with Nokia chargers, but I think at least every 3 volt phone (everything since, oh, 1997?) has compatible charger connector. There may be some problems, like my gf's new 3650 doesn't like the old car charger for 6110, not sure why (the old wall charger for 6110 works just fine, so maybe the old car charger just can't give enough power for the new phone to charge properly).

      Data cables and handsfree headsets compatibility could be better though, but also that problem is going away with bl

    • who insist on a completely new design of power supply and data cable for every phone that they bring out :(

      What are you talking about? Nokia's power cable hasn't changed since before the 5110 [nokia.com] (I can't remember the model name). I work with Nokia's on a daily basis and even the new 6600 [nokia.com] has exactly the same power lead and data cable slot.

      Most manufacturers have standardised on data and power cables over their range in the last couple of years. Samsung have a square block, Siemens use a thin block, SonyEri

    • Re:That'll need a shift of policy from Nokia then. (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      I have to post anonymously for reasons that I work for Nokia.

      Nokia used to have 2 data cables, the DAU-9P and the DLR-3P. Both are RS-232C cables. With the change to USB came 2 new cables, the DKU-5 and DKU-6. The RS-232C cables are being phased out.

      Nokia has redesigned the ports in the bottom of its phones to standardize it and all new phones will use the DKU-5 data cable, infrared, bluetooth or a combination there of.

      As for power, most of the chargers are interchangeable, with the biggest difference be
    • I've had a Nokia 5160, 5185i, 3360, and now I have a 3586i. All four phones use the same home charger and the same car charger. Hell, the two 51xx phones even use the same external car antenna and batteries!

      I think your on crack, or trolling for mod points. If I didn't have a comment that so completely proved your statement wrong, I'd use my last remaining mod point to mod your ass back down.
    • The parent's a TROLL! Tee Are Oh Ell Ell!
      Fucking stupid moderators.

      As every other follow-up post has attested, and as I will also attest, the same wall charger that I got with my original Nokia 5110 coming on four years ago still works just fine with phones on sale today.

  • Aid to development (Score:3, Insightful)

    by nonewshere ( 693344 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:02AM (#6570206)
    This looks more like an internal standard to aid developers to devlop embedded software / hardware components that build a cellphone and won't have any real effect on users.

    The possibilities for software reuse will be limited to low level things like drivers, because all phone manufacturers feel the need to customise the software to make their product unique

  • cool! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Catcher80 ( 639611 ) <.moc.liamg. .ta. .08rehctac.> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:02AM (#6570209) Journal
    This idea is good in theory. I've always wanted to get a cell phone and have the availability of nice features without having to spend outrageous prices. Now (in theory) I can buy a cell phone, basic model, and then buy an external device for whatever extra features I want, and have them work on the next phone I buy in 2 or 3 years if I want.

    There are a ton of possibilities for external things, they just need to design the OS for the Nokia phones, which also shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

    But you know this is going to be expensive as hell.
    • What do you mean expensive? I would think that the real cost would be having to develop, manufacture, and maintain propietary items for each new model phone. Motorolla and Nokia (and others) could outsource a lot of the items and save money in the process. Why spend the time developing new things for each new model when you could easily add on to what you have or contract it out to another company. Personally, I think it would save a lot of money. Maybe not in the beginning, but in the long run.
    • I forgot to mention, do you think the new devices will have batteries, or be a USB style where the power comes from the device it's attached to?

      I'd also like to see an attachable battery pack, because we all have gone through that one time where we forgot to charge the phone the night before, and in the time we really need it, the phone just dies on you and you're screwed! Being able to carry around a cheap battery source (those regular phone batteries are too expensive to just carry around a second one f
    • This standard is not for external accessories. It is for components inside the phones.

      "The wireless industry has a long history of forming such alliances, which aim to shorten development time and reduce production costs. But the Mobile Industry Processor Interface Alliance, announced Tuesday, is the first to address the microprocessors inside handhelds, which are now doing more complicated tasks such as sending and receiving photos, said Tom Vial, a marketing manager at TI."

  • Camera Phones aren't that pricey (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Plug1 ( 588101 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:04AM (#6570230)
    Forget that expensive camera phone, just plug in a third-party device.

    I just got the sanyo 8100 for $100. It was a Sprint promotion for new subscribers. I also considered a third-party device on a cheaper phone, but it was rather bulky and unmanagable. Open standards however would make for faster development and deployment of new technologies. Not to mention two-way radio across service providers THAT would be great.

    • I'm sure that $100 was with new activation or through some retention [google.com] plan offering. However, the 8100 is still only $200 [sprintpcs.com] if you bought it outright with no plan (there was a general $50 rebate 2 months ago from RS that worked even without activation). Sprint phones are not as cheap initially but considerably cheaper when bought without a plan upgrade or extension compared to other carriers prices. I just replaced a stolen Sanyo 4900 [sanyo.com] and it was only $150. Verizon and others typically add at least $200 to

  • Motorola? (Score:1, Interesting)

    by grennis ( 344262 )
    Whatever happened to Motorola? Palm and Apple both dropped the Motorola CPU line, and now you don't even see them mentioned as a candidate anymore.

    Motorola... The next Xerox??

    • Re:Motorola? (Score:2, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      >Motorola... The next Xerox?

      Who's Xerox?

  • Missing (Score:5, Interesting)

    by GeckoFood ( 585211 ) <geckofood@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:05AM (#6570236) Journal
    Strangely absent from that list is Motorola... This is probably a good thing, but their absence is very conspicuous.

  • What about profit margins (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Zelet ( 515452 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:05AM (#6570238) Journal
    If the mobile phone companies start using standards how are they going to be able to force you to buy a new data cable, cigarette charger, hands free kits, and the like?

    Oh, and God forbid that they have to stop charging $30 for a cheap as hell car charger and $50 for a data cable for the phones.
    • thats why i like nokia all my power charges from all my nokia phones are interchangable and i've uses loadsa other peoples same for my car charger and i didn't bother with a data cable i just got a £30 bluetooth adapter now im set for life
  • It will be undone by the competing standards for transmitting the signal (CDMA, GSM etc). It will still be impossible to move your phone from one service providers network to another (unless you are in Europe); which means you get to buy another phone. When they create a changeable module that will let you move the phone from provider A to provider B for substantially less than the cost of the phone, then cell phone sales/usage will go through the roof.

    • Re:For all the good a hardware standard will do .. (Score:2, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "It will still be impossible to move your phone from one service providers network to another (unless you are in Europe)"

      You mean: unless you are in Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia or South America?

      "When they create a changeable module that will let you move the phone from provider A to provider B for substantially less than the cost of the phone, then cell phone sales/usage will go through the roof."

      This was done more than 10 years ago when GSM specifications were created. Your cell phone number and all
      • Why oh why did my mod points expire yesterday!

        This is so true.
        A cell phone market where all the phones are unlocked and operators are forbidden to subsidise the cost of the phones is completely different than a market where phones are operator-locked and heavily subsidised by operators.

        It's like buying a car from Shell and then being allowed to use only Shells fuel.
    • Actually, some phones coming out next year will be equipped to handle CDMA and GSM, allowing you to connect to whichever network is most available in your area... of course, this probably means that your roaming charges will be extreme
    • you dont need a modual to do that the phones are perfectly capable of doing that already but in the states everyone seems to think its acceptable to have your phone locked to a provider if enough people kicked up enough fuss the companys companys would realise they couldn't get away with it any more and stop doing it
    • First, move to a GSM phone. The idea is built in, and the network is rapidly becoming the global standard (even in the US).

      Now, you just change your SIM chip to your provider of choice. Phone number portability is even coming to the US.

      There's one caveat. If (and only if) you choose not to purchase your celphone, but want your provider to give you a free (or heavily subsidised) one with your account, it will only work on that subscriber's network.

      Fair enough.

      If you think that's bad (and some people d
  • Standardized rechargers will never come, though, because that would commoditize them instead of forcing you to buy a particular one for your phone. I would love to see the day when one "wall wart" can power anything, but it's just not gonna happen!
    • The ability to recharge from any power outlet would be a great selling point - I'm sure some company or other will release a phone that does that. And then the genie will be out of the bottle and everyone else will have a very strong incentive to follow suit.

      I don't think capitalism is the answer to all of society's iniquities; but I think it's quite a good answer to "I want a phone with such and such a feature."
      • Uh, you mean, putting the charger into the phone? Because sure you can charge from ever power outlet, all you need is the charger and the phone... And notice how a charger often is heavier than the phone...

        There's only so much you can do to reduce weight when you want to convert from power outlet 110/240V AC to the 4V DC that the battery wants for charging... I don't think there's ever going to be a day when you can just plug your mobile phone into a power outlet without separate charger. By the time

  • Enough with the feature bloat! (Score:4, Interesting)

    by kneecarrot ( 646291 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:18AM (#6570326)
    With standardized cell-phone components, I am sure companies will be even more likely to stuff every last feature known to man onto their phones. Personally, I think it's getting ridiculous. I don't want to play Tony Hawk 4 on the 1" x 1" screen on my cell phone or struggle with watered down GPS functionality or grainy photos. On the other hand, what I do hope is that chargers become standardized. Now that would be something useful.
    • The problem is that as long as the service providers think they can make a quick buck by selling new services and people are daft enough to buy them then you will end up with all sorts of useless junk on your phone.

      Is it me or does everyone remember the obsession that people had for tiny phones... the same people who are carrying something the size of a brick around simply because it can take pictures?

  • Arm fortifications (Score:5, Informative)

    by brejc8 ( 223089 ) * on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:18AM (#6570333) Homepage Journal
    This seems like ARM trying to get everyone adopting their standards. You can bet that ARM IP will be all over it. The ISA will be ARM, communication will be AMBA and the only standards complient accepted development platform will be the ARM SDT.
    ARM is trying to get more and more fortified in their mobile phone market and its very difficult to do anything different. Thats why they can charge redicelous prices for their toolkits and the favours to universities (such as discount/free software) have now stopped, because now if you are going to learn low level mobile application coding then it simply has to be ARM. No need for them to attract and convince people to use them any more.
    We even wrote our own debugger [freshmeat.net] so we wouldn't have to payt the ARM tax.

  • We have the resistor color code ! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Goody ( 23843 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:20AM (#6570346) Journal
    What more standards do you need ???

  • Standards make the world go round (Score:3, Informative)

    by staaktdenarbeid ( 620908 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:41AM (#6570527)
    The MIPI spec [mipi.org] that is developed by this consortium is also mentioned here [commsdesign.com]. They mention ST as a fourth player as well.
  • This is something I would apreciate. I've replaced cell phones from the same manufacturer and even then had to replace accessories. I think we'll need to see more big players like Samsung and Motorola jump on this, but this is something that is good for cell phone companies and users.

  • I'm waiting for... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by SharpFang ( 651121 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:51AM (#6570613) Homepage Journal
    ...a cell phone that would have as "flexible" architecture as PC.

    Imagine this:
    - Case: Different looks, about same width but different lengths. It provides two or three "slider layers" that enable you to install components.

    - Necessities:
    a) GSM decoder module (your frequency variant, possible sat phone)
    b) Battery: Different sizes, different capacities. Separately a small power management module (change batteries, replace them, examine power levels, switch between batteries)
    c) Main CPU. Different speeds and possiblities.
    d) Internal memory (different sizes, may use more than one module)
    e) Keyboard (normal, big, different highlight colors, qwerty whole, qwerty 2-parts (on 2 sides of screen)
    f) Screen. Text-only, b&w, big, color, whatever you wish.
    g) Speaker and receiver. May be different inputs.
    h) SIM card socket. Possible double, triple, big, small...

    - Extras:
    MP3, Radio, FM, MIDI, IRDA, Bluetooth, USB, loud speaker, camera, TV pilot, whatever you imagine you can put in a phone.

    And the case provides a single bus you plug your modules in. Each module occupies certain number of "slots" (of course keyboard, battery and LCD are big. Toys like MP3 player take way less).

    You buy parts in variants you need. Want a good SMS'ing box? Qwerty and big b&w screen. Want gaming platform? Gamer's keyboard, color screen, strong CPU and a lot of memory. Want to keep it small? "mini" case and only necessary stuff of minimum sizes. Want a laptop-like thing? Carry a half-pound brick in your pocket with everything installed and 5 strongest batteries and built-in AC charger.

    Add to that fully or mostly open-source communication software layer so people could write their own apps for it...
    • I have one of those....it's called a laptop ;)
    • ..but why do you call it a phone????

      If you want all those things, get a Palm or a PC... A wireless phone is exactly that....why should it have a big screen and a fancy keyboard....???
      • A wireless phone is exactly that...

        When have you been to some local wireless phone dealer last?
        The problem is, it isn't anymore. At all. For quite a while now.

        Most of nowadays phones come packed with features, lot of them useless or unwanted. You won't find any "plain phone" nowadays. All they come with phonebooks, various ringtones, uploadable logos, alarm clocks, SMS templates, WAP webbrowser and a LOT of such stuff that's not really phone-related. This way you could FINALLY get a "vanilla" phone, just

  • a little background (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Bagheera2000 ( 693751 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @09:53AM (#6570632)
    TI/ARM/Nokia have been in bed together from the beginning of the cell market. With TI's OMAP structure(which includes and ARM and is the baseline for all of Nokia's future phones), it is not hard to believe that the three are trying to increase their market share by forcing out those nasty startups and the motorolas of the world. I can hear the sales pitch now, "and our software/hardware already meet the upcoming standard" Nokia has the software, TI/ARM the hardware. as for the various standards, change a couple analog components, and the they already have the software routines to handle it.
  • I find it interesting to see that Symbian isn't one of the founding members. Nokia is a major shareholder in Symbian (19%). I see MIPI as a move to try and prevent Intel and Microsoft to have a large share of this market, and Symbian is a key player in this game.

  • Camera plug-ins never work (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    People who actually USE a camera function within a camera phone ONLY if it's on-board, not ATTACHED. Notably, Nokia 7250, Samsung V205, Sony Ericsson T610, and Panasonic GD87/88. People can standardize all they want, but the camera must be on-board. But still, the camera on phones is at best for party-shots and picture caller ID. Without a zoom-able lens or variable focus, it won't be useful for real photography. So keep your digital cameras for now. 6mp and 7mp are just around the corner =)
  • The Register have an article on this here: TI, Nokia, ARM team up for common phone silicon [theregister.co.uk]

  • cell phone standards - what about the carriers (Score:3, Insightful)

    by sdev ( 693757 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @10:09AM (#6570766)
    Yeah the hardware is the first step, but I think the problem (at least in the USA) is that there aren't very good standards across the carriers. Up until recently you couldn't SMS an ATT mobile user if you were on Sprint. This sucks. In Europe and Asia you can SMS anyone (ok almost ~ 90%)as long as they have a mobile number, regardless of the carrier.

  • Hmm, 23 hours later... (Score:1, Redundant)

    by garcia ( 6573 ) *
    Interesting [slashdot.org], I only beat them by 23 hours.

  • NONSENCE! (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Eric_Cartman_South_P ( 594330 ) on Wednesday July 30, 2003 @10:25AM (#6570916)
    Forget all these open standards, FIRST START WITH USING STANDARD JACKS! WTF!?!?! Yes, I am screaming.

    Why can't all audio jacks on cell phones for earpieces all utilize the SAME standard jacks such as on CD layers. And all power jacks should be the same, too. The ONLY reason to change the design every week is to force people to spend more money on home/office/car chargers, headphones, etc every time they get a new phone. It is nothing short of criminal. Cell phones are purposely designed to have different connectors to accessories for no good reason, other than extorting more money on the same accessories that need to be repurchased time and time again.

    Get the fucking head phones and power cable standardized, THEN we'll talk about cameras/texting/keyboards and all that junk.

    • Erm... (Score:3, Informative)

      by Cyno01 ( 573917 )
      The standard jack on your cd player is probably a 3.5mm sterio plug, this is standard. Most cell phones i've seen have a 2.5mm headset jack, one channel to the earpice and the other to the mic. This seems to be pretty standardized, i can use my jabra headset [jabra.com], the headset that came with my cell phone, and the headset that came with my mini land line phone [circuits2u.com] interchangably with my cell phone, mini landline and my cordless phone.
    • I'll pardon your mindless ranting for a few moments.

      I highly doubt that cell phone companies make the accessories different just to make you pay more money. I think the reason is simple. They design them to be non-compatible with other branded phones so that you must keep your money with them and not go to brand X to get something for your brand Y phone.

      As has been mentioned in many places in this story, many parts are the same from phone to phone (ear pieces - I've been able to use my 2.5mm earpiece on
    • Nokia 5510 made a first small step towards that. The built-in sockets are that lame "micro-jack" of theirs, but the phone comes with a connector cables between their standard and normal jack (m and f) so you actually can use it to play the MP3 on your stereo etc.
  • Unless I'm mistaken, don't all of your CDMA phones "have" to include Qualcomm hardware, only because they're the ones who own the IP to the CDMA technology?

    If so, they seem to already have a legally-enforced "common" platform... they're in every phone, thanks to patent law. No real point for them to come to the table, eh?
  • they did that, so that they can save their asses before MS invades their market share with its smart phone. They felt threatened, but Nokia ofcorse wouldnt like to have standards being put upon it knowing that its dominating the cellular phone industry. But it had to come up with something to protect it from MS eating up its marketshare.
  • it sounds like a great idea from nokia (one of my favort companys) non the less however i think it would be alot harder to impliment in phones the same way they have in pc's mainly because at those sizes you need alot of intergration and have few resorces to spare for compatablity i think its a tricky thing to do and i dont think it will be posible at the same level as pc's for some time on the other hand i very very very very much hope that i'm wrong and they do manage it soon becuase it would be great for

  • open standards? (Score:2, Informative)

    by NynexNinja ( 379583 )
    How about open standards for cell phone protocols? Who cares about taking pictures on a cell phone. They should first make the protocol (CDMA) open, at least give people an API to work with. I want to see software that runs on my Linux based cell phone that can (for instance) take Caller-ID information and based on that, totally control the functionality of the phone (i.e. dial another phone number, play some PCM WAV audio out the port, etc etc).. This is long overdue.

  • NOT for end-users (Score:2, Informative)

    by jfanning ( 35979 )
    This is an open standard for cell phone manufacturers, not end users. It reduces "time-to-market" and produces standard platforms that manufacturers can use their own OSes, etc on top of.

    It will NOT produce standard accessories like chargers, cameras, etc for end-users.

  • Cooperation? (Score:2, Interesting)

    by bryam ( 449040 )
    Ummm...Tjis consortium could be cooperate with this [celinuxforum.org].

    Hey Nokia: remember that you are from Finland ;-)

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