We've finally found ourselves a solid, confirmed shot of a
micro SIM in the wild, thanks to an FCC filing from
Lok8u -- the company that
just inked a deal with T-Mobile -- that shows the innards of its GPS watch torn asunder. Over on the right there is one of the micro SIMs in question, and as you can clearly make out, the contact pad is identical to the one you'd find on a traditional SIM (that shot of an AT&T unit that we'd posted earlier was actually a mockup by our own Sean Cooper, you see). In other words, if you were really hard up to get that
iPad up and running on a network that isn't providing micros, you could probably shoehorn a traditional SIM in there with a little elbow grease and handiwork, which happily matches up with information we've been hearing from several contacts of ours. Who knew Lok8u would be so important in this investigative process?
Update: The ETSI has also
confirmed to CNET UK that micro SIMs are electrically identical to their older counterparts, so that's a promising sign, and
Boy Genius tells us that he used to shave down SIMs to micro SIM size back in the day for dual SIM adapters -- in other words, you're probably not going to damage the chip by trimming (and even if you do, it's a simple replacement from your carrier). Thanks, Matthias!
posted February 2nd 2010 11:06AM
What, aren't there parts in the regular-sized SIM that would get cut off if you took them away? Otherwise, why were they so 'big' in the first place?
@Coptician
No idea... but I do remember original sims being credit card sized, then when they started using the current sized sims in newer mobiles, they just cut down the current sim-card I had.
Even if you shaved down a traditional tmo sim how do you get a tmobile data only contract? An if so would it be cheaper than AT&T?
It's called tmobile Web Connect, and it's considerably more expensive (and requires contract.) I hate that I'm saying this, but I'd def go with AT&T on this one.
At first when I saw the sim card, I was thinking that you could remove the card from your phone and place it in the ipad, giving you the option of using your existing plan... but I'm obviously not going to shave down my exisiting sim card to try this out, not that I want an ipad anyway.
More importantly, if you carefully cut out a micro sim out of a normal sim. You may still be able to use the micro sim on a normal sim phone. Which means you should be able to share the same sim between your iPhone and iPad while avoiding an additional monthly bill for internet access. Lets hope that we wont have to go that route and Apple allows some tethering options for the non 3G version of the iPad.
App Developer
Jersey Shore Party App (Fist Pump like a champ), iFight, Tingalin
i will be most likely tryin this in the near future..
Anyone know what the QR codes in the pic lead to?
@Teslanaut probably just a ssn. QR codes are just for character strings (like URLs)
Also this doesn't look like a QRcode
...I'd be more interested in seeing an Adapter to switch from Micro-Sim to regular SIM, so that the "Data only" plan can be used on my Google Phone using Google Voice. This will then lead to unlimited Text and calls (when they restart Gizmo5) from then on for as low as $30 :)
Patent Pending: small plastic container that houses a micro SIM card so it can be used in standard SIM card devices. Sort of like the adapters for micro SD, etc.
They can, I've seen it done. Someone will make a die cutter to cut a mini SIM (the type you call "traditional") down to micro.
Uh... you're just assuming that the *chip* part of your SIM is under the contacts and not embedded in the plastic you're trying to shave off? That may be the case... in some cases, but I hope no one just assumes that.
@rbrome
time to dig out an old sim card and a pair of scissors...
comments still working from apps?
@Darren S
comments still working from the browser here dude!
(sweden)
just made a template for laser cutting. will hopefully do a test run this wednesday...
http://brandonshigeta.com/blog/2010/02/10/laser-cutting-micro-sims/
And here's a US patent for the micro SIM to mini SIM adapter. Someone will be producing these soon enough.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/7183636.html
There is already an adapter to address this issue: www.microsimadapter.com
i just received my adapters from www.microsim-shop.com. 5pcs for less than usd 14.00