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GSM Palm Pre unlocked with a little Rebel assistance

by Nilay Patel posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 1:58PM

It's not exactly the native unlock we've been waiting for, but those of you in Europe dying for a Pre unshackled from O2 will be happy to know that the Rebel Simcard II is now compatible with Palm's first webOS device. The £10.99 / $17.95 accessory card slots in between your carrier's SIM and the Pre's SIM slot, bypassing the Pre's network locks and allowing full access to voice and data services including 3G. Sadly, the Pre doesn't have the radio support to make this work in the States on anything but EDGE, but at least it's a start, right? Video after the break.

[Thanks, Ji]

Continue reading GSM Palm Pre unlocked with a little Rebel assistance

Palm Pixi stares GSM in the face, lives to brag about it (update: video!)

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 6th 2009 at 1:29AM

Though nothing's been announced, betting against a GSM version of the Palm Pixi would be a foolish move. There's certainly no mistaking that "E" for Edge logo and SIM slot beneath the battery in these leaked images from Vietnam (yes, again). Oddly, this particular GSM variant pictured only contains 4GB of internal storage vs. the 8GB model announced for Sprint. Perhaps a prototype limitation only? Let's hope.

Update: Video now available after the break.

Continue reading Palm Pixi stares GSM in the face, lives to brag about it (update: video!)

3-in-1 External Battery packs a second SIM for your iPhone's calling pleasure

by Tim Stevens posted Sep 3rd 2009 at 7:23PM

If you're a high-flying type rocking two contracts and, ultimately, two SIM cards, the new 3-in-1 External Battery over at USBFever could save you a lot of hot-swapping -- assuming at least one of those SIM cards is currently in an iPhone 3G or 3GS. It looks like an ordinary, bulky external battery, but inside packs room for a second SIM. Swapping is handled via an on-phone application and, according to the online instructions, it'll take about two minutes for your handset to figure out exactly what the heck is going on and reconnect to the different network. Sadly the phone can't monitor both cards simultaneously, so if you frequently receive calls on both you're stuck with that second device, but if by day you're a mild-mannered corporate user and by night you switch over to your secret personal account, this could be for you. $60 gets you in to the card-swapping party -- just leave your keys in the bowl on the way in.

[Via iLounge]

T-Mobile UK sneakily offering iPhone 3G to moneyed customers

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 4th 2009 at 4:59AM

We really couldn't make this stuff up -- it would seem that T-Mobile has been sneaking some hi-tech contraband into the UK in the form of unlocked iPhone 3G handsets, which it is now peddling to its most valued clientele. And by that, of course, we mean the piggies that pay up the most every month. Limited to an extremely select 150 units a week, the Apple devices are being used as incentives for high-rolling customers to renew their eye-gouging contracts of £75 per month and above, though we suspect only a few chums in corner offices know exactly how much T-Mob is charging for the handset itself.

We've done some digging, and while O2 has exclusivity on the iPhone 3G until September, that does not prevent T-Mobile from essentially functioning as a reseller of unlocked SIM-free units. Further distancing itself from legal action, the carrier is only offering the handsets to upgrading customers (as opposed to newcomers), thus the phones technically come sans a SIM. So, the suits at Magenta Towers must be feeling pretty smug right about now, having danced through a loophole and secured a wildly popular (albeit older generation) phone, all in the name of keeping high-brow customers from jumping ship. While you won't hear any PR from T-Mobile on the matter, we have a full statement from O2 on the subject of losing 3G exclusivity come September. You ready?

We have a multi-year agreement with Apple to sell iPhone in the UK. This relationship continues.

Man, those Britons keep it short and sweet, don't they?

Video: Palm Pre caught playing with GSM SIM in Vietnam

by Thomas Ricker posted Jun 30th 2009 at 7:12AM

Having the Palm Pre on Sprint might be good for Americans driving their pick 'em up trucks down the CDMA data highway, but it doesn't do Europeans (or Palm's bottom line) any good over in the Old World. Now we've got video and images of a GSM-loving Palm Pre on the loose in Vietnam. Why 'Nam? Easy, as workers gain more rights and higher wages in China, manufacturers of all our fancy consumer electronics are heading further south in search of cheap labor. While this doesn't mean a damn thing regarding launch, it's still good to see a functioning GSM Pre in the wild on the way to launch sometime before the end of the year, possibly sooner. Video after the break, as the saying goes.

[Thanks, Enzo]

Continue reading Video: Palm Pre caught playing with GSM SIM in Vietnam

T-Mobile announces tiny new "embedded SIM" for connected devices

by Nilay Patel posted Apr 23rd 2009 at 4:28PM

Sure, SIM cards are small, but they're not tiny, and fitting the entire assembly into an embedded device requires a lot of space -- so T-Mobile's new embedded SIM system should make it possible to build even smaller connected devices like hospital monitors and smart energy meters that can report back to a server. The new SIMs are the size of a pinhead and made of silicon instead of plastic, which allows them to be coded at the factory and hard-mounted directly to a device, skipping the provisioning and installation steps that would come with regular SIMs. Devices with the new SIMs are expected to be out and sending data over T-Mo's network in as little as six months -- the first is an energy meter from Echelon that should hit soon.

Nokia 6216 Classic packs NFC for contactless payments

by Thomas Ricker posted Apr 23rd 2009 at 4:48AM

It's 2009 and we're still waiting for the Near Field Communication revolution. However, due to tough economic times and a lack of consumer devices, planned commercial NFC rollouts will likely be pushed into 2010. Still, we can add one more device to the NFC tally -- the Nokia 6216 Classic. The 6216 is Nokia's first handset with an embedded NFC chipset that communicates with NFC applications stored on the SIM. That little trick keeps the carriers happy while allowing consumers to keep their credit card info and contact-less ticketing and payment applications on the SIM for easy mobility between NFC devices. A good thing too, since this middling 3G candy bar with camera, FM radio, and microSD slot will be of limited appeal to most.

Read -- Nokia 6216 Classic
Read -- Economy, standards stand in the way of NFC

Kindle 2 dissected, found to contain space for a SIM card

by Nilay Patel posted Feb 24th 2009 at 7:01PM

The Kindle 2's only been in our hot little hands for a few hours, but the screwdriver-happy scamps at iFixit couldn't resist -- they've already ripped theirs into its many component pieces. Interestingly, the teardown revealed an empty space for a SIM card slot, which might indicate Amazon's got firmer plans for the Kindle's international debut than they were willing to talk about at the launch. Don't get too excited for any VAIO P-style SIM-slot hacks, though, since the US edition of the reader only has a CDMA radio for Whispernet in it. Oh well, it's gotta happen sometime -- for now we're off to find a screen protector, since the teardown also revealed that the E-Ink screen doesn't have anything over it at all.

Motion detecting SIMSense SIM card opens new world of possibilities

by Darren Murph posted Feb 16th 2009 at 5:24PM

File this one away in the "man, I should've thought of that" category. Here at Mobile World Congress, Oberthur Technologies is making a name for itself by introducing the planet's first motion detecting and handset-independent SIM card. SIMSense, as it's so eloquently named, could open up a whole new world of interaction with phones that don't come with any sort of accelerometer built in. For instance, a user could simply shake their cellphone upon receiving a second call in order to send out a pre-written SMS that explains the situation. Or they could navigate phone menus by simply moving or tapping. Or, better still, they could program their handset to dial an emergency contact if it detected a sudden fall while close to the person's body. There's been no indication of anyone grabbing this thing and running with it, but we can't imagine this not making it out to the commercial realm.

T-Mobile G1 up and running with no activation

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 23rd 2008 at 4:44PM

It looks like getting up and running on an unactivated G1 is going to be a little easier than Apple made it for iPhone users. No jailbreak required. All you really need to do is beg, steal or borrow an active T-Mobile SIM card and slip it in the phone for the duration of the setup process (it should only take a few minutes). Once you've enabled WiFi you can go back to your old SIM: you're ready to browse the web, run your apps and do everything you expect your Android-powered phone to do (except talk on the phone). If you'd like to get in on this action, check out the read link for the step-by-step instructions.

AT&T says SIM-only service available contract free, 2-year plan was a mistake

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jan 22nd 2008 at 2:16PM

Apparently, the news we got (and saw on the company's website) yesterday concerning AT&T's offer of a SIM-only service plan was off the mark... or so says AT&T. According to the telco's reps, a SIM card can be had sans-contract, saying that its attitude towards the service hasn't changed and that pre-paid, post-paid, or any other millions of varieties of arrangements can be made to tap into its sweet service. So move along folks, nothing here to see.

AT&T offers SIM-only service, attempts to maintain "most open" status

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jan 20th 2008 at 7:31PM

It looks like all that shouting AT&T has been doing lately about its "openness" is starting to manifest itself in the way the company does business. It's come to our attention that the mobile telco has started offering a SIM-only plan, thus providing the ultimate in open options. The idea being, of course, that you can bring any random / crappy / salvaged GSM-compatible handset the provider's way, and it'll let you hook a towline onto its satellites. Of course, you could just get one of those cheapo giveaways and pop out the card, but this is so much more open and free, like San Francisco in '69, a car-less road, some land of your own, and a good old-fashioned whiskey on the rocks. Oh, you still have a sign a two-year agreement... enjoy your freedom!

[Via The Boy Genius Report]

The swappable GSM radio

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jan 11th 2008 at 5:24PM

While wandering around the "International" wing of this year's CES, we stumbled upon a number of questionable (and familiar) items. One line of products that stood out, however, was a company offering a modular solution for adding GSM capability to a wide variety of devices. Using what appears to be a proprietary type of connector, the SIM-ready card can imbue an assortment of gadgets (phone, e-book reader, GPS... teddy bear) with GSM functionality. It's unclear whether this technology is being deployed overseas (or at all), and whether or not we'll see it Stateside (doubtful), but it does take a novel approach to cell-ing up your gear.

Gallery: The swappable GSM radio

X-SIM II claims to unlock some iPhones, looks way sketchy

by Ryan Block posted Jan 5th 2008 at 12:32PM

If you're ready to drop 45 bones on a tricksy SIM from a back-alley internet joint called One-Stop-China.com in the hopes of unlocking an iPhone, then behold the X-SIM II. While not hardly the first SIM-based unlocking effort, this "Turbo SIM" (or so they call it) won't work in Germany, UK, Australia, but it will supposedly free up an iPhone running v1.1.2, and bootloader 4.6. Caveat emptor (as if we really had to tell you).

Archos working on SIM card-equipped players?

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 14th 2007 at 4:49PM

There's not a whole lot to go on here, but according to France's Challenges magazine, Archos is set to further expand its linup-up of players next year with some new SIM card-equipped models. While there's no indication that the devices will actually double as a phone, you will apparently be able to at least get in some 3G-enhanced web browsing, which would certainly be more convenient (albeit pricier) than tracking down WiFi hotspots each time you're out and about. Also according to Challenges, it seems that both France's SFR and Neuf-Cegetel are "starting to look very closely" at Archos' gear, although that's obviously still as up in the air as the rumored device itself.

[Via Archos Lounge, thanks JohnBe]