[QtMoko] Re: OT: SIM contact limitations; GSM vs. CDMA

[Brolin Empey]

2009/9/25 Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller <hns at computer.org>

>
> Am 26.09.2009 um 01:46 schrieb Brolin Empey:
>
> Why do I have to store contacts in the phone instead of on the SIM to do
> anything useful?
>
>
> Because you have much more memory and more flexible data formats. But you
> can't simply remove the SIM and place it in a historical phone like let's
> say a SIEMENS S4.
>
>
I have been wanting to reply to this message for weeks, but have been too
busy. :/  Anyway, I have been using QtMoko v11 on my FreeRunner (FR) since
late September.  I thought QtMoko (well, actually Qt Extended Improved
(QtEI)) must be storing the contacts I added on my FR instead of on my SIM
because I could have multiple phone numbers, each with its own type, per
contact.  However, I discovered something cool after I moved my SIM back to
my Nokia 6103b:  QtMoko/QtEI actually stored the contacts I added on my SIM,
but it works around the 1-typeless-phone-number-per-contact SIM limitation
by appending an optional space, a ‘/’, then two letters to indicate the type
of the phone number, e.g., “Brolin Empey /hm” for my home mobile phone
number (“personal mobile” would probably make more sense because I almost
always have my cell phone with me, even when I am at work.), “Brolin Empey
/hp” for my “home phone” number (‘p’ = generic type, which I use for
landlines), “Brolin Empey /bp” for “business phone”, “Brolin Empey /bm” for
“business mobile”, and so on.  I used QtMoko/QtEI’s convention when naming
the contacts I added to my SIM while using my SIM in my Nokia 6103b, then
moved my SIM back to my FR:  QtMoko/QtEI groups the separate SIM contacts as
a single contact with multiple phone numbers!  I was very impressed when I
discovered this because I thought it was a clever workaround of the SIM
contact limitations.  The length of the name of SIM contacts is still
limited to 18 characters, though, which means relatively long contact names
still get truncated, but I can live with that if it means I can keep all of
my contacts on my SIM!  I have never (been unfortunate enough to have?) had
a CDMA phone (actually, I did not get a cell phone until 2008, so both my
cell phones are GSM.  I have not had any non-GSM cell phones.), but CDMA
seems very lame and/or crappy compared to GSM because all the subscriber’s
information is stored in the phone instead of on a removable device like a
SIM.  Of course, both the Apple iPhone and the FR are GSM-only (unless there
is a CDMA version I do not know about?).  AFAIK, there are also GSM phones
that can use at least 2 SIMs at once, but I guess there is no equivalent for
CDMA?  Some CDMA phones probably have a flash memory card slot, but is there
a standard/common format for storing e.g., contacts and SMSes on a flash
memory card instead of in the phone?
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