SIM and R-UIM?

One of my colleagues has got really cool Nokia handset. It has tons of features and all of us call it as a TV. ;) Since he is a CDMA user, I thought there will not be any card in his new handset. But I was surprised to see the SIM Card like card in it. It is called as UIM or to be precise R-UIM.
I have been using GSM phone since long time now and somehow got fascinated by the Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card. Everybody knows the functions of SIM card in a GSM phone. That triggers to one more question. What is the use of R-UIM card in CDMA phone?
If you look at this card then you will know that it looks exactly similar to the SIM card. To start with, the long form of R-UIM is: Removable User Identity Module. It seems that NAM1 and NAM2 settings are stored on this equivalent card. It is also standard method used for international CDMA roaming.
So, if you are CDMA user then should you be really bothered about UIM card? Answer is yes. For example, if you are using handset which supports UIM card. And you are using Reliance CDMA number. Now, if you want to switch to Tata Indicom CDMA, what will you do? Earlier you have to throw the Reliance handset and buy a new one from Indiacom. Now, with UIM card, you can just put Tata Indicom card in your handset and you are free to use new number with the same device. ;)

Cheers,
Amol

Using GSM phone then make sure you take backup of the Sim.

Those days of heated discussions for GSM versus CDMA are gone now. We are now used to both the technologies. I am going to concentrate only on GSM phones in this blog.

Recently, one of my friends got his GSM sim card blocked because of invalid PUK code. After consultation with the service provider, we decided to replace the sim card but with the same number. Unfortunately, he has stored all his important numbers in the sim card only and not in the handset memory. He lost all important numbers in one minute. That triggered my thought process to prevent this kind of failures. Basically, in India if you are using CDMA phone, then you can keep a copy of your phone book at the server provided by your service provider. For example RWorld.

But, what if you are a GSM user? Well, outside India there are few mobile service providers which offer above mentioned feature online. For example, in Australia Optus allows it. You can store the phonebook from your sim card to the Optus server. AFAIK, no such service is provided by any Indian mobile providers. So, until it happens, what should GSM users do?

Well, there are lots of sim reader devices or sim backup utilities are available in the market. USB Sim card readers can be also useful and one can store the phonebook information on the PC. So, make sure you have backed up your data at least once.

Cheers,
Amol

Does platform really matter?

Most of the times, people ask this question: “Okay, you are in Software. Then which platform you are working on?” Most of the computer literates have some idea about various platforms like: Windows, Linux, Solaris etc. So, this question is very common and it will be then followed by technologies/tools and so on.

While I do wonder sometimes, does it really matter for us who are developing software driven by client’s requirements? Of course, we can try to convince our clients to use specific platform/technologies. But eventually it will be his call. Right? Even though you convince him about using .NET based applications and tools by giving him various advantages like less development time, good quality UI and so on. Eventually, what matters for us his customers go ahead. So, if not Windows then you better geared up with Linux skills because your client wants it. ;) That is why people say 'Please check your politics at the door—here, we care only about how tools can be used to solve problems'.

Cheers,
Amol.