MOBILE DEFINITIONS :
M - N
Most often this term is use to describe the macro mode of a camera. This mode allows the taking of photos from extremely short distance unlike close-ups, which also need an auto focus lens but are shot from a slightly greater distance.
An ampere-hour or amp-hour (Ah) is a unit of electric charge. Smaller batteries however, such as those in mobile phones and digital cameras, are often rated in milliampere-hours.
The milliampere-hour (mAh) is one-thousandth of an ampere-hour and is a technical term for how much electrical charge a particular battery will hold. As an example, using higher mAh batteries in a device with constant electrical consumption will theoretically give you longer operating times.
A standard mode allowing compatible phones to be connected to a computer's USB port and be used as a removable storage drive without the need for any special drivers.
Usually, in Mass Storage mode, the phone's memory is mounted as a removable drive by the computer OS and cannot be used by the phone itself. That's the reason why some phones only allow an inserted memory card to be mounted in Mass Storage mode thus keeping their system partition inaccessible on the computer in this mode.
A unit of digital information equal to 1,048,576 bytes or 1024 kilobytes.
A unit of data transfer rate equal to 1,048,576 bits per second or 1,024 kilobits per second.
One million pixels. Pixel comes from "pix" (for "picture") and el (for "element"). A pixel is the smallest piece of information on an image. This is a unit for measuring image resolution, and the more pixels a picture consists of, the more detailed it is.
A special slot for inserting a memory card. Memory cards allow you to expand the phone's built-in memory (or in the past these slots have been used to add some missing features such as Wi-Fi connectivity).
Memory cards have different capacities and are used to store and transfer files between compatible devices.
There are several types of memory cards. The most popular and frequently used by mobile phone manufacturers is microSD; however, up until recently Sony Ericsson exclusively used the Memory Stick Micro (M2) card type developed by Sony.
Memory card slots can have various supported memory card capacities. Depending on the device, card slots can support capacities of up to 2, 4, 8, 16 or even the yet unavailable 32GB.
As manufacturers rarely test their products for compatibility with newer and larger cards that come out after a specific handset is out on the market, whenever it is possible, we try to verify that larger capacity cards run on older phones.
When we confirm that a mobile phone works with a larger capacity memory card than what the manufacturer has advertized, we usually put that down in the phone specs sheet in our database.
That way, when you see the word "verified" in the Card slot field, you will know our reviewing team has personally tested the device for compatibility with the stated capacity and they are compatible even though it may not be officially stated so by the manufacturer.
Still, you should take that information with a pinch of salt, as your mileage with your specific unit may vary.
Describes the gradual shortening of a battery's life if the battery is recharged before it is completely discharged. It is most common with nickel-based batteries such as NiCd and NiMH types.
In addition to pure voice calls, all GSM carriers also offer messaging services and messaging has been a core service since the beginning of GSM mobile telephony. Mobile messaging ranges from SMS, through EMS, to IM and Email.
For more information, please visit the relevant glossary articles.
Herz is a measure of frequency per unit of time, or the number of cycles per second. The most common uses for hertz are to describe radio and audio frequencies. It`s abbreviated as Hz. 1 Megahertz, or 1 MHz, is equal to 1 million Hz.
A type of USB connector. USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus". Devices connected to the computer using a USB cable can easily exchange files and information (if the device supports Mass Storage mode, the files can be transferred without the need for special drivers or software).
Some devices can be charged via the USB cable when connected to the computer. There are different USB interfaces: MicroUSB (with two subtypes - Micro-A and Micro-B) is one of them, and was developed to replace the older MiniUSB interface. However, the latter is still the most popular connector type in portable devices.
A memory card is a flash memory data storage device used in a wide range of digital devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, music players, etc. They are small, rugged and offer high re-record ability.
There is a wide range of memory card formats. MicroSD (SD stands for "Secure Digital") and M2 (memory Stick Micro) are the smallest at the current time. The microSD format was originally called TransFlash or T-Flash.
The microSDHC cards (HC as in High Capacity) upgrade the microSD standard. They have the same physical dimensions but offer higher capacities (4-16 GB) than the regular ones (64MB-2 GB).
A messaging and collaborative software product developed by Microsoft as a PC-based e-mail server. Targeted at the corporate world, Exchange's major features consist of electronic mail, shared calendars and tasks, and support for mobile and Web-based access to email accounts and information, as well as support for very large amounts of data storage.
A set of specifications allowing computers, synthesizers, MIDI controllers, sound cards, samplers and drum machines to control one another and exchange system data.
MIDI files keep information that describes the instruments, notes and timing of the music. This can then be recreated on MIDI-capable devices as music.
More sophisticated MIDI devices can not only reproduce consecutive notes (monophony) but are able to create realistic-sounding music by synthesizing several notes simultaneously - polyphony. The more notes the synthesizer can play simultaneously, the nicer it sounds.
MIDI files were commonly used as mobile phone ringtones before the support for the MP3/AAC standard was widely adopted.
A standardized runtime environment allowing the use of Java on embedded devices (e.g. mobile phones). It is based on J2ME. Newer versions of MIDP (e.g. MIDP 2.0) increase functionality by adding additional APIs.
Mil-Spec (MIL-STD) Comes from "Military Specification/Standard". With regards to mobile phones, it normally refers to the US Army's set of standards, called MIL-STD 810.
These standards specify the requirements that a rugged device must fulfill, such as surviving certain environmental conditions.
There are lots of sub-categories of the MIL-STD 810 referring to different extreme conditions. As only a few devices support all sub-categories, it is important to note exactly which of them is supported by a certain device.
A capital letter added to the name indicates which specifications are met - MIL-STD 810F for example means resistance to rain, shock, vibration, dust, humidity, salt fog and extreme temperatures.
A type of USB connector. USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus". Devices connected to the computer using a USB cable can flawlessly transfer files and information between the phone and the computer (if Mass Storage mode is supported files can be transferred without the need of special drivers or software).
Some devices can be charged when the USB cable is connected to the computer. There are different USB interfaces: Mini-USB (with two subtypes - Mini-A and Mini-B) is one of them,but it's in the process of being replaced by the newer and slimmer Micro-USB interface.
The miniUSB connector however is still the most popular connector type in portable devices.
A memory card is a flash memory data storage device used in a wide range of digital devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, music players, etc. They are small, rugged and offer high re-record ability and power-free operation.
There is a wide range of memory card formats, miniSD (SD stand for Secure Digital) being one of them. It's now considered an outdated standard and in the current generation of portable devices has been replaced by the microSD and microSDHC formats.
A memory card is a flash memory data storage device used in a wide range of digital devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, music players, etc. They are small, rugged and offer high re-record ability and power-free operation.
There is a wide range of memory card formats. MMC (which stands for "Multi Media Card") is one of the oldest formats and has been replaced by newer ones like SD, microSD and microSDHC. Physically, it's fully compatible with SD cards.
A memory card is a flash memory data storage device used in a wide range of digital devices such as mobile phones, digital cameras, PDAs, music players, etc. They are small, rugged and offer high re-record ability and power-free operation.
There is a wide range of memory card formats. MMC (which stands for "Multi Media Card") is one of the oldest formats and has been replaced by newer ones like SD, microSD and microSDHC.
MMCmobile cards are based on the RS-MMC cards and share the same mini form factor. The difference between them is that MMCmobile cards are dual-voltage and can operate in older phones with a high-voltage (3V) slot as well as in newer models with a low-voltage (1.8V) slot.
The MMCmobile standard is now considered an outdated standard and has been replaced by newer ones like microSD and microSDHC.
Abbreviated as MMS, the Multimedia Messaging Service is a store and forward messaging service that allows subscribers to exchange multimedia files as messages.
MMS supports the transmission of various media types: text, picture, audio, video, or a combination of all four.
The originator can easily create a Multimedia Message, by snaping a photo with the phone camera, or by using images and sounds stored previously in the phone (or downloaded from a web site).
If the recipient phone is not switched on or it has not been setup to receive MMS messages, the Multimedia Message will be stored in a special repository offered by the GSM carrier.
In order to send or receive a MMS, the user must have a compatible phone that is running over a GPRS or 3G network. Most current mobile phones and operator networks support MMS.
The maximum message size (along with the attachments) is generally limited to 300KB (MMS 1.2), but recently the MMS 1.3 standard has allowed for a maximum size of 600KB. Wireless carriers however can impose their own size restrictions. Whenever possible we will try and state the MMS version supported by the individual handsets in our database.
Many phones include simple games for the user to pass the time. The games referred to here are ones preinstalled on the phone and do not require a wireless connection to play.
With mobile phones getting ever more powerful, the games are following suit in terms of complexity and graphics.
Some phones even have dedicated gaming keys and even look like portable mini gaming consoles.
Some of the latest phones have a built-in accelerometer sensor, which can be utilized by games to provide more interactive gameplay. In those so-called motion-based games, you can steer, for instance, by tilting your phone in the respective direction.
Usually, when there are some games preinstalled, more can be downloaded over the air using the phone's built-in web browser or they can be downloaded onto a desktop computer and then transferred to the mobile phone via a data cable.
There are several different technologies for downloadable games for feature phones, including Java, BREW,Mophun, and WGE. The technologies are incompatible between each other, although some phones supportmore than one of them.
Additionally, native mobile games for smartphones with their respective mobile OSs also represent a large share of the mobile game market.
Bear in mind that a certain mobile phone model can be bundled with different games depending on the regional market or even the network carrier.
Mobile Instant Messaging is the ability to engage in Instant Messaging services from a mobile handset.
Allows users to address messages to others using a dynamic address book full of users with their online status updated constantly. That allows anyone participating to know when their "buddies" are available for chat.
The advantage of mobile IM is that messages are sent and received in real-time via mobile handsets on-the-go without a stationary computer. Mobile IM is seen as a natural evolution of the popular SMS service.
Mobile IM is available from some operators or mobile phone manufacturers now, but unfortunately, it is not
always possible to use IM services between different operators.
When we state IM in our specs sheet that usually means the phone is equipped with a proprietary IM solution.
Those solutions frequently rely on either carrier support or can be used between users with handsets of one and the same make.
Fortunately, popular third-party IM providers such as ICQ, Skype, Google Talk, MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc. are
alleviating the situation by making their own mobile applications allowing mobile phones to engage in Instant Messaging independently of their carrier or mobile phone manufacturer. The only prerequisite is having internet access on the go - over GPRS or 3G.
Mobile WiMAX (WiMAX comes from "Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access") is a technical wireless standard allowing web browsing and wireless data transfer on the move. It's an another way of calling the 802.16e protocol.
WiMAX technology provides the equivalent of broadband speeds without the need for cables, and service coverage can extend over an entire city, region or even a whole country.
Access to the WiMAX wireless service is subject to a monthly subscription and it requires the use of a dedicated WiMAX modem, which is usually supplied for free by the operator.
WiMAX technology allows for data transfer speeds of up to 75Mbps, but in reality they tend to be a lot lower than that, at around 1-10 Mbps tops.
Comes from "MOdulator/DEModulator". A device or a component of a device used for transferring information.
Information is encoded (the modem modulates the signal) and decoded (the signal is being demodulated) so it can be transmitted easily over a network (wireless, as well).
Literally "one color". A monochrome display is commonly known as a black and white or grayscale display. In mobile phones such black-and-white displays often utilize a colored backlight such as green, blue or orange.
Monochrome displays are no longer used for primary displays in mobile phones, but some are still used as external secondary screens.
An audio storage protocol that stores music in a compressed format with very little loss in sound quality. MP3 is the most common MPEG format for audio files. MP3 files can be played using the music player of the mobile phone or set as a ringtone.
MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group)
A wide range of formats for digital audio and video files. The most common among them are MPEG-4 (for video) and MP3 (for audio).
MPEG-4 is one of the latest video/audio compression method standardized by MPEG group, designed specially for low-bandwidth (less than 1.5MBit/sec bitrate) video/audio encoding purposes.
MPEG-4 is designed to deliver DVD-quality video (MPEG-2) at lower data rates and smaller file sizes.
It should be noted that unlike MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, the MPEG-4's predecessors, MPEG-4 itself isn't just one unified encoding mechanism, but rather a group name for several flavors of video and audio encoding methods that share certain same characteristics. These "flavors" are often referred either as "profiles" or "layers" in MPEG-4 compression scheme and each new profile should be backwards compliant to the older, "lower" versions of MPEG-4 in terms of playback capability.
Probably the best-known MPEG-4 video encoders are called DivX and XviD, which both are nowadays fully standard-compliant MPEG-4 encoders. The most common MPEG-4 profiles that both XviD and DivX use extensively are called "simple profile" and "advanced simple profile".
Beside those two standardized video encoding profiles, the MPEG-4 group has standardized several other profiles. The most important ones are H263+ (which is used widely in mobile phones, dubbed as 3GP) and H.264 (often also called as AVC or more technically known as MPEG-4 Part 10).
Since MPEG-4 is a container format, MPEG-4 files may contain any number of audio, video, and even subtitle
streams, making it impossible to determine the type of streams in an MPEG-4 file based on its filename extension alone.
The official filename extension for MPEG-4 Part 14 files is .mp4, thus the container format is often referred to simply as MP4. However various file extensions are also commonly used to indicate the content inside the MP4 container:
• MPEG-4 files with audio and video generally use the standard .mp4 extension.
• Audio-only MPEG-4 files generally have a .m4a extension. This is especially true of non-protected content.
• MPEG-4 files with audio streams encrypted by FairPlay Digital Rights Management as sold through the iTunes Store use the .m4p extension.
• Audio book and podcast files, which also contain metadata including chapter markers, images, and hyperlinks, can use the extension .m4a, but more commonly use the .m4b extension. An .m4a audio file
cannot "bookmark" (remember the last listening spot), whereas .m4b extension files can.
• Raw MPEG-4 Visual bitstreams are named .m4v.
• Mobile phones use 3GP, a simplified version of MPEG-4 Part 12 (a.k.a MPEG-4/JPEG2000 ISO Base Media file format), with the .3gp and .3g2 extensions. These files also store non-MPEG-4 data (H.263, AMR, TX3G).
The common but non-standard use of the extensions .m4a and .m4v is due to the popularity of Apple's iPod, iPhone, and iTunes Store, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Zune. Without mods, Nintendo's DSi and Sony's PSP can also play M4A.
In mobile computing, multi-touch refers to the capability of a touchscreen (or a touchpad) to recognize two or more points of contact on the surface concurrently. The constant tracking of the multiple points allows the mobile phone interface to recognize gestures, which enable advanced functionality such as pinch-to-zoom .
The multi-touch sensing doesn't work on the resistive type of touchscreens (budget touch phones), the capability comes inherited in capacitive touchscreens (majority of touch phones nowadays).
Apple is considered the pioneer of multi-touch technology on mobile phones with their first iPhone. They introduced the pinch-to-zoom gesture that is now available across various platforms.
Music playback time is the officially quoted longest time that a single battery charge will last when you use the phone as a music player only.
Usually those numbers are only achievable when the phone is set to Flight mode (i.e. all transceivers are off) and the headphones are used (as opposed to the loudspeaker). These numbers are best used as reference when comparing phones from the same manufacturer because battery life measurement methodology will probably vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
memory.
NAND memory is a popular type of flash memory.
Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. Non-volatile means that no power is needed to maintain the information stored in the chip.
Flash memory is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives as solid state storage and its main purpose is being an inexpensive way of storing or transferring data between computers and other digital products. It's used as primary storage memory on various portable devices due to its low cost, compact size, high physical endurance and low power consumption.
Another popular type of flash memory is NOR flash memory.
Network capacity is the amount of traffic that a network can handle at any given time. This includes the number of simultaneous voice calls and maximum data speeds. Capacity varies by area.
The geographical area covered by the network of a service provider. Within this area, the phone will be able to complete a call using the carrier's network or a partner network.
NFC is a short-range high frequency wireless communication technology that enables the exchange of data between devices over about a 10 cm distance.
NFC is an upgrade of the existing proximity card standard (RFID) that combines the interface of a smartcard and a reader into a single device. It allows users to seamlessly share content between digital devices, pay bills wirelessly or even use their cellphone as an electronic traveling ticket on existing contactless infrastructure already in use for public transportation.
The significant advantage of NFC over Bluetooth is the shorter set-up time. Instead of performing manual configurations to identify Bluetooth devices, the connection between two NFC devices is established at once (under a 1/10 second).
Due to its shorter range, NFC provides a higher degree of security than Bluetooth and makes NFC suitable for crowded areas where correlating a signal with its transmitting physical device (and by extension, its user) might otherwise prove impossible.
NFC can also work when one of the devices is not powered by a battery (e.g. on a phone that may be turned off, a contactless smart credit card, etc.).
Used to describe an early inexpensive rechargeable battery type which, if not completely discharged before charging, can suffer from the so called "memory effect" that reduces the battery's life.
NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride)
Used to describe a rechargeable battery type which, if not completely discharged before charging, can suffer from the so called "memory effect" that reduces the battery's life. The NiMH-batteries can hold more power than the NiCd-ones, and also suffer much less from the "memory effect" than NiCd-batteries.
NOR flash memory is one of the two popular types of flash memory. The other is the newer NAND flash memory.
Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. Non-volatile means that no power is needed to maintain the information stored on the chip.
Flash memory is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives as solid state storage and its main purpose is an inexpensive way of storing or transferring data between computers and other digital products. It's used as primary storage memory on various portable devices due to its low cost, compact size, high physical endurance and low power consumption.
A standard phone keypad consisting of the numbers from 0 to 9 and including the signs "*" and "#".
Alphanumeric keypads are an upgrade to those and are used to enter text as well as numbers. They include alphabet characters - usually several letters are assigned to each of the numeric keys - and you can toggle their input by pressing the corresponding key several times, often referred to as "multi-tap" input.
Macro
mAh
The milliampere-hour (mAh) is one-thousandth of an ampere-hour and is a technical term for how much electrical charge a particular battery will hold. As an example, using higher mAh batteries in a device with constant electrical consumption will theoretically give you longer operating times.
Mass Storage mode
Usually, in Mass Storage mode, the phone's memory is mounted as a removable drive by the computer OS and cannot be used by the phone itself. That's the reason why some phones only allow an inserted memory card to be mounted in Mass Storage mode thus keeping their system partition inaccessible on the computer in this mode.
MB (Megabyte)
Mbps (Megabit per second)
Megapixel
Memory card slot
Memory cards have different capacities and are used to store and transfer files between compatible devices.
There are several types of memory cards. The most popular and frequently used by mobile phone manufacturers is microSD; however, up until recently Sony Ericsson exclusively used the Memory Stick Micro (M2) card type developed by Sony.
Memory card slots can have various supported memory card capacities. Depending on the device, card slots can support capacities of up to 2, 4, 8, 16 or even the yet unavailable 32GB.
As manufacturers rarely test their products for compatibility with newer and larger cards that come out after a specific handset is out on the market, whenever it is possible, we try to verify that larger capacity cards run on older phones.
When we confirm that a mobile phone works with a larger capacity memory card than what the manufacturer has advertized, we usually put that down in the phone specs sheet in our database.
That way, when you see the word "verified" in the Card slot field, you will know our reviewing team has personally tested the device for compatibility with the stated capacity and they are compatible even though it may not be officially stated so by the manufacturer.
Still, you should take that information with a pinch of salt, as your mileage with your specific unit may vary.
Memory effect
Messaging
For more information, please visit the relevant glossary articles.
MHz (Megahertz)
Micro USB
A type of USB connector. USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus". Devices connected to the computer using a USB cable can easily exchange files and information (if the device supports Mass Storage mode, the files can be transferred without the need for special drivers or software).
Some devices can be charged via the USB cable when connected to the computer. There are different USB interfaces: MicroUSB (with two subtypes - Micro-A and Micro-B) is one of them, and was developed to replace the older MiniUSB interface. However, the latter is still the most popular connector type in portable devices.
microSD
There is a wide range of memory card formats. MicroSD (SD stands for "Secure Digital") and M2 (memory Stick Micro) are the smallest at the current time. The microSD format was originally called TransFlash or T-Flash.
microSDHC
Microsoft Exchange (Server)
MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
MIDI files keep information that describes the instruments, notes and timing of the music. This can then be recreated on MIDI-capable devices as music.
More sophisticated MIDI devices can not only reproduce consecutive notes (monophony) but are able to create realistic-sounding music by synthesizing several notes simultaneously - polyphony. The more notes the synthesizer can play simultaneously, the nicer it sounds.
MIDI files were commonly used as mobile phone ringtones before the support for the MP3/AAC standard was widely adopted.
MIDP (Mobile Information Device Profile)
Mil-Spec (MIL-STD) Comes from "Military Specification/Standard". With regards to mobile phones, it normally refers to the US Army's set of standards, called MIL-STD 810.
These standards specify the requirements that a rugged device must fulfill, such as surviving certain environmental conditions.
There are lots of sub-categories of the MIL-STD 810 referring to different extreme conditions. As only a few devices support all sub-categories, it is important to note exactly which of them is supported by a certain device.
A capital letter added to the name indicates which specifications are met - MIL-STD 810F for example means resistance to rain, shock, vibration, dust, humidity, salt fog and extreme temperatures.
Mini-USB
Some devices can be charged when the USB cable is connected to the computer. There are different USB interfaces: Mini-USB (with two subtypes - Mini-A and Mini-B) is one of them,but it's in the process of being replaced by the newer and slimmer Micro-USB interface.
The miniUSB connector however is still the most popular connector type in portable devices.
miniSD
There is a wide range of memory card formats, miniSD (SD stand for Secure Digital) being one of them. It's now considered an outdated standard and in the current generation of portable devices has been replaced by the microSD and microSDHC formats.
MMC
There is a wide range of memory card formats. MMC (which stands for "Multi Media Card") is one of the oldest formats and has been replaced by newer ones like SD, microSD and microSDHC. Physically, it's fully compatible with SD cards.
MMCmobile
There is a wide range of memory card formats. MMC (which stands for "Multi Media Card") is one of the oldest formats and has been replaced by newer ones like SD, microSD and microSDHC.
MMCmobile cards are based on the RS-MMC cards and share the same mini form factor. The difference between them is that MMCmobile cards are dual-voltage and can operate in older phones with a high-voltage (3V) slot as well as in newer models with a low-voltage (1.8V) slot.
The MMCmobile standard is now considered an outdated standard and has been replaced by newer ones like microSD and microSDHC.
MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)
MMS supports the transmission of various media types: text, picture, audio, video, or a combination of all four.
The originator can easily create a Multimedia Message, by snaping a photo with the phone camera, or by using images and sounds stored previously in the phone (or downloaded from a web site).
If the recipient phone is not switched on or it has not been setup to receive MMS messages, the Multimedia Message will be stored in a special repository offered by the GSM carrier.
In order to send or receive a MMS, the user must have a compatible phone that is running over a GPRS or 3G network. Most current mobile phones and operator networks support MMS.
The maximum message size (along with the attachments) is generally limited to 300KB (MMS 1.2), but recently the MMS 1.3 standard has allowed for a maximum size of 600KB. Wireless carriers however can impose their own size restrictions. Whenever possible we will try and state the MMS version supported by the individual handsets in our database.
Mobile games
With mobile phones getting ever more powerful, the games are following suit in terms of complexity and graphics.
Some phones even have dedicated gaming keys and even look like portable mini gaming consoles.
Some of the latest phones have a built-in accelerometer sensor, which can be utilized by games to provide more interactive gameplay. In those so-called motion-based games, you can steer, for instance, by tilting your phone in the respective direction.
Usually, when there are some games preinstalled, more can be downloaded over the air using the phone's built-in web browser or they can be downloaded onto a desktop computer and then transferred to the mobile phone via a data cable.
There are several different technologies for downloadable games for feature phones, including Java, BREW,Mophun, and WGE. The technologies are incompatible between each other, although some phones supportmore than one of them.
Additionally, native mobile games for smartphones with their respective mobile OSs also represent a large share of the mobile game market.
Bear in mind that a certain mobile phone model can be bundled with different games depending on the regional market or even the network carrier.
Mobile IM (Instant Messaging)
Mobile IM
The advantage of mobile IM is that messages are sent and received in real-time via mobile handsets on-the-go without a stationary computer. Mobile IM is seen as a natural evolution of the popular SMS service.
Mobile IM is available from some operators or mobile phone manufacturers now, but unfortunately, it is not
always possible to use IM services between different operators.
When we state IM in our specs sheet that usually means the phone is equipped with a proprietary IM solution.
Those solutions frequently rely on either carrier support or can be used between users with handsets of one and the same make.
Fortunately, popular third-party IM providers such as ICQ, Skype, Google Talk, MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc. are
alleviating the situation by making their own mobile applications allowing mobile phones to engage in Instant Messaging independently of their carrier or mobile phone manufacturer. The only prerequisite is having internet access on the go - over GPRS or 3G.
Mobile WiMAX
WiMAX technology provides the equivalent of broadband speeds without the need for cables, and service coverage can extend over an entire city, region or even a whole country.
Access to the WiMAX wireless service is subject to a monthly subscription and it requires the use of a dedicated WiMAX modem, which is usually supplied for free by the operator.
WiMAX technology allows for data transfer speeds of up to 75Mbps, but in reality they tend to be a lot lower than that, at around 1-10 Mbps tops.
Modem
Information is encoded (the modem modulates the signal) and decoded (the signal is being demodulated) so it can be transmitted easily over a network (wireless, as well).
Monochrome
Monochrome displays are no longer used for primary displays in mobile phones, but some are still used as external secondary screens.
MP3 (MPEG Layer 3)
MPEG (Motion Picture Experts Group)
A wide range of formats for digital audio and video files. The most common among them are MPEG-4 (for video) and MP3 (for audio).
MPEG-4 video
MPEG-4 is designed to deliver DVD-quality video (MPEG-2) at lower data rates and smaller file sizes.
It should be noted that unlike MPEG-1 and MPEG-2, the MPEG-4's predecessors, MPEG-4 itself isn't just one unified encoding mechanism, but rather a group name for several flavors of video and audio encoding methods that share certain same characteristics. These "flavors" are often referred either as "profiles" or "layers" in MPEG-4 compression scheme and each new profile should be backwards compliant to the older, "lower" versions of MPEG-4 in terms of playback capability.
Probably the best-known MPEG-4 video encoders are called DivX and XviD, which both are nowadays fully standard-compliant MPEG-4 encoders. The most common MPEG-4 profiles that both XviD and DivX use extensively are called "simple profile" and "advanced simple profile".
Beside those two standardized video encoding profiles, the MPEG-4 group has standardized several other profiles. The most important ones are H263+ (which is used widely in mobile phones, dubbed as 3GP) and H.264 (often also called as AVC or more technically known as MPEG-4 Part 10).
Since MPEG-4 is a container format, MPEG-4 files may contain any number of audio, video, and even subtitle
streams, making it impossible to determine the type of streams in an MPEG-4 file based on its filename extension alone.
The official filename extension for MPEG-4 Part 14 files is .mp4, thus the container format is often referred to simply as MP4. However various file extensions are also commonly used to indicate the content inside the MP4 container:
• MPEG-4 files with audio and video generally use the standard .mp4 extension.
• Audio-only MPEG-4 files generally have a .m4a extension. This is especially true of non-protected content.
• MPEG-4 files with audio streams encrypted by FairPlay Digital Rights Management as sold through the iTunes Store use the .m4p extension.
• Audio book and podcast files, which also contain metadata including chapter markers, images, and hyperlinks, can use the extension .m4a, but more commonly use the .m4b extension. An .m4a audio file
cannot "bookmark" (remember the last listening spot), whereas .m4b extension files can.
• Raw MPEG-4 Visual bitstreams are named .m4v.
• Mobile phones use 3GP, a simplified version of MPEG-4 Part 12 (a.k.a MPEG-4/JPEG2000 ISO Base Media file format), with the .3gp and .3g2 extensions. These files also store non-MPEG-4 data (H.263, AMR, TX3G).
The common but non-standard use of the extensions .m4a and .m4v is due to the popularity of Apple's iPod, iPhone, and iTunes Store, and Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Zune. Without mods, Nintendo's DSi and Sony's PSP can also play M4A.
Multitouch input method
The multi-touch sensing doesn't work on the resistive type of touchscreens (budget touch phones), the capability comes inherited in capacitive touchscreens (majority of touch phones nowadays).
Apple is considered the pioneer of multi-touch technology on mobile phones with their first iPhone. They introduced the pinch-to-zoom gesture that is now available across various platforms.
Music playback time (battery life)
Usually those numbers are only achievable when the phone is set to Flight mode (i.e. all transceivers are off) and the headphones are used (as opposed to the loudspeaker). These numbers are best used as reference when comparing phones from the same manufacturer because battery life measurement methodology will probably vary from manufacturer to manufacturer.
Music Player
A mobile phone application that allows you to listen to music files stored in the phone's internal or externalmemory.
NAND Memory
Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. Non-volatile means that no power is needed to maintain the information stored in the chip.
Flash memory is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives as solid state storage and its main purpose is being an inexpensive way of storing or transferring data between computers and other digital products. It's used as primary storage memory on various portable devices due to its low cost, compact size, high physical endurance and low power consumption.
Another popular type of flash memory is NOR flash memory.
Network capacity
Network coverage
NFC (Near Field Communication)
NFC is an upgrade of the existing proximity card standard (RFID) that combines the interface of a smartcard and a reader into a single device. It allows users to seamlessly share content between digital devices, pay bills wirelessly or even use their cellphone as an electronic traveling ticket on existing contactless infrastructure already in use for public transportation.
The significant advantage of NFC over Bluetooth is the shorter set-up time. Instead of performing manual configurations to identify Bluetooth devices, the connection between two NFC devices is established at once (under a 1/10 second).
Due to its shorter range, NFC provides a higher degree of security than Bluetooth and makes NFC suitable for crowded areas where correlating a signal with its transmitting physical device (and by extension, its user) might otherwise prove impossible.
NFC can also work when one of the devices is not powered by a battery (e.g. on a phone that may be turned off, a contactless smart credit card, etc.).
NiCd (Nickel Cadmium)
NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride)
Used to describe a rechargeable battery type which, if not completely discharged before charging, can suffer from the so called "memory effect" that reduces the battery's life. The NiMH-batteries can hold more power than the NiCd-ones, and also suffer much less from the "memory effect" than NiCd-batteries.
NOR Memory
Flash memory is non-volatile computer memory that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. Non-volatile means that no power is needed to maintain the information stored on the chip.
Flash memory is a technology that is primarily used in memory cards and USB flash drives as solid state storage and its main purpose is an inexpensive way of storing or transferring data between computers and other digital products. It's used as primary storage memory on various portable devices due to its low cost, compact size, high physical endurance and low power consumption.
Numeric keypad
Alphanumeric keypads are an upgrade to those and are used to enter text as well as numbers. They include alphabet characters - usually several letters are assigned to each of the numeric keys - and you can toggle their input by pressing the corresponding key several times, often referred to as "multi-tap" input.
