Tuesday, 12 May 2009

how to hold a SIM?


With the glone2 still in the initial design phase, I am finding it very hard to keep my ideas simple, lest it quickly become another pipe dream.

Having said that, I am adding new bits to it at an alarming rate. Recently, I have been looking at the idea of an aerial in the product. This obviously must be functional and also away from the body and relatively efficient. It must also however, fit the "look". I would like to have it resemble a light bulb coil; sitting externally to the phone casing. I am thinking carefully coiled 2mm copper cable.

Of course, I have no idea whether this will function as an effective aerial. I don't know the wavelengths of Nokias, how coiling the wire will change it and indeed what to do with the facts if I were to be handed them. The last thing that I want to do is just to blindly build it and find that the device has no signal.

Secondly on the ideas board is the battery holder. This is another box that will sit on the forearm. I'd like to have an LED and ignition key attached in series with the battery terminal. This way the phone won't be permanently live and might save it from being damaged.

Finally is the issue of the SIM card. Now the original Glone had this hidden away on the underside of the pcb. This is not the case on the Nokia, which handily has a small plastic block with the terminals on it. The Glone2 must have a way for the user to insert a SIM card with little fuss, but how? It could be a small slot that the user pushes the card into, leaving a little sticking out for later retrieval, or design a hatch to access the SIM card "bay". Either way will require some fancy construction to create an object capable of holding the card in place. This was why I avoided it on the original.

1 comment:

trotmaster said...

Looks like there are readers around:
http://www.wivia.com/product_info.php/products_id/213