What is a MicroSIM or 3FF SIM Card ?

Each and everyone of us use a SIM card today. Not only one, may be many.What was once an expensive chip to acquire back in the early days of mobile telephony has become a very cheap plastic card that is available even for free if the mobile operators are desperate to add new connections. Yesterday Apple announced theiPad which works over Wi-Fi and 3G / GSM networks with microSIM cards. If you thought that the MicroSIM or 3FF Sim Card is a new invention , you might be wrong . The introduction of these cards dates back to 2003.

According to a story by SmartCardTrends , the ESTI or The European Telecommunications Standards Institute‘s  project Smart Card platform planned to introduce a  new smart card which was half the size of the current day SIM Cards or Subscriber Identity Module. The introduction was mainly to cater to the Data Only GSM devices in the market.  With the MicroSIM card you can have a SIM inside your watch , Camera , iPad  or pretty much any device which needs only data and no telephony unlike the normal SIM Card.

Here is a great visual comparison from a Swiss institute

This new form of the SIM card was named the 3FF SIM Card or Third Form Factor.

First Form – Credit Card Sized cards

Second Form – Stamp Sized SIM cards like you see in the image above

Third Form – microSIM

A 3FF SIM  Card measures only 12mm x 15mm compared to the current SIM card which measures 15×25 mm

Airtel iPhone 4 Price , Plans

Airtel launched iPhone 4 in India last week for the price of 34, 500 for the 16GB version and 40,900 for the 32GB version of the iPhone 4. Here are the postpaid and prepaid plans available with the iPhone 4. All the plans mentioned here are monthly for the period of 24months.

Airtel iPhone 4 Postpaid Plans

Effective Monthly Rental (Rs)	300	400	500	600	700	800	1000
Free A2A local minutes / month	550	700	950	1050	1250	1440	1900
Free Local SMS / month	500	750	1000	1250	1500	1750	2000
Free 3G data (MB) / month	300	400	600	800	950	1150	1350

After the monthly consumption in the offered postpaid plan is over, you would be charged at 50p for all local calls, Re1 for SMS and 3p/30kb for Data.

Airtel iPhone 4 Prepaid Plans

Monthly Recharge Amount (Rs)	600	1006	1601	2002
Monthly Charges After Discounts (Rs)	328	548	875	1094
Free A2A local minutes / month	550	950	1400	1900
Free Local SMS / month	500	1000	1750	2000
Free 3G data (MB) / month	300	600	1150	1350

After the monthly consumption in the offered prepaid plan is over, you would be charged at 50p for all local calls, Re1 for SMS and 30 p / 20 KB for data. You may opt for 3G data packs except flexi shield and time based plans.

If you opt for prepaid plans, you need to recharge for a particular amount (Rs 600 for example) and the discount amount (Rs 272) would be credited back to your main account balance within 3 to 4 days which could be used for voice, SMS or data. You may also switch between the higher or lower range of postpaid or prepaid plans, over the period of 24 months.

These plans are completely optional and you could choose any new or existing plans or any other network, since these devices are sold factory unlocked.

PS: Apple is holding a major event on June 6th in USA and there is a slight chance of a new iPhone being launched. Apple has only confirmed that it will launch a new version of software for the iPhone. Other rumours indicate that that new iPhone will launch only in September this year. If you are really concerned about this , we suggest you wait till June 6th. But if have made up your mind yo get an iPhone4 from Airtel. Head over to theStore locator

Supersonic Concept Plane Eliminating Sonic Boom

The 1^st word that comes to your mind when you look at this concept is speed. This is simple one of the most aerodynamic flying aircrafts I have seen in a while. I would even say that this is the flying Pinocchio…

It will be a concept supersonic passenger or cargo carrier that will try to reduce the noise that supersonic planes usually do when they fly over land. Could this be what the future stores for us when it comes to air travel?

Supersonic Plane

Produced by Frassanito & Associates it will offer a nice solution for future projects. Although for the time being this is at the state of concept things could turn out for the best if some good publicity is made. It may look silly at 1^st but think of the nice “supersonic” impact it could have on all of us.

Supersonic Plane