Word: handset
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...longtime partner Intel don't actually put together PCs, they aren't going to start churning out cell phones. What the two companies announced last week is a plan to license their blueprint of the innards of a cell phone to manufacturers; wireless companies can decide what the handset will look like and how much of the Microsoft software it will contain. While vastly increasing the versatility of your cell phone, the insides are standardized and therefore much easier to make. Which means we should start to see fewer squat, black, one-size-fits-all devices. "We want to help...
...nasty turn, with statistics showing that cell-phone theft is not only rising, it also is becoming more violent. In response, lawmakers have vowed to use everything from tough new sentencing laws to modern technologies to deter cell-phone thieves. But there remains a disquieting feeling that operators and handset makers are dragging their feet, focusing more on revenue from calls and future sales (victims need to get new phones) than customers' frustrations...
What's the best way to disable a stolen phone? At present, a victim of cell-phone theft contacts the operating network to block the subscriber identity module, or sim card, to prevent further calls from that number. The handset, however, will remain operational if a new sim card is inserted. So current attempts to combat the use of stolen cell phones are also focusing on the handset's IMEI, or international mobile equipment identifier, an individual serial number for each phone that is transmitted when a call is made from that handset. Mobile phone operators could pool information...
...hold of an IMEI? Type *#06# on your cell-phone keypad and see. And that's the problem - for those who know what they're doing, IMEIs can be almost as easy to alter as they are to access. Although some operators already bar stolen handsets from their networks, others say IMEI-based measures are ineffective, because criminals with access to the right software can hack into stolen phones and change the serial number, possibly to duplicate a legitimate IMEI. Block-ing stolen IMEIs looks "like a nice gesture towards the customers, but has no real impact," says Petr Stoklasa...
Operators express concern that occasionally the wrong IMEI could be mistakenly supplied and a bona fide customer could be incorrectly cut off. They also allege that manufacturers sometimes duplicate IMEI numbers, so barring calls from a particular IMEI could render a legitimate handset useless. Not the case, say some manufacturers, although others admit to using the same IMEI numbers in handsets destined for different parts of the world. Would disabling all stolen IMEI numbers be such a bad idea? "Imagine you have 100 phones with the same IMEI, and you cut them all off," says Jack Wraith, a spokes...