Glossary

The SEGA Mobile Glossary

The mobile world can be a confusing place. But don't worry, because your friends at SEGA Mobile are here to help demystify some of the terms you will face in this mobile age.

3G - Third Generation: An industry term for digital wireless devices on packet switched networks. What this means to you is high-speed data, more bandwidth, full-color screens, and more robust applications like SEGA Mobile games. 3G evolved from 2G (digital phones).

Bluetooth - A wireless technology that allows for connectivity between mobile devices, PCs, the Internet, and more - all without cables.

BREW - Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless: A mobile applications platform created by QUALCOMM. BREW is a programming language based on C/C++, an end-to-end distribution system for getting applications to market.

CDMA - Code Division Multiple Access: A major technology for delivering digital wireless service. CDMA works by letting everyone use the same mobileular spectrum, and separating each call with a unique code. This differs from TDMA (the competing standard), which divides the spectrum into smaller shared channels.

Circuit Switching - A type of communication that uses a dedicated channel for the duration of the transmission. A good example of this is the standard telephone system, which is linked together via wires. As far as wireless goes, circuit switching is old-school stuff, and is being replaced by packet switching in 3G.

CMX - Compact Media Extension: A QUALCOMM technology that offers time-synchronized multimedia output of MIDI music, text, graphics, and voice in mobile devices.

DSTN - Dual Scan Twisted Nematic: An upgrade to the STN type of LCD displays. It uses two display layers, which helps correct some of the problems found in a normal STN display.

GPRS - General Packet Radio Service: A packet-based network technology for GSM. GPRS transmits non-voice data, such as WAP services, SMS messaging, and more.

GSM - Global System for Mobile: One of the world's main second generation (2G) digital wireless standards. GSM uses TDMA to deliver voice and data with full roaming capabilities around the world.

IM - Instant Messaging: Technology that allows two people to chat electronically in real time.

IR - Infrared: The range of invisible radiation wavelengths that are longer than light but shorter than radio, and are used for short-range communication between mobile devices. When you see two people pointing their PDAs at each other, they are either using their IR ports.

J2ME - Java 2 Micro Edition: A highly optimized version of the Java runtime environment, made for everything from mobile phones to desktops. In the case of gaming, it's one of the two major platforms you'll find on mobile phones (BREW is the other one).

LCD - Liquid Crystal Display: A technology used for displays in a variety of electronic devices, including everything from wristwatches to laptops. There are several kinds of LCD screens used in mobile devices and each has its own fun acronym, including DSTN, STN, and TFT.

MIDI - Musical Instrument Digital Interface: A standard that allows digital musical instruments to communicate with one another. In mobile device terms, MIDI is what gives you polyphonic sounds; which means your ring tones can sound like real music instead of annoying beeps.

Packet Switching - A type of communication that splits information into "packets" of data for transmission. This is efficient, as it only uses radio spectrum when it's actually sending something, rather than keeping an open channel at all times (as is done in circuit switching). Packet switching is a core component to 3G technologies.

Palm OS - The operating system that runs many popular PDA’s. Palm OS is an open-standard platform that stresses simplicity and expandability. It was originally created for Palm PDA’s, and has since become the OS of choice on PDA’s from many different companies.

PCS - Personal Communications Services: A broad range of services that allow mobile devices to communicate with each other. PCS mainly refers to a group of three digital cellular technologies in the U.S. - GSM, CDMA, and TDMA.

PDA - PDA is a Personal Digital Assistant: A pocket-sized computer that is part day planner, part Internet terminal, and part game machine (according to us, anyway). PDA’s come in two major technologies - Palm and Pocket PC.

Pocket PC - A major line of PDA’s that run a modified version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It's like having a PC in your pocket - hence the clever name.

SMS - Short Message Service: A way to deliver short text messages to mobile devices. These messages usually have a maximum character count of 160, and are responsible for a sweeping lack of productivity in America's youth.

TDMA - Time Division Multiple Access: A major technology for delivering digital wireless service. TDMA works by dividing a radio frequency into time slots and using those slots for multiple calls, which allows a single frequency to carry multiple data channels. This differs from CDMA (the competing standard), in which all calls share the complete cellular spectrum, but are divided by unique encoding.

TFT - Thin Film Transistor: An LCD technology that uses transistors (thousands of them, actually) to precisely control the voltage to each liquid crystal mobile. This is also referred to as an "active matrix" display. TFT screens offer the best image quality and refresh rates, but at a higher cost.

WAP - Wireless Access Protocol: An open, global standard for bringing Internet content to mobile devices. WAP works on most wireless networks (including CDMA and TDMA), and delivers content via a markup language called WML.

WML - Wireless Markup Language: The markup language for WAP. WML is based on XML (HTML's more flexible cousin), and was built to work within the constraints of narrowband devices.