I’ve been working in the wireless industry for about ten years now; about 80% of that time was spent in retail sales working closely with mobile phones during that 9:00-5:00 grind. Since then, I have yet to see an effective solution for the SIM card slots. Obviously this is targeting GSM carriers, but I’m confident you CDMA loyal have a SIM slot for international use or even have dealt with a friends in one way or another.

That being said, is it safe to say that I’m not the only one frustrated with the current design of SIM card modules in many of today’s handsets? Dealing with hundreds of phones per day involved lots of troubleshooting and often times removing the SIM card was a part of it. I always felt to accomplish this my nails had to be perfectly groomed with the perfect amount of friction; otherwise I’d be forced to result to some sort of tool to pry it out (see photo, above left). It was annoying to say the least and at times even embarrassing when a customer puts you on a pedestal to fix their problems.

So what’s the solution here? I would personally love to see a spring loaded SIM slot. Why not, right? It’s nothing new, just simple and effective in my opinion. If it can be implemented on a phone for an SD card it couldn’t be too difficult to do the same for the SIM. For those who are unfamiliar, a spring loaded slot basically allows you to insert an object into its slot, push down on a spring which coils and locks it into place, and then eject the object when pushed down slightly further as the lock is released and the spring expands to its original form. This is commonly found on laptops, digital cameras, and even Nintendo DS.

Perhaps this is just a personal rant; so be it! I understand that the design of a SIM slot in a phone may be the least of an engineer’s worries, but if they can utilize technology to create a paper thin flexible high resolution display (AMOLED), then surely what I’m proposing is not too far of a stretch. That’s just my opinion, and the point of all this is that I care about yours. What do you think about this? Dump GSM and go CDMA all the way? It’s really not a big deal? Already seen this done? Let us know!