FastPort
Encyclopedia
The FastPort is proprietary port/connector used on all Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB is a joint venture established on October 1, 2001 by the Japanese consumer electronics company Sony Corporation and the Swedish telecommunications company Ericsson to manufacture mobile phones....

 cellphones since approx. 2005. The FastPort connector is similar in technical design to the equally proprietary Nokia Pop-Port. It is designed to serve a variety of connections, such as transfer of data and files; charging the battery/powering the phone; headsets and handsfree and sound accessories.
Since approx. 2010, Sony Ericsson uses micro-USB connectors instead of the FastPort.

Functions

Transfer of data and files
With a USB -> FastPort-cable, it is possible to transfer files and data between a computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...

 and a Sony Ericsson cellphone. On most models you have the option to use the phone as a USB-storage-device, modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...

, phone-mode, and flashing new firmware
Firmware
In electronic systems and computing, firmware is a term often used to denote the fixed, usually rather small, programs and/or data structures that internally control various electronic devices...

; this can be done either with Sony Ericsson Update Service application, or with 3rd party software.

Charging the battery/powering the phone
The port can also be used to charge the battery and powering the phone while it is connected to, for example, a hands-free solution in the car. Since the port was introduced, the FastPort is the only way to get external power to the phones. Chargers comes in several varieties, from 12/24 volt DC to use in cars, to 100-250 volt AC to use elsewhere. Some charger-models have a FastPort-plug which can only be used to charge the phone (can be recognized by the cable being attached at middle), others have all the pins of the connector going through it (and the cable placed to right-side when viewed from above/the side with grooves and symbol), thus allowing for connecting a data-cable, head-set or hands-free or any other FastPort-accessories while the phone is being charged.

Sound accessories and headsets
The port is also used for connecting wired headsets or SE's own small-speakers (comes in sets of two with one cable, each about the size of a small match-box), docks with speakers, etc.

Location

Since the introduction, the FastPort has been placed different places. Originally, it was placed on the bottom edge of the phone (when viewed from the front), for a while on the top edge, and lately of the left edge. This has caused some accessories to become more-or-less unusable, such as holders with charging options and docks.

Layout

The connector has 12 pins for electrical connections (both power and data), 2 double-sided "hooks" on the plug and matching holes in the phones connector for keeping the plug safely in place. The dimension of the connector on the phone is approx. 20 × 5mm. (0.79 × 0.20 inches)
To help both identifying the type of cable and show the user how to correctly insert the plug, a small symbol is placed on the side intended to be towards the front of the phone. Such is a small lightning on powerplugs, and old-fashioned headset on headset- and hands-free-plugs, a computer-screen on data-cables, and finally a node-sign on plugs to music accessories.

External Links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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