Capacity/Capability of Modern SIM card (Micro/Nano)?

[lopri]

I know in the past I used to have my contacts stored in the SIM, so when I get a new phone the contacts came with the SIM. That is no longer the case if I'm not mistaken and for instance my T-Mobile account shows about 10 contacts that I can "download" to the SIM that I'm using with my Nexus 4.

I wonder what the norm of modern SIM card's capacity? And does it still have some semblance to portability? Also, what can be stored in them - can anything other than contacts be stored?

Also, there are several different formats of contacts, from good old .csv and ubiquitous .vcf (vCard) as well as Windows Contact (.contact). I frankly do not know what the specific API and file extensions are used for iOS and Android because I have always used .vcf. It seems to be most compatible format among the variety of platforms. What kind of information can be stored in SIM other than its own identifiers, and how large is the storage (in average)?

 

[lopri]

I've just checked my vCards collection, and I have accumulated over 1,300 contacts. The simplest ones (name and phone #) are around 120 bytes, and larger ones with more information go over 500 bytes. (though they take more space on a physical disk) I am curious how many contacts a modern SIM can hold.

 

[MrX8503]

Will contacts still be saved on a SIM? What about the cloud?

 

[lopri]

Well, I didn't think about it but while looking at my T-Mobile account they have "Manage your phone" or some such section which shows this:

They give me slots for 10 contacts (name and phone #), which I assume go to the SIM?

 

[Yuriman]

It's possible on my Galaxy S2 to choose where a contact is saved. As for the capacity of the SIM, I have no idea.

 

[lopri]

Umm.. I guess no one uses SIM for such purposes? Android even has a function for password locking a SIM card, so I thought a SIM was a bit more than a simple address for the broadband modem.