The Pop-Port interface (originally code-named "Tomahawk

Tomahawk

Tomahawk usually refers to:* Tomahawk , a type of axe made and used by Native Americans* Tomahawk , a cruise missile built in the United StatesIt may also mean:- Military and transportation :...

") is a discontinued plug-in port, available with many Nokia

Nokia

Nokia Corporation is a Finnish multinational communications corporation that is headquartered in Keilaniemi, Espoo, a city neighbouring Finland's capital Helsinki...

 mobile phone

Mobile phone

A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...

s. The port consists of one metal pin on either end, and a plastic tab containing thirteen contacts.

Functions

The port contains signals for hands-free microphone, stereo speakers, FBus

FBus

Fbus is an ANSI/IEEE data bus oriented towards backplanes and cell phones. The standard specifies a way for various pieces of electronic hardware to communicate, typically with one piece acting as master , and another acting as a slave...

 Rx/Tx or USB

Universal Serial Bus

USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....

 signals for the phones supporting them, power output for feeding the accessories that do not have their own batteries, and the Accessory Control Interface (ACI), a bidirectional serial control bus for connection and authentication of phone accessories, with a specific ASIC

ASIC

ASIC may refer to:* Application-specific integrated circuit, an integrated circuit developed for a particular use, as opposed to a customised general-purpose device.* ASIC programming language, a dialect of BASIC...

 inside accessories and a proprietary protocol

Proprietary protocol

In telecommunications, a proprietary protocol is a communications protocol owned by a single organization or individual.-Enforcement:Proprietors may enforce restrictions through patents and by keeping the protocol specification a trade secret...

. It is also used to upgrade USB-enabled phones software using a specific USB data cable and the Nokia Software Updater.

Criticism

A common problem with Pop-port is that it's very easy for the contacts to lose connection, thus resulting in drop-outs in audio (when a hands-free is used) or an unstable data connection (when a USB cable is used). This is a common problem when listening to music from the phone while having the phone in a pocket. The movement of the pocket when walking causes the contacts to lose connection, thus resulting in drop-outs in audio, which is something the more stable 2.5mm and 3.5 mm audio sockets aren't prone to. Two common solutions to this problem is to have the "front" side of the phone facing the inner side of the pocket, or o use a stereo bluetooth headset.

Another issue is that the contacts are exposed to dust and dirt (more than the contacts of a TRS socket are) which, combined with the small size of the contacts, may make connection impossible in some cases.

Post-2007 phones

Nokia phones made since 2007 do not use Pop-Port. Instead they use mini-USB or micro-USB sockets for data services and a 4-part 2.5mm or 3.5mm

TRS connector

A TRS connector is a common family of connector typically used for analog signals including audio. It is cylindrical in shape, typically with three contacts, although sometimes with two or four . It is also called an audio jack, phone jack, phone plug, and jack plug...

 "standard" audio TRS socket. Some models also use microUSB for charging.

Available Pop-Port plug-ins

• Camera
  Camera
  A camera is a device that records and stores images. These images may be still photographs or moving images such as videos or movies. The term camera comes from the camera obscura , an early mechanism for projecting images...
  
  
• FM radio
• Headphones
  Headphones
  Headphones are a pair of small loudspeakers, or less commonly a single speaker, held close to a user's ears and connected to a signal source such as an audio amplifier, radio, CD player or portable Media Player. They are also known as stereophones, headsets or, colloquially, cans. The in-ear...
  
  
• LCD display remote controller
• USB
  Universal Serial Bus
  USB is an industry standard developed in the mid-1990s that defines the cables, connectors and protocols used in a bus for connection, communication and power supply between computers and electronic devices....
  
   cable
• 3.5mm stereo plug adapter
• Flash
  Flash (photography)
  A flash is a device used in photography producing a flash of artificial light at a color temperature of about 5500 K to help illuminate a scene. A major purpose of a flash is to illuminate a dark scene. Other uses are capturing quickly moving objects or changing the quality of light...
  
  
• 8P8C (RJ-45) cable (CA-41)
• CarKit
  Handsfree
  Handsfree is an adjective describing equipment that can be used without the use of hands or, in a wider sense, equipment which needs only limited use of hands, or for which the controls are positioned so that the hands are able to occupy themselves with another task without needing to hunt far...
  
  

External links

• Nokia Pop-Port connector pinout nokia-tuning.net
• Nokia Pop-Port pinout pinouts.ru