Windows Mobile 6.1 released for the Q9C!

This is a great development for users of the Q9C, as 3 days of Windows Mobile 6.1 has made me quite pleased. You can get the update from Motorola since Sprint doesn't seem to be doing it yet (or at least some techs don't know about it) and it's pretty painless to do. I recommend doing the update using the "Via Your Computer" option since the phone will need to reboot and continue installation. There's already a rundown of the new features by Microsoft:

• Instant messaging-like texting
• Improved Internet browsing
• Simpler e-mail and Bluetooth setup
• New Home screen interface
• New Getting Started Center
• Security enhancements
• Easier Wi-Fi connection
• More personal choice

Of those, I've found some great changes. It's nice to have copy/paste functionality in texts, emails, and IE. Texts are now threaded, meaning your conversations get grouped which is much nicer than a linear list of texts where you can't follow a conversation. The phone seems to respond quicker, and I'm pretty certain the battery life has improved. The new Sliding Panels homescreen is really slick and very functional. IE seems to load pages more quickly, lets you zoom in or out on the page, and finally lets you set your homepage without some ugly registry tweak. Most apps from 6.0 still work fine, as do the tweaks.

Bottomline: If you own a Q9C you want this upgrade.

We'll see if I come up with more benefits in the coming days...for one, I've spotted a feature in text messaging that lets you use some predefined messages (you can create your own too) so if you like using a phrase a lot or find yourself sending a "Where you at?"-type text message frequently, it just got even easier.

Wifi via the Spectec MiniSD card

The Q9C says it supports WiFi, though you don't get that functionality right out-of-the-box. You can get an SDIO card that fits in the MiniSD slot to add the functionality, which is useful if you don't have a data plan and want to use the internet or if you are traveling internationally and won't have access to your data plan.

The only company I'm aware of currently selling a MiniSD WiFI card is Spectec, and they're surprisingly reasonably priced. The card most people are getting for this phone is the SDW-822 which supports 802.11b (the card that supports g costs nearly twice as much). There's a "regular" version of the 822 card for around $35, and a "Motorola" version with the same model number for around $45.
I tried to verify with Spectec what the differences were and was essentially told that the Motorola version was required since I had a Motorola phone running WM 6.0. However, the seller got mixed up and sent me the regular version of the card so I decided to try it anyways using the updated WM6.0 driver off their website. It turned out that card worked just fine, and I confirmed with Spectec that there isn't any risk of issues down the road if I got it working right now. Basically they said that the Motorola version was designed for a lower power requirement since older/other versions of the Q didn't supply enough power through the miniSD port.

So you can get the Spectec MiniSD Wifi card, and the regular version will work just fine in the Q9C. I do not know if it will work in other versions like the Motorola Q9M.