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Review: mini-SD Wi-Fi 802.11b card from Spectec - SDW-822
April 08, 2006 [Wireless (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, ...)] | By Edward J. R.

Since manufacturers of several smartphones (like Motorola Q or Samsung i320) and Pocket PC phones (like E-TEN G500 or HP iPAQ hw6515) nowadays prefer to place in them some other features (like QWERTY keyboard or built-in GPS) instead of built-in Wi-Fi, and since many of these devices nowadays have only mini-SD card slot (that is too small to fit regular full size Wi-Fi SD cards), it may be of interest to many people to learn more about mini-SD card Wi-Fi card like the one from Spectec, that seems to be the only (!) Wi-Fi card in mini-SD format:



As you can see above the card comes in the box and is visible externally through the transparent window in the box. Please note, that at the bottom the box is sealed by a scotch tape:



... so be careful that nobody opened or used the card by checking whether this seal is still present.

Inside of the box one can find the Wi-Fi mini-SD card itself and a mini (!) CD disc with drivers:



Upon insertion of this disc into PC computer a menu (prepared in "Demoshield" utility) pops-up, that allows for installation of various drivers, etc:



User can start installing proper drivers by selecting a proper button, for example by selecting "Install WLAN-11b WM5.0". During installation however the setup program is annoying, because it insists on specifying the user name and company or it will not proceed further:



After installation user sees this message:



When inserted into device (here: E-TEN G500 Pocket PC phone with built-in GPS) the card is not protruding very much and is very comfortable:



The card is very small and from far away it looks as if it would be dirty, but closer look reveals that actually the card is not dirty but one can see the printed circuit connections on the board of the card:



Obviously this Wi-Fi mini-SD card is bigger than regular memory mini-SD card but it is smaller than regular memory SD card as you can see here:



When installing software for this card you should remember to install it in internal memory of the device, and not on the memory card (unless you have 2 memory card slots in your device):



After software installation and after insertion of the card into the device one gets (a typical for Windows Mobile 5.0) list of available networks with ability to pick one of them and connect:



Of course the list of available networks the user can also see in the Settings and by tapping some network and holding down the stylus the user can connect to some specific network:



Upon connection the icon near the network name will be indicating that user is actually connected:



Once connected the browsing can commence:



Interestingly the card is visible in list of network adapters in Settings folder:



... but there is no special dialog or additional configuration possibilities - beyond this what is built-in already in Windows Mobile 5.0 OS.

Advantages:
  • ability to use in devices both with mini-SD card slot and with full size SD card slot (with adapter)
  • small size
  • low price (only slightly larger than in case of full size Wi-Fi SD cards)
  • ability to use Skype in your device at least! (GPRS is too slow for Skype)
Disadvantages:
  • no support for 802.11g standard
  • lack of special tool to connect to hot spots or Wi-Fi access points and instead relying just on built-in Windows Mobile 5.0 features
  • in case of problems lack of diagnostics - a message "unable to connect" that is displayed for some hot spots, is not enough
  • website of the vendor (Spectec) is hosted on a very slow server - see for example home page of this card here
Conclusion: SDW-822 mini-SD Wi-Fi 802.11b card from Spectec is a decent piece of hardware but lack of Wi-Fi utility may put off some people. Purchase of commercial software like Wi-Fi companion may resolve this problem. All in all for people who use Wi-Fi only occasionally (for example to make free Skype voice calls) and for whom some other features of the phone are more important (like built-in GPS or QWERTY keyboard), this card is the solution to go!


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