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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:
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