Socket to Deliver SDIO 802.11b WLAN Card for Pocket PC Devices

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.socketcom.com/about/press/read.asp?ID=94' target='_blank'>http://www.socketcom.com/about/pres.../read.asp?ID=94</a><br /><br /></div>"Socket Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCKT, PSE: SOK), the Mobile Connection™ Company, today announced August 2003 availability of its SDIO WLAN card for devices with SDIO-capable (Secure Digital Input Output) slots. The SDIO WLAN Card plugs into any SDIO card slot a Pocket PC or Pocket PC Phone Edition running BSQUARE Corporation’s SDIO Now! software and enables wireless Pocket PC connectivity to 802.11b corporate networks and Hot Spots. The easy-to-use product represents the smallest form factor for WLAN cards with ultra-low power consumption, and it will enable a range of new WLAN applications. The SDIO WLAN Card is one of three products in Socket’s growing SDIO family, which includes a connectivity card with Bluetooth wireless technology as well as a bar code scanning card that is also being announced today. (Please see SDIO bar code scanning press release for further details.)"<br /><br />August. Can't wait!

[Crystal Eitle]

Any word on whether the HP 1910 will ever support SDIO?

(Regardless, this is very cool news).

[Crimguy]

I've been wondering if my ipaq 3970 has SDIO enabled. the product literature says "SDIO ready" with future patch, and I"m at the latest bios revision I think (2.10), but I haven't seen anything on whether the patches have enabled SDIO.

[Noel]

And what about the Ax 5!??? Can anyone offer even a vague hope that some mod can add IO 2 SD? (This is the only blemish in what is an almost perfect Pocket PC IMHO)

:cry:

Noel

[Jonathan1]

The ones thing I question is what range can we really expect on a WIFI SDIO card? Seriously. That is one small card to begin with. The internal antenna is going to be pathetically small. Before I would ever even consider shelling out any cash for a device like this I would NEED benchmarks.

[Happy_e335_Owner]

Anyone know if the e335 can use these types of standard SDIO cards? So far, I have been able to use Sandisk SD memory cards, and the Toshiba bluetooth card in this slot, but haven't tried anything else yet (of course, there's not much more available right now!)

Thanks!

[Jason Dunn]

Any word on whether the HP 1910 will ever support SDIO?

I wouldn't count on it. :|

[Jason Dunn]

And what about the Ax 5!??? Can anyone offer even a vague hope that some mod can add IO 2 SD? (This is the only blemish in what is an almost perfect Pocket PC IMHO)

It's not SDIO, and I would seriously doubt anything that would make it that. It's simply not a feature Dell chose to offer support for.

[Happy_e335_Owner]

Jason, do you know if the e335 will support this?

[Jason Dunn]

Jason, do you know if the e335 will support this?

No clue - I don't have an e335. If you can use your Toshiba Bluetooth SD card in your device, it sounds like it supports SDIO.

[urologyhealth]

How would I know if the Siemens SX56 SD slot supports SDIO?

Thank you

[JackTheTripper]

Finally! Wireless access for my little e310! :D

But $150 bux! Almost makes me want to wait and once MS comes out with 2003, buy an iPaq with 2002 for cheap and get a CF wifi card for cheap as well.

[Janak Parekh]

How would I know if the Siemens SX56 SD slot supports SDIO?
It doesn't. None of the HTC-rebranded Pocket PC Phones do. :(

--janak

[R K]

I think now is a good time to remind people that only Pocket PCs with SDIO Now! support will have immediate support for the Socket SD WiFI Card.
This page lists the vendors which currently support SDIO Now!.

http://www.bsquare.com/products/sdionow/licensees.asp

Note: HP/Compaq and Samsung are the only obvious hardware vendors that I see on that list. That leaves out Toshiba, Viewsonic, and a few other vendors who supposedly have SDIO support in their Pocket PCs. Only time will tell what'll become of those Pocket PCs.
Maybe those of us with the other Pocket PC brands not on the list should take the time to act quickly and make sure the SD WiFi Card is supported when it hits the streets.
Also, if anyone can find a better list that points out the exact Pocket PC models that are supprting SDIO Now!, I bet many of us would be greatful.

[scoopster]

The ones thing I question is what range can we really expect on a WIFI SDIO card? Seriously. That is one small card to begin with. The internal antenna is going to be pathetically small. Before I would ever even consider shelling out any cash for a device like this I would NEED benchmarks.

Let's go back to light/wave physics.....the antenna size (length, really) is proportional to wavelength. Wifi, like bluetooth, is at 2.4GHz....that means a bluetooth card and a wifi card would use an antenna of almost the same size. Go ahead and open up a wifi or bluetooth CF or PC card, or even a laptop with built in wifi. What you'll see is a very short antenna, often just printed on a circuit board. By very short, I mean well under 20mm in length. If I can find a card lying around later I'll take a pic and post it.

How well the chipset and baseband controller filters and processes the signal the antenna pulls in will be the question you want to answer...and if performance is poor, it won't be because the antenna is short.

The fact that the antenna will protrude outside the device (and be almost wholly unshielded) will make it almost certainly perform better than a some devices with built in Wifi.

Cheers.

[beq]

^ Thanks for the great info.

Heh I've yet to see a WiFi PCMCIA/CF card with an internal "antenna part". If no CF card uses internal, I doubt the SDIO would be.


P.S. I'm curious though when you say "better than some devices with built-in Wifi". I've always gotten the impression the built-in antenna behind/around the LCD screen on those laptops (coupled w/ the mini PCI controller) are meant to perform better than using a PC Card. I never considered the laptop screen bezel would act as a shield to make the built-in solution perform worse... In fact most reviews praise the better performance of built-in solutions (usually attributed because the antenna is placed more prominently and in a higher location or whatnot). For example PC Mag rated the ThinkPad T40's built-in WiFi as having the longest range (and considerably better than sticking a WiFi PC Card). FYI the two WiFi antennas on the T40 are around the right and top side bezel of the screen (I'm not sure if one is for 2.4GHz .11b and the other is for 5GHz .11a, or if both antennas are for both frequencies). The left side of the bezel contains the Bluetooth antenna BTW...

[Crimguy]

So I guess we can all conclude that the PDA makers of the world have been wonderfully vague about SDIO support in their products? :lol:

[scoopster]

&lt;snip>
P.S. I'm curious though when you say "better than some devices with built-in Wifi". I've always gotten the impression the built-in antenna behind/around the LCD screen on those laptops (coupled w/ the mini PCI controller) are meant to perform better than using a PC Card.
&lt;/snip>


Sorry if I misled you....I was not thinking of computers with built-in wifi, but rather thinking of handhelds such as e750, h5450, etc.
Worth noting, however, that early Dell laptops (maybe current ones too) with builtin wifi just put the antenna on the PCI card itself, which was buried under the keyboard and pretty poor range compared to a PC card with an antenna buldge. Apple laptops also suffer from this as they (at least initially) had the antenna on the optional aircard. When you put in the aircard, it was buried under the keyboard and didn't connect with any screen-side antenna, etc.