Motorola's Q9h and Q9h Global originally shipped with Windows Mobile 6.0. Neither device has a touchscreen, making the upgrade to Windows Mobile 6.1 potentially significant. That release brought non-touchscreen devices functionality that was previously available only on touchscreen smartphones, such as text select, cut, copy, and paste.


Windows Mobile 6.1 gives non-touchscreen devices cut and paste (left) and a new home screen (right)
(Click to enlarge)

Motorola's Q9h Global (Click image for further information)

Windows Mobile 6.1 also gives non-touchsceen users a "sliding panel" home screen (above right), more closely resembling the home screen already provided on touchscreen devices. Dominated by a digital clock, the home screen is said to offer "quick, at-a-glance" notifications of missed calls, voice mail, email, and, optionally, Windows Live for Windows Mobile information.

Like the touchscreen-based Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, the non-touchscreen-based Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard also at last provided an in-house Task Manager application, letting users view the amount of free memory and close unneeded applications. An additional benefit in both operating systems is the threaded display of SMS messages, according to Microsoft.

Another potential benefit of upgrading is an alleged speed improvement reported by several blogs. For example, Jason Langridge, Microsoft enterprise mobile solution specialist, writes that "the upgrade really makes a huge difference to the device." However, Motorola makes no claims that the ROM upgrade boosts performance on the Moto Q9h and Q9h Global.

Several bloggers also warn, however, that the upgrade not only wipes user data -- which should be backed up beforehand -- but also will require a device's unlocking code to be entered when it is restarted. Owners should be sure they have this code handy before proceeding, therefore.

Further information

To see Jason Langridge's comments on the Motorola Q9h and Q9h Global ROM upgrade, see his "Mr. Mobile" blog, here. To download the ROM upgrade along with instructions for installing it, see the Motorola website, here.

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