As of July 13, 2008, the Windows Mobile 6.1 update for the Samsung SCH-i760 appears to be in the wild. A big thanks to Emilio S. and zachman123 for finding the download links on Samsung's website. You can find those links in this post: WM 6.1 Update. I expect that shortly we will see a notice/link on Verizon's website. Until then, though, consider this the "unofficial" official update.

I've gone a head and closed the WM 6.1 rumor thread and unstickied it. In its place, I've started this thread, as well as two others, all three of which I am stickying. I'm going to lock this particular thread and will add information to it as I have time. Information will include installation information, new features, and hints. One of the other new threads is limited to installation issues; please post your questions and comments about the WM 6.1 update process in that thread. The other new thread is limited to your comments and questions about new features in WM 6.1 and how it differs from WM 6.

I'm jammed up at work today so don't expect too much from me in this thread right away. However, I'll add to it as I can.

EDIT: As of 7/15/08, Samsung moved the files. See post #7 below for more information.

EDIT ( 7/16/08 ): See post #11 below for new link to the WM 6.1 updater files.

EDIT ( 7/26/08 ): At some point within the past week or so, Verizon updated its website to reflect the official release of WM 6.1 for the i760. If you go to this page, you will find the link to the updater file in the bottom right portion of the page. Ironically, when you click the link, it will send you to Samsung's website for the file you need to update your i760 to WM 6.1. Thank you to everyone who PM'd me about the official release.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

One of the first things folks have noticed is that with the WM 6.1 update, the SCH-i760 is able to use micro SDHC cards without the need for an additional hack. So far, people have reported being able to use both 4GB and 6GB microSDHC cards. I have not yet seen a report of anyone trying an 8GB card. Also, I personally have not yet had a chance to try a micro SDHC. I have an unopened 4GB microSDHC card that I hope to try out late today.

EDIT ( 7/17/08 ): RWC has informed me that 8GB microSDHC cards work just fine with the WM 6.1 upgrade. Thanks, RWC, for the info!

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

The first really cool thing about WM 6.1 that I noticed is that it did not require me to enter a passcode when I paired my Blueant Z9 headset to my SCH-i760. Nice!

Before you ask, I do not yet know whether the WM 6.1 update fixes the multiple Bluetooth device issues. Update: Initial reports are that WM 6.1 does NOT fix the multiple BT device problem; however, I have not verified this for myself yet.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

When I first tried to install the update, things went fine but then I received an error message about the updater not being able to find a port. The installer instructed me to disconnect my i760, perform a soft reset, close the installer, and then restart the installer. When I restarted the i760, it came up with the WM 6.1 splash screen so it looked as though the update was successful. Nevertheless, I followed the directions and ran the installer a second time. The second time was the charm. Total time doing the update was roughly 1/2 hour.

I spoke with MRailing this morning. He encountered he same issue when he updated his i760 this morning. He said the first time updated the PDA portion but not the radio portion of thei 760. This happend when we updated our i730s from WM 2003 to WM 2005. Thus, for those of you who don't succeed the first time, try, try again.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

The WM 6.1 update comes with a native threaded SMS reader. This is nice because it means you no longer need to go out and find a third party solution.

Edit: Thank you to to0 for pointing out that in the new threaded SMS reader, you can call the person sending you the SMS simply by pressing the green call button on the left side of the i760.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Thanks to Ender519 for posting some great, detailed instructions for how to perform the upgrade using Vista. To upgrade using XP, follow the same directions, just substitute "WMDC" with "ActiveSync." Follow this link for the instructions.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Apparently Samsung has moved the update files. You no longer can access them from the links in Post #1 of this thread. Try using the mirror sites referenced in this post.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

Going to Settings-->Version, here is what my i760 reads after I have performed the WM 6.1 upgrade:

S/W Version

PDA: S:i760.07 V.BD14.19202
Phone: S:i760.07 V.BD14
Eboot: 02.00

H/W Version H:i760.07 V.Q
PRL /ERI P:51056 E:00004 (I have not updated my PRL yet since the upgrade)
Bluetooth Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
Wi-Fi IEEE 802.11b/g

If your i760 is show a different number for the Phone s/w, it most likely means the update did not go through all the way, and you should run the updater again.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)

FWIW, after I upgraded to WM 6.1 and before I installed any third party programs, I found my free memory stats were as follows:

Storage: 50.00 MB
Program: 27.xx MB (I don't recall the exact amount; this is an estimate).

I've tried to avoid installing third party programs so I can tell whether the Samsung Clock Today screen plug-in still has a memory leak. I think I last soft reset my i760 two days ago. My free program memory right now is 21.65 MB with only ActiveSync and Task Manager running. I'm thinking that the Samsung Clock still has a memory leak; but I'm not 100% sure at this point.

EDIT ( 7/17/08 ): With only ActiveSync and Task Manager running, I have 21.67 MB of free program memory. Thus, I haven't "lost" program memory in about 24 hours. Perhpas the Samsung Clock memory leak has been plugged and the decrease from 27.xx to 21.6x is due to something else. I'm leaving for an out of town trip this afternoon and, thus, won't been able to do more troubleshooting on this issue for awhile. Moreover, I need to install some third party software for the trip so that will really mess up the memory experiment.

__________________
-Jay
The Fine Print:Nothing in this post (or any of my other posts) is intended to constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship. For purposes of this forum, I'm just another nerd like you. :-)