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i-mate's rumored "Hummer" rugged handset set to appear as 810-F?
It's been some time since we've seen anything new come out of i-mate, and while we glimpsed the 810-F as a rumor ages ago, we're enthusiastic that mayhaps i-mate's got a few tricks left up its sleeve. The i-mate 810-F apparently runs Windows Mobile 6.1, a 624MHz CPU, HSDPA, QVGA display, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a big 'ol QWERTY pad, all tacked together by a rubberized housing and some hex screws. Other notable features include a 2 megapixel camera for rugged shots, and 2.2GB of internal storage space. Warranty? It's lifelong, if it breaks they replace it. Not a bad outing i-mate and judging by the date on the pic above, I expect we'll be seeing you in Barcelona.[Via T3]
i-Mate shutting down Momento Live digiframe service
Bad news for those of you who snagged an i-Mate Momento WiFi digital picture frame over the holidays -- the company's started emailing customers with the news that it's shuttering the Momento Live service that feeds pictures to the unit automatically. You've got until February 25 to get your pictures off the site (which now has an expired SSL certificate) before they're deleted forever, but don't fret too much -- Mom and Dad can still view their grandkids grow up in semi-real-time via Flickr, Picasa, SmugMug and other sites that support RSS. Actually, given the current state of the economy, we'd say those of you in the market should heed this as a warning to stick to the RSS WiFi frames, not the goofy proprietary ones -- standards are forever, people.Update: Turns out the Momento doesn't support RSS without Momento Live -- we're not sure how it'll support the other listed services, but let us know if you find out, won't you?
i-mate's rumored "Hummer" -- for when you absolutely, positively don't care what it looks like
Say, for a moment, that Windows Mobile is Planet Earth; if the Touch Diamond lies somewhere around the North Pole, then we think you'd find this one freezing its ass off down in Antarctica. It's a stretch of an analogy, we know, but it's difficult to express just how different (and by "different" we mean "less attractive") i-mate's rumored "Hummer" is than some of its Windows Mobile 6.1 contemporaries. Granted, it does HSDPA, WiFi, and it's supposed to be ruggedized -- but we're not really convinced that exposed screws were the right way to get that point across. Then again, most of the devices rumored out of the house of i-mate from last year didn't make it to production, and this one may very well not either, so why sweat it?
Hands-on with the i-mate 8502 and 9502
We saw these fellas announced this morning so thought it only reasonable to get down to i-mate's booth here at CTIA and get some shots of the 8502 and 9502. First thing we noticed about these handsets was the top shelf build quality and high-end heft factor -- if you're not feeling it both of these look and feel like a million bucks. The booth was positively swarming with curious onlookers peeking at the video out demonstration that these two were putting on and to their credit, both handsets looked grand on big plasma screens. Check the gallery for some more i-mate candy.%Gallery-8995%
i-mate working on a Foleo-like "shell" for the Ultimate line?
The last we heard about i-mate's Ultimate line, the company was allegedly planning on "staggering" the release of the WM 6 Pro handsets, but it's been over two months without any news to report -- and now suddenly the tubes are alive with i-mate news: not only did the company announce the Ultimate 9502 and 8502 handsets today, UberGizmo is reporting that i-mate is working on a Foleo-esque "shell" for the line, with 1024 x 768 display, larger keyboard, and 80-hour battery. Unlike Palm's charming folly, however, the i-mate shell won't contain any processing power of its own, instead serving more as an extended dock for the Ultimate devices themselves. It's a pretty sketchy rumor, to be sure, but given the i-mate's topsy-turvy handling of the Ultimates, it's as likely as anything else.[Thanks, webon]
i-mate slots JAMA 101 and 201 below the Ultimates
Remember the i-mate JAMA? Yeah, we don't really remember it either, but it looks like i-mate upped the specs on its JAMA 101 and 201 models just enough so that they might (emphasis on "might") get some notice the second time around. Designed to give the manufacturer a pair of lower-end options to balance out its Ultimate models, the two share an overwhelming majority of their respective spec sheets: 2 megapixel cams, triband GSM / EDGE radios without 3G or WiFi, 64MB of RAM and 128MB of ROM, microSD slots, and Windows Mobile 6 underpinning the whole mess. i-mate lists the 201 -- its Standard device with a QWERTY keypad -- as having a VGA screen, though we're skeptical since QVGA seems like a far more logical choice for a handset in this class. No word on availability yet, but we don't expect to see 'em stateside without GSM 850.[Via the::unwired]Read - i-mate JAMA 101Read - i-mate JAMA 201
Three of i-mate's five Ultimate devices canceled?
We wish we could say we were surprised about this, we really do. It seems that i-mate has canceled arguably the three most interesting versions of its Ultimate line: the 5150 slider, 7150 QWERTY flip, and 9150 numeric flip. Remaining and now apparently scheduled for October production are the 8150 numeric candybar and keypadless 6150, devices that could be considered pretty uninteresting by the time they enter a market rife with 3G capable Windows Mobile 6 hardware. So far, this is all unconfirmed -- it's being reported by a UK retail firm, Clove Technology -- but it seems plausible considering that the 7150 and 9150 have taken on a certain air of vaporeware-ness that the FCC approved 6150 has not. We have to admit, we're a little surprised that the 5150 bit the dust since it's nothing more than a slider grafted to a 6150, but considering the strength of its competition, it's probably for the best.[Via All About Symbian]Update: Crave Asia is reporting that i-mate says all five devices are still on track, but will be released on a "staggered" schedule starting with the 6150 and 8150. We'll keep you updated as we hear more.
i-mate announces dual-band JAMA handset
Color us underwhelmed on this one folks, the i-mate JAMA has just hit the streets and it brings little to the game but a small footprint. In a time of quad-band GSM and multi-band HSDPA, dual-band GSM in 900 / 1800 without EDGE, 3G, or even WiFi just don't cut the mustard. Other specs include Bluetooth 1.2, a Samsung 300MHz CPU, 64MB RAM, 128MB ROM, and Windows Mobile 5, which really nails the coffin shut on the JAMA. While there is some hope that this minimalist device will land with an absolutely stunning price point (we are talking low low, bargain basement pricing) i-mate's efforts usually ring in with premium-flavored pricing, and this little mobile definitely doesn't have premium written on it anywhere.[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]
i-mate's JAQ3 gets the review treatment
i-mate was quick to right its wrongs after the... uh, unique looking JAQ dropped at CTIA last year. The TechFaith-sourced JAQ3 (there was no JAQ2) improves on the original Inventec piece by leaps and bounds. And yes, we can say that with confidence despite the fact we've never laid hands on the 3; one need only to put up pictures of the two side by side to make that call. Of course, just because it's better than the JAQ doesn't mean it's good. Mobility Site had the chance to put a JAQ3 through the ol' review gauntlet recently and came away with a generally positive impression of the device; the keyboard is apparently decent, and really, what's not to like about a QWERTY Pocket PC with WiFi anyway? Downsides include a relatively pokey 200MHz core, poor battery life (though nothing BlackJack owners can't relate to, we reckon), and -- yeah, we're starting to nitpick here -- the lack of a mirror next to the camera. With the quadband radio and US availability of unlocked units, this is one review that's actually relevant to Windows Mobile fans, so have a look, k?[Via Pocket PC Thoughts]
i-mate K-JAR gets some FCC love
Without 3G, we're still not excited about it, but the i-mate K-JAR's four bands of GSM / GPRS coverage count for something, we reckon. The FCC apparently agrees, giving it its wholehearted stamp of approval -- and as is so often the case with our federal friends, the approval comes complete with a full spread of glamor shots and a user's manual. Though the K-JAR's form factor smacks of the JASJAR (alias HTC Universal) before it, the screen resolution takes a sizable dip from VGA all the way down to QVGA, nixing one of the JASJAR's greatest claims to fame. Still, a swivel display is pretty cool, and if you want to send one over to us, i-mate, well... we're not going to put up a fight about it.
i-mate's JAQ3 heading stateside
Barely two weeks after i-mate's JAQ3 got previewed, and just a single day after some other firms caught the smartphone blues, the now-dull looking device is headed to American shores. Presumably hoping to grab the business of those who just can't wait for an iPhone, our textual begging was apparently heard, as now we US lads can get a little JAQ in us, too. As expected, this Window Mobile 5-powered device will sport a full QWERTY keyboard, massive D-pad for navigating those menus, 802.11b/g, two-megapixel camera, 2.4-inch touchscreen LCD, 128MB of onboard ROM, 64MB of RAM, a microSD slot, and four hours of reported talk time to boot. You'll also find quad-band GSM and Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP) connectivity, EDGE, and a side-mounted scroll wheel for one-handed navigatin'. So if the nicely-featured JAQ3 was everything (keyword: was) you wanted in a smartphone, you can rethink your decision to pick one up when they land here later this month.
i-mate shows "PDA L" Pocket PC phone
It looks like the midrange Pocket PC phone market (is there such a market?) is about to get a little more crowded. i-mate used Microsoft's TechEd in Barcelona to show off its new PDA L, a 16.5 millimeter-thick device packing 128MB of ROM and 64MB of RAM, a 2.4-inch QVGA display, Bluetooth, WiFi, and a 2 megapixel cam, all sitting atop a 200MHz OMAP800. While we're not sure 200 million clock cycles per second is really going to meet the needs of the speed demon inside us, the phone's dimensions are definitely too our liking -- especially considering that it's running Pocket PC under the hood. No word on a release date or price, but it'll apparently come out some time around "soon" at a price of "not very much."[Via MSMobileNews]
i-mate's JASJAR redux, the K-JAR
It looks like i-mate's ongoing collaboration with TechFaith is starting to pick up a good head of steam, seeing how they've gone and entrusted the Chinese ODM with serving up the de facto successor to the HTC-sourced JASJAR. Not a heck of a lot is known about this pivoting, flipping, QWERTY-sporting monster of a device, though it apparently (strangely) lacks that all-important 3G radio its predecessor packed. Features are rumored to include a 2.8-inch QVGA display, WiFi, Bluetooth, 128MB of ROM, 64MB of RAM, and a TI OMAP750 core clipping along at an undisclosed clock speed. With i-mate making (or at least trying to make) inroads in the US market, this is one Pocket PC phone the full-keypad lovers among us will be tracking with eagle eyes.[Via HowardForums, thanks Galt]
i-mate gets HTC Breeze as "SP JAS"
i-mate, purveyor of all things HTC, has gone ahead and picked up their first 3G Windows Mobile Smartphone -- the Breeze, that is -- and christened it "SP JAS." Nothing about the SP JAS stands out from its brethren marketed under other labels, save for one detail: it restores the front-facing cam lost on HTC's self-branded Breeze, the MTeoR. As with the MTeoR, buyer beware, as the SP JAS lacks GSM 850 and UMTS 850 / 1900, features originally (mistakenly) touted on some of HTC's marketing materials. Pricing and availability remain under wraps, but with Breezes starting to circulate through retail channels, we reckon i-mate'll be dropping shortly.[Via the::unwired]
