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I-Mate Unveils Windows Mobile 6/Vista Sideshow Phones
BARCELONA -- I-Mate announced the first Windows Mobile 6 devices with Windows Vista Sideshow capabilities, as well as the first phones on T-Mobile's 3G AWS frequency band in their "Ultimate" series at the 3GSM cell phone trade show Monday. The i-Mate Ultimate line comes in five form factors, all with the same high-end specs: Windows Mobile 6 Professional, 520 Mhz Marvell Bulverde processors, VGA touch screens, 128 MB of RAM, 802.11 b/g/e/i Wi-Fi (with built-in voice-over-internet calling), Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR, 2-megapixel cameras, XGA TV video out, and full-speed USB 2.0 connections. "We've got everything in there. It is the ultimate device," said John Williamson, i-Mate's director of special projects The four Ultimate devices include the 5150, a somewhat chunky slider phone; the 6150, a touchscreen-only, keyboard-less model; the 7150, which folds open into a mini-laptop with a full keypad and 3.8-inch screen; the 8150, a more standard-looking candy-bar phone that's 11 mm thick, with a 2.6-inch touch screen; and the 9150, a flip phone with a 2.6-inch main touch screen, a 1.2-inch external screen and huge number keys.
i-mate Lets Rip With Its Five-Strong Ultimate Range
In an advanced Hedge-Betting exercise, i-mate has announced its new range of Windows Mobile devices, with a set of designs mirroring just about every handset currently available on the market. Working on a "Oooh! Suits you sir", philosophy, it looks like consumers will be hard-pressed to not find a form factor they feel comfortable with, although the gold metallic and black styling may not be to everyone's taste (we have to say we're not feeling the love). Christened the "Ultimate" range, the WM6-powered devices – all five of 'em – are numbered 5150, 6150, 7150, 9150, and 8150 (clockwise from the upper left in the compilation photo) - if you're bored, you can play "spot the inspiration" and see if you match i-mate's new offerings to current designs by other manufacturers.
i-mate to Offer One Device in Five Form Factors
Instead of releasing five different devices, i-mate's taken the efficient route and released five versions of the same one. They're calling it the "Ultimate" range—what word is more overused and so inaccurately used in marketing?—and each offers 256MB of memory, the same VGA display, FM radios, Bluetooth and tri-band 3G. The difference is in the form factors, which range from a plain-jane flip-phone to a full QWERTY clamshell. Those who like to keep things small might prefer the 8150 candybar or the 9150 flip-phone, but the 7150 (pictured), with its spacious-looking keyboard, is love at first sight. Pictures of the rest follow the fold. i-mate goes deep with Ultimate line, five models promised [Engadget] .
New from i-mate: Ultimate, JAQ4 and SPL
I-mate has announced a new range of Windows Mobile powered devices including the Ultimate range, the JAQ4 and the SPL (no relation to the Scottish Premier League apparently). First the Ultimate range, the premier collection in the i-mate product list, features five devices that share common specifications but different designs. Due to go on sale from the mid point of this year these business centric phones boast Windows Mobile 6, WiFi, touch VGA screens, 2.0 mega pixel cameras and XGA video outs. The JAQ4 will beat the Ultimate range to be the first i-mate product shipped with Windows Mobile 6. A well sized QWERTY keyboard, five-way joystick, touch screen and GPS should allow users to take full advantage of the features WM6 offers.
I-Mate Ultimate 9150
General
|
Network |
HSDPA / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 |
| Announced |
2007, February |
Status
|
Cancelled
|
Size
|
Dimensions |
98 x 50 x 19 mm |
Weight
|
|
Display
|
Type |
TFT touchscreen, 256K colors |
| Size |
640 x 480 pixels, 2.6 inches |
|
- Second OLED, 1.2 inches display
- Handwriting recognition
|
Ringtones
|
Type |
Polyphonic, MP3 |
| Customization |
Download |
Vibration
|
Yes
|
Memory
|
Phonebook |
In shared memory |
| Call records |
Yes |
| Card slot |
microSD (TransFlash) |
|
- 128 MB RAM, 256 MB ROM
- Intel Bulverde 520 MHz processor
|
Data
|
GPRS |
Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps |
| HSCSD |
No |
| EDGE |
Class 10, 236.8 kbps |
| 3G |
HSDPA |
| WLAN |
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/e/i |
| Bluetooth |
Yes, v2.0 |
| Infrared port |
Yes |
USB
|
Yes, miniUSB
|
Features
|
OS |
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional |
| Messaging |
SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging |
| Browser |
WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML (PocketIE) |
| Games |
Yes |
| Colors |
Silver |
| Camera |
2 MP, 1600x1200 pixels, video |
|
- Java MIDP 2.0
- Stereo FM radio
- Voice memo
- Windows media player 10
- Video/audio album
- File manager
- Built-in handsfree
|
| Battery |
|
Standard battery, Li-Ion 1400 mAh |
|
