[PaulOBrien]

If you've been into Windows Mobile for a while, you probably remember the i-mate 'glory days'. The days when they were the most sought after Windows Mobile devices - admittedly the days when they were reselling HTC kit. Since they parted company with HTC, their devices have been lacklustre... however they are now trying to regain some momentum with their 'Ultimate' range.

The latest device to arrive on my doorstep is the 'Ultimate 9502', that you see unboxed here.

Priced at $899 and supplied to me by Smart Mobile Gadgets, the 9502 leaves little out of the spec sheet...

• Microsoft® Windows Mobile® 6.0 Professional
• 116mm(L) x 60mm(W) x 17.8mm(T)
• 200g with battery pack
• 400 MHz Qualcomm® MSM 7200™
• 256 MB ROM
• 128 MB RAM
• 2.8” VGA (640×480) Touch-screen
• GSM / GPRS / EDGE Quad-band 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
• Tri-band UMTS / WCDMA, Band 1 (2100 MHz), Band 2 (1900 MHz), Band 5 (850 MHz)
• HSDPA and HSUPA
• Slider LCD exposes 39-key Qwerty keypad
• 360° Jog wheel and OK / Back
• Removable 1620mAH, Lithium ion-Polymer battery
• 3.0 Megapixel auto-focus camera
• LED Compensation light
• VGA camera for Video Calls
• WiFi 802.11 b/g
• Bluetooth® 2.0 + EDR
• TV + Audio out cable
• MicroSD™ card slot

...the question is, is it the sum of it's parts? That's what I plan to find out!

Check out the unboxing video (including a demo of the TV out functionality!), and if you have any questions, feel free to ask away

P

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[awarner]

How easy is the keyboard to use ie similar to the wizard or the Universal?
Not a bad looking device though.

[smeg36]

Good looking device. I have a question about the TV out. I had a Toshiba E800 back in the day, and it had VGA out. However, it had a really slow frame rate, and wasn't any good for trying to watch video. How is the frame rate on this device? Can you watch videos with it?

[PaulOBrien]

awarner (MVP), on Apr 30 2008, 00:14, said:

How easy is the keyboard to use ie similar to the wizard or the Universal?
Not a bad looking device though.

A little small, but pretty usable!

P

[PaulOBrien]

smeg36, on Apr 30 2008, 02:01, said:

Good looking device. I have a question about the TV out. I had a Toshiba E800 back in the day, and it had VGA out. However, it had a really slow frame rate, and wasn't any good for trying to watch video. How is the frame rate on this device? Can you watch videos with it?

Hmmm, haven't tried that, i'll give it a go!

Incidentally, it's WAY faster than the Kaiser I think, despite sharing the same proc and having to drive a VGA screen!

P

[Syphon Filter]

Paul (MVP), on Apr 30 2008, 08:38, said:

Hmmm, haven't tried that, i'll give it a go!

Incidentally, it's WAY faster than the Kaiser I think, despite sharing the same proc and having to drive a VGA screen!

P

As muhc as we (the royal we) like HTC, I think their software could definitely use some tweaking.

EDIT:

Aesthetically, this device is like a hot poker in the eye.

This post has been edited by Syphon Filter: 30 April 2008 - 09:14 AM

[alp1ne]

Paul, if isn't a big effort for you, can you post a TCMP or CorePlayer benchmark? to see if VGA display isn't a dead load for that MSM7200

Thanks, great job!

[stesa]

never seen a so ugly phone

[Boinng]

It's an ugly beast, it has to be said. Looks better open I think, but at the same time, with the keyboard inset like that, it doesn't look particularly comfortable to use. I'm sure the spec is marvellous, but I suspect the looks will still put plenty off.

I don't think the Xperia X1 (or Raphael) has anything to worry about here.

This post has been edited by Boinng: 30 April 2008 - 01:34 PM

[PaulOBrien]

Boinng: Agreed...

P

[shootydogthing]

Interesting 2.5 INCH headphones there Paul Pretty big jack compared to the 3.5mm you thought it was

The keyboard looks a LOT like the kaiser's to me...

[PaulOBrien]

Keyboard is VERY different to Kaiser...

P

[shootydogthing]

I suppose it's smaller, but when I first saw a pic of this phone open i instantly thought "That's the kaiser keyboard"

But I doubt there's much else you can do with keyboards this small without having weird-shaped keys.

[Ovie]

It's really not the prettiest device on the market is it!

[mikeeey]

Paul (MVP), on Apr 30 2008, 00:38, said:

Hmmm, haven't tried that, i'll give it a go!

Incidentally, it's WAY faster than the Kaiser I think, despite sharing the same proc and having to drive a VGA screen!

P

well i hope it shares the same processor, and not the 7200A!
if it shares the same processor then theres more hope for drivers on our kaisers.

i really do like this phone, it seems slim AND it has a keyboard. i would have prefered that it slid out the other way, for a right handed person, but thats ok.

This post has been edited by mikeeey: 01 May 2008 - 12:07 AM

[Skeese]

Paul, could you check if the 9502 is compatible with MicroSDHC?

Thanks

[Smart-Mobile-Gadgets]

Paul (MVP), on Apr 30 2008, 07:11, said:

Keyboard is VERY different to Kaiser...

P

Nice Video paul..

like your T.V

I think the 9502 keyboard More Comfortable for typing long emails

[encece]

Saw the specs via RSS and was excited to see the phone......then I saw it! eeesh!

c'mon....I need to come back to the fold! Gimme a nice looking, high spec'd, small device already!

[hunyango_uk]

not as nice as the kaiser, but i'd rather get this one co'z of vga display and tv out.

paul, how bout the performance of the inbuilt gps? cheers mate.

[NuShrike]

hunyango_uk, on Apr 30 2008, 21:54, said:

paul, how bout the performance of the inbuilt gps? cheers mate.

If it's either using the Qualcomm GPSone, or the SiRFIII GPS chip that iMate traditionally used, it should be pretty good.

Paul, got any benchmarks for us to compare to? From what I've been reading, it has some hardware acceleration in the video drivers in the same fashion as the KS20.

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