The first clumsy attempts to adapt the GSM-transmitter and antenna to the Pocket PC family of computers is nothing but tears did not cause. No, devices like the Siemens SX45, if desired could be used, but neither the size nor the low battery life was not allowed to call it a pleasure. The huge box weighing about 200 grams did not fit in any pocket, and a belt, a holster, there is a burden. Moreover, a hasty pristraivanie telephone functions to an existing operating system led to the mass of small and big trouble - from the inability to change the ringtone to something beyond the standard five tunes to a complete loss of touch with the world at a low battery in the middle of the day. However, the rules of the "worst-first" has not been canceled - appeared and the next generation of devices, such as mmO2 XDA. They were better, but also has a "complex character". The first smartphone based on the Pocket PC (there are already Windows Mobile), to which it is impossible to find fault, has become the latest i-Mate Posket PC, which not only copes well with issues of communication, but is one of the best to date PDA with an extremely high performance.
 |
Even without opening the box, you start to enjoy it. Even the picture is clear that the design of the apparatus compact, all angles lovingly smoothed, and most importantly - no antenna! That is, the external differences from the CCP are minimal and, therefore, in appropriate amounts, the communicator without any problems can be carried in a pocket. Looking ahead we say that the way it is, in his pocket, he feels quite comfortable, and the owner comfortable. Inside the box are pleased with your great. Except for the device with its battery and branded CD, in the enclosed kit contains several books with instructions chubby, cute silver cradle with slot for charging a second battery, AC adapter, an adapter for recharging the PDA on the road (without the cradle), a stylish silver stereo headset has an arsenal of controls (volume control wheel, the buttons start and end the conversation), spare stylus and a case.
 |
Stylish black case requires a separate story - usually these sell for a lot of money.
It is made of very high quality synthetic leather, has a hinged top with a rigid lid pocket for memory cards, as well as a complete disconnect with locking plastic clip, which remains on the belt, when the owner picks up the PDA in its case. In addition, all controls and camera lens are available, cover only covers the SD slot and universal connector device. If you tilt the lid cover, and they are available.
In general, the equipment meets many opportunities and the price i-Mate. The computer itself after the first introduction also creates a sense that money well spent. Metal body, combining the smooth and corrugated surface has a small width and great grip. Wear it in a case on his belt - a pleasure, but also in a shirt pocket too bad, there really helps the absence of the antenna.
 |
The front panel is solved a bit unconventionally, but soon, it seems, such a solution would be a classic for communicators. Under the screen is Five-way navigation key and the left and right of it - the Talk button and the End. Here - the microphone. Above the screen, left and right of the speaker, there are two buttons applications by default are configured to your address book and diary. Over the buttons - two lights, one of which advertises on Bluetooth, and the second shows the status of your network and charging the battery. The location of the slot SD Card (supports SDIO), IrDA port and off button - standard on the top.
Here, from pencil-box is removed the stylus, rather long and thin. Its central part is made of a pleasant, slightly rough metal and plastic ends.
 |
The back side of the case surprises: here is the camera lens, licensed VGA (640x480). Directly below an objective - a small convex mirror, looking into which you can photograph yourself. All this is not just type in handsets, but among the Pocket PC is a solution yet exotic. Accordingly, on the left side, except for voice recorder button and the slider (it replaces the scroll wheel and is pressed), there is a button activate the camera. Under the thin metal cover is hidden battery, having a good but not record-setting capacity - 1200 mAh. To prevent accidental disconnection, it is fixed below a small catch. Under the battery - a convenient slot for the SIM-card, reminding shalt have old phones Motorola. Well, finally, on the bottom there is a thin connector universal port, deeply recessed reset button and headset jack hands-free, covered by a neat rubber cap. The location of the nest, in general, failed because the device makes it difficult to wear in your pocket. However, the haters of all kinds of wires can rejoice: this phone supports voice profile of Bluetooth, and, hence, local radio can be used not only for wireless synchronization, but also for talking! If we forget for a moment about the communication functions, the i-Mate is a very perfect PDA, equipped with the latest PXA263 processor from Intel, 128 (!) MB of memory, internal flash disk for important data at 15 MB and the already mentioned "goodies" in the form camera, Bluetooth and SD Card. Transflective TFT-LCD pleased tsvetonasyschennostyu good and uniform illumination, but its brightness is not a record. The lowest level before shutting down the backlight brightness, contrast, would cover less space. Despite this, the screen comfortable to use under all lighting conditions. Very interesting opportunities "backpack", which is available for this model and, unfortunately, are not available in Russia. This jacket is available slot, CompactFlash, extra battery, as well as output to connect the PDA to monitor or TV. Screen resolution in this case reaches 800x600, although it is not clear why it might be useful if all applications are designed for 240x320. However, presentations and videos has not been canceled. And, both played on the i-Mate is excellent, because it is one of the most powerful PDA based on Windows Mobile 2003. Among today's competitors, the communicator is inferior in performance only "purebred" PDA ASUS MyPal A620 and HP iPAQ H4150.All other PDAs, and certainly all the other Windows-communicators left far behind. Meticulous study of the reserve on the test results SPB Benchmark, and themselves back to the communications functions.
 |
Communication Module i-Mate is a tri-band, so it can go, even in America. GPRS is configured - on the user's request, he can operate in a Class 8 (4 +1) or Class 10 (3 +2). Telephony functions are already known to us the enclosed "Phone", which displays the classical composing keyboard provides access to convenient protocol calls and a long list of repertory, and also allows you to send SMS and configure network functions of the device.
 |
SMS editor is indistinguishable from the client e-mail, so we are particularly it shall not stop, saying only that EMS does not endorse, and concatenated messages, by contrast, understands perfectly. Settings such as choice of tone, change the network and include network features (call forwarding, voicemail, call barring, etc.) were in previous versions of Communicator. New opportunity - is receiving broadcast SMS ("infokanalov). Other network services that previously were not supported, implemented as separate applications, as well as in the control panel, but they are just below. Unfortunately, the traditional problem besklaviaturny communicators, dialing with one hand, and has not been solved. Need to either poke a finger in the on-screen buttons, or excel in the scrolling address book. Voice dialing is not implemented. But speakerphone available. To switch to the need for long press Talk. In talk mode the touch-screen button you can turn off the microphone to discuss anything secret from my subscriber, and can conversely, run the application "Notes" and make audio recordings of conversation. However, I have the impression that the voice recording is the interlocutor in so far as external microphone "hears" the sounds emanating from the speaker. At least, the noise in the room could hear the recording is better than it buddy. Additional applications of "telephone" wing of i-Mate - a few. They are designed to compensate for the lack of some functions that are in mobile phones, but not in the PDA. For example, Photo Contacts application allows you to group users, and assign each contact with the SIM-card and address book personal photo. It appears on the screen during an incoming call. Another application is eloquently called the MMS Composer. In essence, it allows you to send no more information than a standard e-mail client, but there is an important nuance - that information can be sent to your phone, regular phone. Naturally, on a large screen device to prepare MMS - a pleasure. Simultaneously visible text and image, and the band sound clip, access to all settings. This same application, despite its name, is engaged and receiving MMS. Taking into account the two above functions expanded application Album. It lets you view images in the memory of them and arrange a slide show, but send your favorite applications via MMS or assign them as a photo-contacts. SIM Toolkit application shows the cameraman menu SIM-card, through which simplifies obtaining useful information (weather, currency rates, the trailer, near bars, etc.) and manage his personal account, well, SIM Manager allows you to view the card and import your address book stored on the "SIM cards" contacts. Crowned this orgy of sociability application Wireless Modem, which allows the use of i-Mate in the unromantic as GPRS-modem.Actually, the program is unpretentious - you need to select the port which will connect your PC or laptop (serial, USB, IrDA, Bluetooth) and click on Start. Next just have to enjoy the Internet on a large computer screen, occasionally glancing at the three indicators, blinking in the display i-Mate.
 |
I must say that on the test sample was apparently intended to supply the Arab countries. After the first start he illegally installed the few Arab applications, most of which need to disable and uninstall, but among them there is one very useful. It is called the Finger Clix and is designed to navigate the address book without using the stylus and buttons, just a finger. The screen has large buttons, like a telephone keypad, with which it is easy to type the first two or three letters of the name, but having found necessary - one click to start dialing. Until now, we almost did not discuss the built-in camera. Well, well, it's time to rectify that omission. When you start the application "camera" is almost occupied the whole screen image, broadcasted on the lens, and only a small icon at the bottom allow you to configure operating modes and to obtain information about them. Limiting resolution photography is 480x640, but there may be more low, up to 120x160. In general, the settings quite a lot more than normal phones with a camera. In addition to the standard for this class of devices, white balance settings (daylight, fluorescent light, artificial light, etc.), special effects (sepia, black and white picture, and so on.) And put a framework (albeit, the kit includes all two), there are more interesting settings: contrast, sharpness, tsvetonasyschennost, gamma. However, more importantly, that the camera can shoot movies with sound. Permission to them, as expected, low (240x320), but a variety of compression techniques available, including popular MJPEG and MPEG-4. The frame rate is low, 10 fps, you can only play videos on your computer or application "Album". Windows Media Player on the i-Mate does not see them. The quality of images on the display i-Mate is quite good, they do not look too grainy or blurry, they are often true to the color, ie white balance is determined correctly. In the night mode when it's dark, the image is very noisy, but this noise, strangely enough, a little distracting images on it is easily seen by the plot. The quality of filming, by contrast, is low, and the image is visible jerks are often blurred. Affects the overall lack of built-in cameras, the problem with auto focus and rapid adaptation to the lighting conditions. As for the audio subsystem i-Mate, then it is difficult to assess unambiguously. The quality and volume of sound during conversations is not satisfactory. The headset supplied allows not only to negotiate, but also happy to listen to music that is played through headphones and loud and full. But the volume of the tones is small. Even a sharp and upbeat melodies do not save, therefore, still need a headset.
Runtime
As already mentioned, the battery has an average, not a record capacity. Given the voracious screen, GPRS-and Bluetooth module, this means that active users will recharge your device every day. Waiver of BT and GPRS, and a moderate amount of conversations, minimizing the load of multimedia and the rapid off lights can extend the battery life of up to 2 days, but this is the limit. In principle, stock up on a second battery would be a good idea, especially because it is convenient to charge. In the synthetic tests, i-Mate with enabled GSM / GPRS-module (data transmission is not made) and at full brightness the screen stayed on the SPB Benchmark for 4 hours and 10 minutes. MP3 playback in Windows Media Player with the backlight off the display lasted for 8 hours continuously. However, to complain about high energy consumption as "heaped" model, the communicator would be strange - should pay for everything.
Localization
Test sample was national localization system Russified MacCentre Pocket RussKey 2003.
Price
The network of shops "computer in the palm" device i-Mate Pocket PC can be purchased for $ 1149.
Output
Despite some flaws, i-Mate, unlike its predecessors, is well thought out and does not cause serious problems in operation. It's good enough as a phone, no one loses an ordinary mobile phone, part of specific communications functions, is deprived of nasty bugs in the GSM-module. Well, if we consider that it is also functional PDA running Windows Mobile 2003, one of the best in performance and equipment, it becomes clear that these technocrats are obliged to fall in love with something new. Finally, note that i-Mate is developing quite well-known company HTC, which communicators are willing to buy many of the major manufacturers of mobile equipment and operators, so do not be surprised if you see on the counter aids Qtek 2020 or XDA2, like two peas similar to i-mate ...:) The authors, translation:
