Judie: It stands to reason that our last post about CES would be about the last meeting Jerry and I attended; and as the title above this text reveals, that meeting was with i-mate. Here was an opportunity for us to enjoy some hands-on time with their long promised Ultimate line in the privacy of an off-convention site, and I have to tell you - I honestly didn’t know what to expect.

As you may recall, when the Ultimate models were first announced they all had matte golden metal bodies, completely impressive specs, and there were several projected models which as yet have never come to fruition. I was so excited about the line when it was first announced, but as time went by I began to read increasingly negative postings by people who had spent a few moments with some of the early models. Needless to say, I was starting to think that the loss of HTC as their OEM might have sounded the death knell for i-mate. I was eager to see the Ultimates in person and find out for myself if i-mate needed to be written off, or if the naysayers had been premature.

But let me back up for just a moment, because a lot of funny stuff happened on our way to the meeting and during…

Jerry and I were picked up in front of the Hilton by our driver Eddie, who had already called twice to coordinate. At first Eddie seemed like all the other hired guns who had been sent to get us for other “off-site” meetings during our stay - dark suited and very professional, so I was surprised when he started asking questions about Gear Diary. I honestly figured that he had just read our site name off his clip board and was being polite, but it soon became evident that he was truly interested. Pleasantly surprised, I asked if he was a “techy”.

Holy mistaken identity, Batman!

That’s when we found out that Eddie actually works for i-mate…and not as a driver. After laughing over my mistake, we had a great conversation about i-mate, Dubai (the company’s headquarters, which Eddie has visited a few times), and yes - a bit about Gear Diary and the things we like to cover.

When we arrived at the MGM Tower, we ran into two guys that Eddie obviously already knew. They had thick accents - one was Scottish for sure, and I couldn’t place the other’s accent; in all honesty they reminded me of a couple of characters from a Guy Ritchie caper movie…think Snatch. They were joking around, really at ease, and asking about badges to get into CES. The two guys came up to the i-mate suite with us and made themselves at home.

This was where we met Hector Lopez, the American Director of Sales. After a bit of banter, I was given a seat at the main table and the demonstration got underway. If you look closely at the monitor below, you’ll see that it is showing the screen from a Windows Mobile Professional device - that’s because each Ultimate device has a VGA out connection for easy hookup.

Jerry: I honestly was tired and ready to be underwhelmed. Then the devices came out, and I woke up.

all pictures taken by Jerry

Judie: The first device I was handed was the 8150; you can see the full specs by clicking this link, but the main points of interest are its 2.6″ VGA touch screen, XScale® PXA 270 520MHz Processor, 256 MB ROM, 128 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11 b/g/e/i, Bluetooth, 2.0 megapixel camera with flash and auto focus with 4X Digital Zoom; it also has a 3.5mm “audio connector”.

Jerry: This device and the ones that follow felt so solid, and so well made, that I could not take enough pictures of them.

Judie: Right away I was impressed with how solid (and expensive) the 8150 felt; I thought it might be clad in metal, and sure enough I was told it had an aluminum casing. The 8150 measures 6.66″ tall x 2.38″ wide x 0.61″ thick, and it weighs 5.36 ounces.

Judie: I wasn’t sure how I would feel about an actual joystick erupting from the front of a device, but I found it easy to control and I liked using it.

Jerry: I found the joystick well placed and a pleasure to use.

Judie: As you can see, the 8150 is not a small phone - it almost fills my palm. But I liked the way it fit in my hand, the usable screen size, and the dedicated phone buttons. People who prefer a smaller mobile phone will say that this is too large for them, but I think it would be a mistake to jump to conclusions without actually trying it first.

Jerry: All of them felt right in my hand.

Judie: Yes, but your hands are larger than mine, too!

The battery is 1530mAh.

Next was the 8502, which has the front fixed keyboard form factor that I like. You can see the full spec sheet here, but worth noting are that it has a 2.6″ QVGA (320 x 240) touch screen, 400 MHz Qualcomm® MSM 7200™ Processor, 256 MB ROM, 128 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth, 2.0 megapixel camera with fixed focus, an LED compensation light, and it has a 2.5mm audio jack. Oh, and it has integrated Qualcomm GPS with an internal antenna.

Jerry: This is the next device that I will buy; I liked everything about it, from its feel to the keyboard.

nice fingerprints!

Judie: The keys on the keyboard are tighter and smaller than the Treo, BlackJack, and Motorola Q9 which I am used to; I would have almost said they were too small but for one thing - the way that they have been angled and raised makes them very usable. I typed out a few sentences, and after a couple of errors I was keying nearly error free. The 8502 also has the little joystick as well as a 360 degree jogwheel, and I think that reading eBooks on this PDA phone would be a pleasure. I wish that this model had the VGA screen, but in a 2.6″ setting the QVGA certainly looks fine.

Jerry: Yes, the keys are more tightly spaced; I found I had to take a bit more time for accuracy, but I also only held and fiddled with the device for a few moments.

Judie: It’s very rare to see Jerry get excited about any mobile device, so it was fun to watch him oohing and ahhing over the 8502.

Jerry: Please, I was well composed and controlled.

Judie: Ummm…yeah. Right.

Judie: You can see that this Ultimate is not a small PDA phone, either. It measures 4.57″ long x 2.17″ wide x 0.59″ thick, and it weighs 4.94 ounces. I know that there are some who will scream about the size of it, but I thought it felt balanced and usable.

The 8502 also has a 1530mAh battery.

As much as I liked the 8502, I think my favorite would probably have to be this next mobile phone, the Ultimate 9502: you can see its full specs here. If I had had my choice of slipping one device into my bag and walking away, this would have been the one.

Jerry: Here is where we part. I liked this one too, but I think I’m over the slide-out keyboard. The one-handed operation of the other two models won me over.

Judie: Specs of interest on the 9502 include the 2.86″ VGA touch screen, 400 MHz Qualcomm® MSM 7200™ processor, 256 MB ROM, 128 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11 b/g, Bluetooth, 3.0 megapixel auto-focus camera with LED Compensation light. The 9502 measures 4.57″ long x 2.36″ wide x 07″ thick, and it weighs 7.05 ounces. It also has a 2.5mm audio jack. This one also has integrated Qualcomm GPS hardware with an internal antenna.

The 9502 has a QWERTY keyboard under its snappy slider, and worth noting is that it felt a little more crowded than the Mogul keyboard I am used to - probably because everything was situated inside a bit of a well. With that said, I still found the keyboard to be very comfortable.

The 9502 is another device that I think would be wonderful for reading on - not only does it have the D-pad on the front, it also has a fabulous VGA screen and the 360 degree jogwheel.

Judie: In addition to the aluminum body, the 9502 has textured ends which remind me of Hermes Togo leather….

…see what I mean?

The 9502 also has a 1530mAh battery.

Judie: The last device we were shown was the 6150, which is probably the most “phone like” of the Ultimate collection. Its full specifications can be seen here, and worth noting are that it has: a 2.8″ VGA touch screen, XScale® PXA 270 520MHz Processor, 256 MB ROM, 128 MB RAM, WiFi 802.11 b/g/e/i, Bluetooth, 2.0 megapixel camera with flash and auto focus with 4X Digital Zoom; it also has a 3.5mm “audio connector”.

Judie: Once again, there is a little joystick for navigating through the screen options as well as a thumb wheel.

The 6150 measures 4.66″ tall x 2.38″ wide x 0.61″ thick, and it weighs 5.36 ounces.

This Ultimate also has a 1530mAh battery.

Judie: I can’t write this article without mentioning the web-based services that the Ultimate line will come with: i-mate has launched i-Q services which will allow custom configuration of Ultimate devices over the air. One of the coolest features is the ability to remotely lock an Ultimate device when it has gone missing; if it is feared stolen the device’s memory can also be remotely wiped.

It was towards the end of the meeting when the two guys who had sat in on Jerry’s and my session with Hector introduced themselves, meet (from left to right) Michael Cavey - General Manager of i-mate’s APAC division, Jim Morrison, i-mate’s founder and CEO, and of course Hector Lopez - the Director of Sales - who never lost his cool, even though the big boss was sitting in the room watching him like a hawk as he answered all of Jerry’s and my never-ending questions.

Jerry: I think that this was the most enjoyable event for me at CES. These guys were great, and I learned a lot about a company and devices I had not paid much attention to prior to this meeeting. i-mate has come up with some great devices, and I’m very much looking forward to owning the 8502.

Judie: I think that for me, this was definitely the most satisfying CES meeting. As much as I enjoyed the iRobot Roundtable, this was the showing that left me excited about mobile devices - which as you all know, are my first love. Bear in mind that we also attended a Nokia event, saw countless Samsung mobile phones, discovered the not-quite-released HP 200 series (which I pointed out to James Kendrick for his live blogging pleasure), and I finally got to handle an HTC Shift. Of everything that we saw at CES, the Ultimate line was what excited Jerry & I the most - and that’s what we told Jim, Michael, and Eddie on our ride back.

So what were our overall impressions of the new i-mate Ultimate line? They are solid, well made, full-featured, and there is something for almost everyone. Although I suspect that there will be some who think the Ultimates are too big, too thick, or too whatever - we were truly impressed by them.

58 Original Responses to “CES 2008: Meeting With i-mate”

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1. 1 kevinnugent Jan 14th, 2008 at 4:28 am Did they happen to mention a release year???

   Kevin

2. 2 alese Jan 14th, 2008 at 5:13 am Nice looking devices, did you ask what happened with original Ultimate devices (7150, 5150, 9150)?

   9502 is nice and not too big, athough I would like to have it smaller and especially lighter and slimmer, after handling HTC Touch everything looks bigger and heavier…

   I would also like to know when this things come out and for how much?

3. 3 Torturous Trevor the Technoholic Jan 14th, 2008 at 7:34 am Great stuff guys, keep up the good work!
4. 4 Judie Lipsett Jan 14th, 2008 at 8:32 am Kevin and alese, they said release dates were soon, as in a couple of weeks for at least two of the models, and…let me get back with you about which two! I totally dropped the ball there. I believe the other two were supposed to be out by March, but I will find out for sure.

   As far as prices, let me see if I can get those while I am at it.

   Be advised that since these will be unlocked models without carrier subsidies, they will most likely be rather pricey…but then, we are used to that, right?

   alese, Regarding dropping some of the original Ultimate designs - I suspect that happened because i-mate changed manufacturer’s from Tech Faith Wireless to Arima (for the 6150 & 8150) and MobiNova (for the 8502 & 9502).

   And yes…after handling the Touch, almost everything is going to seem bigger and heavier. It can’t be helped.

5. 5 gasuz07 Jan 14th, 2008 at 8:44 am Now THIS is what I wanted to hear about from CES!!!!
   Thanks Judie! (Wish we had some prices and dates though )

   a little link love for you too (shared your post with Mobility Site)
   http://mobilitysite.com/2008/0…..-ces-2008/

   We’d make a deadly-duo shopping….our tastes are too much alike

6. 6 Judie Lipsett Jan 14th, 2008 at 8:53 am Thanks for the link love Susan! And you are 100% correct about our similar tastes…we could put each other in the poor house with our enabling.

   I have sent Hector an email about prices and release dates - gah…those things just seemed so trivial when I was actually holding the devices.

7. 7 jessica Jan 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am I should have had you ask about WM6 upgrades from i-mate for me! LOL

   A couple of those devices are very sweet looking…how lucky that you guys got to experience them hands-on!!

8. 8 Judie Lipsett Jan 14th, 2008 at 12:07 pm Jessica, I actually did mention you! I let them know that I had given away the JAQ3 on the site after Clinton & I reviewed it, and I mentioned that you were asking about a WM6 upgrade! But…they changed the subject. I tried, though!
9. 9 jessica Jan 14th, 2008 at 12:11 pm Ha ha ha, Judie you’re the best! It doesn’t surprise me that they changed the subject, their customer service has been giving me the runaround on it too. Thanks for thinking of me!
10. 10 Joel Mclaughlin Jan 14th, 2008 at 2:29 pm Cool stuff. I wish some of the cool Linux based phones would hit this side of the pond. Contrary to what the US market seems to be, there are Linux phones already out there. Although I think OpenMoko is the best chance with Qtopia’s phone extensions being the next unless Nokia brings a Nseries based on the Maemo platform. Open stuff is good.
11. 11 alese Jan 14th, 2008 at 2:52 pm @Judie - thanks in advance for trying, and yes I know they are going to be expensive, but they are still the best feature wise new phones on the market - even one year after the initial announcement…

    As for the “original” designs - 7150 looked really cool, so it’s a pitty they droped it.

12. 12 Christopher Spera Jan 14th, 2008 at 2:56 pm Let the drooling begin!!

    I really like this series of devices. I wish they weren’t so expensive, though. I’d buy one in a heartbeat. I’m all over 8150 and 8502! Both look like great devices (My first choice, believe it or not is the 8150…I think I’m hooked on the newer form factor. The 8502 is so Samsung BlackJack…).

    However, if they carry the standard i-mate price points, I’m going to be wishing upon a certain website’s star (Judie knows the one… :P) for back pay to cover the cost.

    Oh well!

13. 13 Judie Lipsett Jan 14th, 2008 at 3:00 pm “I’m going to be wishing upon a certain website’s star (Judie knows the one… :P) for back pay to cover the cost.”
    Gah Chris! I can’t believe they still owe you money.
14. 14 TrvlngDrew Jan 14th, 2008 at 4:50 pm Judie and Jerry! Thatnks for the great review! Something’s happening to me though.. I just can’t get excited about them. They are no doubt a premium product line in the world of WM6 smartphones and will also deliver a great experience. I think I’m just tired of the WM6 software already. With the iPhone and the new touch interfaces on the horizon, I want something that doesn’t require a jog wheel or a joystick.

    I’ll stick with a phone (Vertu ) and either the Advantage or TyTn til something really comes along and blows my mind..

15. 15 Judie Lipsett Jan 14th, 2008 at 4:54 pm “I’ll stick with a phone (Vertu )”
    Yes, I happen to have a certain someone’s Vertu that I have photographed and need to post about once I have a free moment.
16. 16 kevinnugent Jan 14th, 2008 at 5:24 pm Actually, I was about to ask, what happened to the 9150? It was the only one that really had my attention up to now.

    Kevin

17. 17 Christopher Spera Jan 14th, 2008 at 6:15 pm @Judie… not only that, its nearly still the full amount, though they are paying current.
18. 18 van_mierlo Jan 14th, 2008 at 8:56 pm I-mate had always great devices. The also have a great person working for them with a passion for PocketPC’s which helps them a lot in their design and development.

    Johan

19. 19 cgavula Jan 16th, 2008 at 8:21 am I’m actually a little disappointed in these devices.

    The 9502 is crippled with a 400MHz processor! What’s with that?!? The 8150 has a better processor, but no QWERTY and it has a tiny 2.6″ screen. Ugh. They always seem to give in on one spec or another.

    I’d love to see the 9502 form factor with VGA, 128MB RAM, and a 500+ MHz processor (preferably a 620/624MHz). Why can’t anyone seem to deliver on that? The HTC Advantage comes close, but in a huge form factor (with video playback problems).

    And I’m done listening to the excuses about the “battery life”. Apple did it, so there’s no reason WM manufacturers shouldn’t be able to do it too.

    –Chris

20. 20 mikem Jan 16th, 2008 at 3:39 pm I think you are mistaken when you say the 6150 and 8150 have 3.5mm audio jacks. I’ve watched unboxing videos of both, and the headphones have a mini-USB connector. I think the confusion stems from the fact that they have a 3.5mm plug for audio out on the end of the proprietary audio/video out cable.

    I’m curious if there is a way to output to a TV (NTSC) instead of a monitor (VGA).

    I’ve also heard speculation that since this page:
    http://www.clubimate.com/ultimate/ult6150.htm
    lists a 850/1700/2100 version of the phone that maybe it will be offered through Tmobile.

21. 21 Judie Lipsett Jan 16th, 2008 at 3:48 pm Hi mikem, good catch! Let me update that now. I got those specs directly from the literature i-mate gave me, but missed the “3.5mm audio connector”, which does not mean audio jack! Grrrr!

    Reworked & updated this bit: I received word today from my contact that “I do not have the availability for the Ultimate 8502 and 9502. We are going to officially launch them during the net World Mobile Congress in Barcelona.” and “Sales units will be available on mid-April.”

    The 6150 and the 8150 that had an early February release date, according to Hector at our meeting. No prices yet, tho…sorry.

    I totally apologize for any confusion. I blame the cough syrup I have been living on for the last few says.

22. 22 Duncan Jan 16th, 2008 at 4:38 pm I received word today that the 8150 and the 9150 have an early April release date, which would mean it was the 6502 and the 8502 that had an early February release date. No prices yet, tho…sorry.

    __________________________________

    Do you mean the 8150 and 6150 in April and the 9502 and 8502 in February?

23. 23 Judie Lipsett Jan 16th, 2008 at 5:27 pm @Duncan, please see the comment you quoted. I reworked it. I apologize for any confusion. I have been suffering from the CES Flu since returning, and…yeah. Cough Syrup. Need I say more?
24. 24 kevinnugent Jan 16th, 2008 at 5:28 pm I thought the 9150 was the best device - but they’ve scrapped it haven’t they???
25. 25 kevinnugent Jan 16th, 2008 at 5:31 pm Arggh….forget my last post. It was the 7150 (Tablet style) I liked.
26. 26 Judie Lipsett Jan 16th, 2008 at 5:33 pm @kevinnugent, your error made me feel better about my error.

    As best I can tell, that really awesome 7150 tablet was scrapped. Perhaps they will revive it, but I saw no indication of it at all.

27. 27 TrvlngDrew Feb 19th, 2008 at 11:59 pm Yippee! We get two of these down in Ozz!! 8502 and 9502 in early March
28. 28 Judie Lipsett Feb 20th, 2008 at 12:13 am And we are still hoping to review those very models

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