Author: Shane Chiang
Edited by: cheewee

Introduction
The iMate SP5m, the first Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone Edition with WiFi. This little wireless wonder with some added multimedia functions to keep your groove in motion.

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Packaging
This is what comes in the package for the items for the iMate SP5m.
1. Device
2. Battery x1
3. Earphone
4. MiniSD 128MB storage card
5. Case with belt clip
6. CD with Software
7. Manual/IB
8. USB Cable
9. Battery Charger

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Specifications at a glance
Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone Edition
TI OMAP 850, 200MHz
Quad-band 850/900/1800/1900MHz
GSM/GPRS/EDGE
64MB ROM (Flash)
64MB RAM
Bluetooth v1.1/Wifi 802.11b/IrDA
MiniSD Storage Slot (located below the battery compartment)
2.2" 64K Color QVGA Transreflective LCD
1.3 Megapixel Built in Camera (w/o flash)
External buttons for media/IE
Talktime: 5 hrs, Standby time: 250 hours
Photon sensor for LED power consumption saving
Weight 106 g
107.54 mm(L) x 46.2mm(W) x 17.5mm(T)
Manufacturer: High Tech Company (HTC)

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Design & Hardware
A quick external overview of the iMate SP5m.

This is an updated design of the O2 IIm/Dopod 858/Qtek8300 design. A candy bar design with external multimedia buttons for quick and easy access to your media and Pocket IE content, build for the media-centric individual in mind. The overall feel of the smartphone feels sturdy and solid in my hands. It is slightly wider in width by 1.7 mm and thinner by 0.5 mm when compared with the O2 IIm.

The all round aluminum/titanium finish gives it a high quality look and build, I like the metal finished multimedia buttons with embossed icons on the buttons.

The screen is both sharp and crisp at 2.2" QVGA 64K color Transreflective (TFT) LCD. TFT means you see better under direct sunlight common with most PDAs and Smartphones.

The On/Off button is located flushed on the top of the phone, opposite the IrDA locator (I wonder who uses IrDA nowadays) the camera button is located on the right-hand side of the phone for easy thumb access, sorry lefties. The Connections easy access button is located on the top left-hand corner of the phone for quick access to your wireless connections. The volume button is located just below it, all the buttons has a solid tactile feel to it which is a testament to the quality build of the unit itself.

The multimedia buttons are spread out boldly between the keypad/joystick and soft keys, they are easily accessible and have good tactile depression feel. The soft keys are lined up neatly on the top of the media buttons, slightly too small for comfort as I keep pressing the wrong buttons, I found the same problem with the keypad, as the media buttons take up much of all the buttons spaces, the keypad had to be made smaller to accommodate this, which for people like me with bigger thumbs may press the wrong buttons. The joystick could have been a tad higher, felt that it was depressed slightly too deep into the indent.

I have not gotten over this yet, but with all the updates to the Smartphones already, the SP5m is still using USB 1.1, they should have updated this to USB 2.0 by now. Especially when touting it as a media-centric phone, using USB 1.1 is simply not acceptable. The download time for music takes a awhile to download, the only other option is to download into the MiniSD card directly through means of a multi-card. The earphone jack, 2.5 mm diameter, is located at the bottom of the phone beside the USD connector, which is a preferable location and it is easily accessible, especially when it is in a case.

At the bottom left hand-corner of the smartphone is a lanyard support, I find that this is a practical location, with the earphone jack's position and also when dialing a number you can just pick the phone up to view it when the phone is slung over your neck this makes it handy.

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Connectivity
This smartphone is a wireless wonder with all the connectivity thrown into it, it is only short of 3G/UTMS, but with the presence of GPRS, EDGE, BT and WiFi, yes WiFi 802.11b to be exact you are in wireless connectivity heaven. This is really cool as this has been something consumers were asking for especially in Asia where GPRS charges are high, with the availability of WiFi, connectivity in hotspots locations makes it a valued item. It allows you to connect to any Wifi connections whether free or pre-paid, though surfing on a 2.2" screen is not recommended for long durations as it may increase your myopia with all that squinting, but downloading emails on the go makes it a breeze to use in the office or when you are on the go and like me a heavy GPRS user, this will help you safe somewhat if you can locate hotspots with free internet connections.

In a generation that lives, work, play and buy online, connectivity is a must and with WiFi added, this is a value added feature that gives it an extra plus to the already feature rich device.

I will not mention the rest of the other connectivity as it is now standard with most mobile devices.

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Performance
Running on Texas Instruments (TI) OMAP 850 processor running at a speedy 200MHz, it is both snappy and responsive. From program to program it switches effortlessly, in my week of usage I have not experience any "blue screen freeze of death" even though loaded to the brim with software and with almost a 2000+ contacts list that almost seem to reach the moon if you scroll through them one by one. The 3D games and other unique software worked fine and graphics


Battery & Storage
It is rated with a talktime of 5hrs for normal phone usage and has a standby time of 250hrs. Sufficient power for your telephony and music usage, it makes a good travel companion for your daily commute.

When the battery cover is removed, it reveals your SIM card and storage card compartment, I can almost hear a sigh, wondering why is the storage card located in this area. I ask and wonder the same thing, I am now used to just taking out the battery without even shutting down the phone now when accessing my storage cards.

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Multimedia
Since the iMate SP5m is touted to be a multimedia phone, it lives up to it's name. Windows Media Player 10 has done good inroads in improving the user experience with music, with the external media buttons, the loud speaker doubles up as a speaker function which gives excellent playback, the supplied earphones works decently.

With video becoming ever popular, for instance viewing movie trailers, at 30fps, it is acceptable, if you want to cramp a 90 minute movie into 128MB of storage space it is also possible with some commercially available software that converts DVD's to the smartphone.

One wish list I was hoping for is a FM radio feature.

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Camera
The 1.3 mega pixel camera with a mirror is located on the back of the phone, it comes without any protective cover for it, therefore it would be wise to purchase a case to protect your investment from scratches especially around the lens area. What I found missing was a LED-flash, this would have been an added feature but even without the presence of a flash the phone camera took decent pictures in brightly lit room, which I found to have good shots.

The pictures on a 2.2" QVGA screen is impressive. Video recording, playback smooth and acceptable, with H.263/MPEG4 formats available at your disposal, all you need now is an imagination to let it go, so get the Peter Jackson hat on and …..Kong 2?

Anyways always on the wish list is the lens could be improve to a CCD version and 1.3MP could have been improved to 2MP and Macro function could have been added.


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Windows Mobile 5.0 Applications
Pocket Outlook
Microsoft Windows Media Player 10
MSN Messenger
Pocket IE
Microsoft Activesync
Games
Calculator
Wireless modem (USB, Bluetooth, IrDA)
Photo contact/caller ID
Audio Recorder

Value Added software
Photo Album with editing capability
Camera capture utility
Camcorder utility
MIDI engine
Java Virtual Machine
File/Task Manager and Space Maker
MMS with Video Clip support
Video and Audio Streaming (3GPP)
T9 predictive text input
Audio playback formats: AAC, MP3, WMA, WAV, AMR-NB audio codecs
Video playback formats: H.263, MPEG4, WMV

Conclusion
The new Windows Mobile 5 device from iMate is promising, both hardware and software works well, with the inclusion of WiFi this ups the value of this device.

Only downside I found was the small keypad which was a tad small for me, other than that I find this a good multimedia phone.

Wow thanks for the great review! may i ask how much you bought this phone and from where? :)

As it is not commercially available in Singapore at the moment, you can purchase this online.

Try www.expansys.com

it looks exactly like the o2 xphone IIm.

look quite OK, how much?