Maybe it was exhaustion, maybe it was the open bar, but we we found an i-mate 810 taking a swim last night at the Showstoppers event at CES. The 810, as we're sure you all remember, is a "military-grade" device, able to take just about anything you can throw at it. We tried to drown this guy last night, and sure enough Windows Mobile 6.1 kept ticking underwater. Pics after the break.
Can you call it a comeback when you were not really there in the first place? That's the conundrum facing Dubai-based i-mate, who is apparently going to take yet another shot at releasing some Windows Mobile devices to astound during Mobile World Congress 2009.
It seems as though every other trade-show or so i-mate has some devices that are actually pretty interesting in that they're offering some unique feature or another, but their stuff never seems to get as much traction as you'd think it ought, causing them to fall on some hard-ish times. We can't divine all the reasons, but we will say there's a big gulf between creating devices on a small scale and manufacturing, distributing, and seeling them on a large scale (the master of the waters in that gulf is clearly HTC). Still, per Unwired View (who created the above mock-up), i-mate might just give us some WM6.5 action to gawk at, test out, and --one again -- not be able to purchase easily.
So to round up: We've got i-mate, already got Acer, we figure Microsoft is a safe bet, and lord knows HTC won't be able to stay away. Who else do you think will drop some hotness at MWC09?
What do you get driver of an oversized, gas-guzzling SUV who keeps crushing mere mortal phones in his iron fist day after day?
The i-Mate "Hummer," of course.
Brought to you by the Boy Genius, this ruggedized Windows Mobile Standard device reportedly will sport HSDPA, WiFi, a 2MP camera and a 2.5-inch screen.
Those are all the details BGR's sharing for now. No word on carriers, price or the like.
While this thing's not much of a looker, suffice it to say it can probably hold up to whatever you throw at it, or drop on it.
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Sure, no sign that any carrier here in the States will even touch an i-mate device, leaving that company to abandon their US team of engineers, QA and technical writing departments.
But there is still some life in that Ultimate line as the 8502 recently got clearance from the FCC gate-keepers. To refresh your failing memory, the 8502 (pictured above) has:
Huh.
For some reason the Ultimate line doesn't feel so ultimate in mid 2008 as it did back in early 2007 (!)
Anyways, it's looks decent enough though it would have been more amazing in 2007.
I-mate, the maker of the “Ultimate” series of uber-devices (That’s what they call them, not necessarily our opinion of them, although they do look very sweet), experienced lay-offs in several key areas on Friday.
As previously reported on Engadget, Boy Genius and others, i-mate’s team in Redmond, WA lost their entire engineering, QA, and technical writing departments. Serveral executives, although not given the ax, decided to take the opportunity to freshen up their résumés as well.
The scuttlebutt is that the cuts were due to the Ultimate devices not being sent to the retail world in the targeted time frame as well as carriers being resistant to selling the handhelds themselves. We know they've been on the ropes since at least July.
The good news is that you should still be able to buy unlocked phones from i-mates website.
So awhile back, we reported on a DigiTimes story about how companies like Palm, i-mate and MWG have all moved back their ODM orders to HTC, switching from other companies, presumably Inventec amongst them (who did a nice job making the Centro).
Well, not so fast there. While DigiTimes often gets scoops they are often not so accurate. And in this case, we're getting word from "Menneisyys" that i-mate has not switched back to HTC and they are continuing to make their own devices (speaking of, click that link to see i-mate's new toys that we probably won't get here in the States, gah).
So this begs the question: What about the rest of those companies, especially Palm? At this point, it's too early to say but we're a bit skeptical at this point to state unequivocally that upcoming devices like the "800w" and "Drucker" are slam dunk orders for HTC.
The choice for Palm of course would have ramifications for HTC as potentially the end-user (assuming you have opinions on the matter). Speaking of...
Should Palm use HTC or go with someone else? Your thoughts, preferences?
If you're not familiar with I-Mate, you're forgiven and absolved. They're the little Windows Mobile Smartphone Company That Could - releasing devices with tiny but passionate followings but somehow always managing to get completely snubbed for the big dance. As in: they don't have any carrier support in the US and they're perennially "working on it."
All of which is a real pity, because they were showing off some fancy gizmos yesterday. My favorite: The 8502. If they ever release this thing for real (it's slated for Decemberish) and if they ever bring the price down (retail for around $6-800!), it will be killer.
I mention that last because, believe it or not, the Treo 750 is the thinnest smartphone with a font-faced full QWERTY and a touchscreen widely available in the US. Anyhow - the keyboard on the 8502 felt a little "clacky" to us but was usable. I still am not a fan of I-Mate's tiny 5-way joysticks, but if it gives me a bigger screen I won't complain.
Bottom line, though, is the 8502 basically offers all the benefits of the AT&T Tilt in a candybar form factor.
Photos after the break.
I-Mate has been trying to, slowly but surely, break into the US market (or at least gain wide acceptance beyond the Middle East). The big push was supposed to be part and parcel with their new "Ultimate Line" of Windows Mobile devices, but it's not looking good these days. Their finance director had to step down, their devices (with the possible exception of the JAQ series) don't get much play, and they're not HTC.
It's a pity, too, because the "Ultimate" devices are indeed Ultimate - the specs are crazy good on every one of them.
I-mate, the mobile devices specialist founded by Glaswegian Jim Morrison, was punished again by the market yesterday after announcing the resignation of its finance director.
The Dubai-based maker of the rival to the Blackberry, dubbed the "Macberry" but sold largely in the Middle East, said Gregor McNeil would be stepping down for personal reasons.
Read: The Herald via MGN
Although 3GSM has already given us some exciting photos of devices running WM6, some of the specs and details have been pretty thin. Now that we've had a moment to breathe, let's take a close look at what i-mate has dropped on us ("us" being "the world," as i-mate's history of shipping devices in the United States isn't what I'd like it to be).
Details after the jump.
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