Design
After the bulky, pocket-bulging i-mate Ultimate 6150 and 8150, this latest, slimmer i-mate is a real treat. Measuring in at 116x55mm and 15mm thick, the 8502 is similar to RIM's BlackBerry Pearl 8120 when in your hand or pocket, albeit a little heavier.
The best part is that compared to the previous Ultimate phones, the 8502 has even greater mechanical input. On the left side there's still a jog-wheel and 'OK' button, on the right side is volume adjustment buttons and a dedicated camera key.
Below the 2.6-inch QVGA display is a full QWERTY keypad; a feature that seems to have been quite a tricky obstacle for smartphone designers lately. Business users who are replying to emails and messages want the speed and accuracy of a QWERTY keypad, and everyone wants smaller, lighter mobile handsets. The tiny keys in the 8502's keyboard are the trade off in this case, however, we have to say the i-mate engineers have done a good job trying to compensate for the size by raising each of the buttons to a pyramid-like point, making the keys slightly more distinguishable when typing quickly. Even still, a numeric keypad or half-size QWERTY pad, like on the BlackBerry Pearl, would have made more sense given the space available.
Features
The 8502 and its sister phone the 9502 have the prestigious honour of being the first full HSPA smartphones available in Australia, to be followed by a couple of Samsung phones and the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 mid-year. HSPA refers to support not only for HSDPA (High Speed Downlink Packet Access) downloads but also HSUPA (High Speed Uplink Packet Access) uploads as well.
HSPA data may seem like overkill on a mobile device for anyone who doesn't intend to send large files attached to emails. Where the speeds will be really handy is when the handset shares its mobile broadband with your PC. It's here that HSPA should offer a similar mobile broadband experience to your fixed line ADSL2 connection.
When released the Ultimate 8502 and 9502 will be available exclusively through Telstra. As with all other Next G phones, the new i-mates will be able to stream mobile TV, like Foxtel. The Ultimate series phones also feature video-out, which coupled with mobile TV gives you a low-res (VGA) alternative to paying for subscription TV at home or in a motel.
In addition to HSPA the 8502 features a full compliment of connectivity options. Mobile data charges can be avoided using the built-in Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), and similar to the HTC TyTN II, the 8502 has a GPS receiver integrated into its Qualcomm processor chipset.
Running Windows Mobile 6 guarantees certain functionality and compatibility for owners of the 8502. Push email via MS Exchange, media playback with Windows Media Player, and document editing with mobile Office. i-mate also includes data security by allow the phone's owner to remotely lock their device and clear all data on the phone using a password-protected online log in, as well as the option to sound an alarm -- like a car alarm -- to coerce thieves to return your phone, or at least dump it in a bin somewhere.
Performance
With the release of the new Ultimate devices so close to the previous batch we were expecting to see similar processing performance -- until we discovered the downsizing of processors. The 520MHz processor of the 6150 and 8150 is now a 400MHz Qualcomm chip with 128MB RAM. Luckily, we've been unable to detect any significant reduction in performance, helped in part by the lower display resolution.
In fact this "shrinking" of hardware seem to be part of a necessary tweaking rather than cost-cutting. We're just speculating, but it would seem that the power usage has been dropped by lowering the speed of the processor and the resolution, rectifying the dismal battery life we experienced in the previous generation; our strongest criticism of the 6150 and 8150. The single day battery life has been extended to a very manageable three days with light to moderate usage during our tests.
Battery life aside, using the 8502 is an almost identical experience to the previous i-mate Ultimates. Web browsing is zippy, call quality is excellent and the onboard 2-megapixel camera is a little above average, assisted by the LED photo light.
Overall
The 8502 is exactly what an incremental update should be: it's better. Its smaller size, greater range of connectivity options and longer battery life are necessary and welcomed improvements, and the processing performance is at least comparable to the older phones. Being the first true HSPA handset in Australia is a noteworthy milestone and edges the Ultimate 8502 out in front as the best Windows Mobile smartphone we've seen to date.
samjackson
25/06/2008, 11:05 AM
rating
6/10
i really wanted to love mine
1 but after the fourth phone that was faulty in one way or another im conceding that this phone is crap quality! on all four of the phones i had the L buttons DID NOT WORK AT ALL! when i wuld recieve messages the phone would not give me any warning that i had! i had to actually go not messages to see that i had one!
when using the net it would regularly frop out then freeze the whole hone requiring me to rip the battery out to restart it! and in two of the cases when i would be typing words they would not appear when i typed them! even though the bar was moving and recognizing that i was!
the camera took around 10seconds to open then was so laggy that anything i was trying to take a photo of would of moved away.
crappy 2GB max storage on SD cards.
i really loved the phone at first but its quality was appauling!
Pros: fast, reasonable battery life, HSPA. . . when it works
Cons: see above!
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Mr. X
18/05/2008, 02:17 PM
rating
10/10
Multiphone, Great phone reception. Loud speakerphone. Several times does not hang up but hangs on the phone active or inactive screen.
Pros: QWERTY Bar Form, 240 x 320 Portrait Touchscreen, Great Connectivity with HSPA, Bluetooth 2.0, WIFI and GPS integrated, TV out, compact, iMate Online Services
Cons: 2gb microsd cards max,issues with soft reset software, GPS COM PORT 4 Lockup, Hard Reset
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Michael
16/05/2008, 12:06 AM
rating
10/10
AGREE! Multi functions and Good Performance…
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M.E
16/05/2008, 12:00 AM
rating
10/10
Forget it all the phone, get this one, worth it, this is the best!!!
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B2
14/05/2008, 02:13 AM
rating
10/10
I got this one already, and its perfect Smartphone, if you use Windows this is definitely the right choices.
Pros: My phone work properly so no problem
Cons: Tiny QWERTY keyboard: but actually nice
Lower resolution display compared to previous I-mates: yeah for good phone like this should be have great resolution display, but one again, no problem, still great.
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remster
13/05/2008, 08:53 AM
rating
6/10
Beautiful phone & well designed. The screen is bright and the Windows functions great.
Pros: Bluetooth and Wi Fi functions took a little while to work out but once set up works great.
Cons: No FM radio (even though CNET spec says there is one) and no Flight Mode function (if there is one, I can't find it. User manual is useless - this is a device for the initiated (even the guys at theTelstra shop had dificulties finding some of the functions). This is also a quirky device - I had problems shutting down the phone and problems finding basic functions. If you're thinking of buying the 8502 for the first time, make sure that you know someone who has one otherwise intially it will do your head in.
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Chris
20/04/2008, 09:59 PM
rating
9/10
A very well finished phone and i-mate has done an excellent job with this phone, far better than previous model.
Pros: Clean lines and very well designed keyboard.
Superfast Data connection
Love the iQ feature, very innovative.
GPS
WiFI
Fast Operating system
Cons: It would be good with the same screen as the 9502.
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andyc
08/04/2008, 08:39 PM
rating
9/10
Thomas I don't know which phone you got but it wasn't this one! Video out feature is great and the keyboard is good enough to tap out the emails at reasonable speeds. The build quality feels solid and it's even suffered a few 'drop tests' without damage. Good one i-mate!
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thomas
06/04/2008, 11:14 PM
rating
2/10
really bad phone, i hate it, cheap quality, do not buy if u want quality. this will disappoint you. slow and lacks features
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Ben
03/04/2008, 10:08 AM
rating
9/10
I have been using the 8502 for over a week now and - THIS IS ONE VERY NICE MOBILE.
The phone has a great finish, and I am typing just as fast, if not faster on the new keyboard.
The touch screen is always a bonus, and it supports all the applications I need.
The new iQ software that i-mate released is quite cool. The abilitiy to lock down my device if someone steals it very neat. I can even control the device over the network.
Pros: Super Fast data and processing
Love the GPS for navigation
The direct video out is great for watching Foxtel on my LCD with.
Cons: Haven't found any...
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