i-mate Ultimate 8502

The Ultimate series is the latest from i-mate, and features four smartphones with different form factors and slight variations in features, all targeting the same audience. The Ultimate 8502 is one of these, and might well appeal to BlackBerry lovers. But how well does it meet the needs of the discerning business user? Let's take a look.

Form Factor
The Ultimate series brings not only a new look to i-mate phones, but makes the device slimmer and lighter than most Windows-based handsets. It measures 116 x 55 x 15mm and weighs 140g, which makes it rather compact compared to regular business smartphones.

The phone seems to bundle all the navigation options possible. It has a stylus with touchscreen, a jog dial for up-and-down navigation (especially useful if you receive hundreds of mails in your inbox), and an impressive joystick. The last of these is probably what you will use the most; in fact, I hardly used the stylus or the jog dial. It's a bit odd how all three navigation options figure in the same handset. Maybe i-mate hopes this device will appeal to everybody...

On the left side of the device are a jog-wheel and 'OK' button, and on the right are the volume adjustment buttons, a dedicated camera key, and voicemail. The TFT touchscreen has a display of 256K colors (65K effective) at a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. At 2.6 inches, the QVGA screen is wide enough to handle slides and spreadsheets.

Below the screen is a QWERTY keypad, with a host of shortcuts that enable ease of use. The keypad is designed in such a way that there is not much space between the keys, so it's not too ergonomic for those with fat fingers. That's a small price to pay for compactness.