Jam Packed!
Written: Jul 14 '06
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Ultra portable all in one device
Cons: poor battery life. Cheap headphones
The Bottom Line: Everything you need in one device
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| free_peace_swe's Full Review: i-mate K-jam Smartphone |
This has got to be one of the best Mobile Phones/Pocket PC's on the market. A small sleek device packed with features.
The Design is sleek and small 108 x 58 x 24mm. It's one of the smallest pocket PC phones on the market. Weighing in at just 160g it's nearly one of the lightest too. It does feel a little thick and heavy in your pants pocket and is best to carry in the case on a belt.The casing is silver plastic which allows for it to be so light. Its overall feel I would describe as 'Chunky' this small body houses a neat well spaced out QWERTY keyboard. All you do is grip the top and slide the back to reveal it. The keyboard does make the device thicker than it should be however the bonus of having it is great for the texter and emailer amongst us.
The specs for the device are pretty good it boasts 128mb ROM and 64mb RAM. Texas Instruments OMAP 850, 195 MHz processor which may seem slow to some user but it is dual core and handles all the applications I have thrown at it. Isn't the fastest thing in the world but works adequately.
Connections are WIFI b/g, EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0, Infrared, GPRS and a USB mini port. So that's pretty much them all. WIFI is great connect to any WIFI spot and surf the web or check emails. I love using SKYPE when away from home for cheap calls on it.
The screen is a TFT touch screen with 65K colours 240 x 320 pixels, and measures 42 x 57 mm. Smaller than a standard PC but so is this device.
This unit also has a 1.3mp camera but by can be enhanced to 2mp. It also supports video recording and has a flash. Pictures can be saved to memory or to a separate memory card
The phone elements supports Quad band GSM so can be used anywhere in the world. This particular phone can be bought sim free so accepts any simcard. The usual MMS and TXT services are here too. Voice dial is great to utilize on this phone due to the lack of the number pad. The phone is loud and clear. Good signal too. It also has a handsfree feture and auto answer facility.
Out of the box it comes with 2 x stylus (small and retractable), USB cable standard/mini, mains charger - multi voltage, battery - Lithium, manual - basic, case which has a belt clip and a flip cover, hands free speaker with headphones which isn't the best quality in the world and reminds me of those 99p headphones you can buy off the market and finally software.
The unit front of the has 2 Phone buttons (dial/hang-up) a directional joy pad and select button, 2 soft keys a email and internet key. There are also indicator lights for GSM detection, Wifi detection, Bluetooth and charging. The left hand side has a comm. Manager Button and a volume slider key one speaker grill. The right hand side has the voice action/recorder key, infrared port and camera button, soft reset button and a second speaker grill. The top has a mini SD card slot (Works great with 2GB, highest I could find) and a power button. The bottom has a battery latch cover and 2.5mm stereo jack. Mini USB connector, stylus housing and hand strap loop. The back of the unit has the camera lens, camera flash and self portrait mirror. The slide out keyboard is QWERTY and has a shift button to double the keys functions. 2 Soft keys, Ok and a Windows start key are also present.
Setting up well, you have to charge this baby for a while to get her ready for action. I usually ignore the manual and charge overnight for the first time. There are some basic on screen instructions once you turn it on where you complete some user information, time zone and calibrating the screen etc. That is basically it with the phone itself as once you insert any simcard from any network it automatically detects settings. The Software that came with it contains active sync which allows you to 'sync' whatever details you like with Microsoft outlook. It also contains the relevant drivers for your PC. CD is auto start and it just a matter of reading and clicking the on screen instructions.
The device operates Windows Mobile 5 which is great. It's the latest version and comes with Word, Excel, Outlook but only a viewable PowerPoint. A couple of other accessories too like calculator, MSN, Media Player, Clearvue PDF reader and a game of solitaire. Depending on the ROM build you get you might also have other software bundled like 'Skype' for example. I don't want to go into to much detail with software as I am reviewing the device itself.
It is very easy to use and very similar to a windows PC. You can use the keyboard, directional pad or stylus to navigate around. Soft keys can be remapped to open what you want. If using the keyboard the screen auto rotates to landscape view for ease of use on sliding out the keyboard. There is lots of free software to enhance the device available. To download software and sync just simply connect the USB cable to the base of the phone and to any available USB port on your PC. The USB connection also charges the battery. Depending on configuration auto sync will start and email, contact, notes, calendar and tasks etc will copy across automatically. Software for the device can be installed by directly placing it on the phone itself and running it from there or by installing it from the desktop.
You will never need to worry about carrying round a PDA and mobile ever again. I would also say camera however it isn't the best but serves a purpose .This is a great all in one tool that will allow you to have a mobile office, camera, video camera, games console, computer, internet, organiser, mp3 player, video player, ebook reader and phone all on one device.
The downside to this great device is battery power. Standard phone use will be fine the moment you start using the WIFI and the PDA side it starts to drain and I find I have to charge it every night but hey I sync it daily anyway. The headphones/hands free are pretty pants and very tacky compared to the rest of the device. But otherwise that's it in my opinion. It doesn't come with enough memory so you have to buy a mini SD card but I got a 2gig for £30 off eBay so I didn't mind.
This is device can be quite pricey I have seen it as much as £480 I paid £215 and consider it a bargain.
A great device I cannot recommend enough. if you can't live without your PC/Internet and you're a geek like me go out and get one you won't be disappointed.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 450
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Epinions.com ID:
free_peace_swe
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Reviews written: 3
Trusted by: 0 members
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