iMate/XDA II Impressions

[Darren Behan]

I am thinking of taking the plunge (and a sizable chunk out of my wallet) to get an iMate/XDA II and plan on using it with my existing T-Mobile service here in NJ, USA which from other threads appears not to present an issue. So here's what I need to know/confirm and would greatly appreciate your help on:

1) Do you know of a good/reliable place to find one from that is relatively inexpensive (i.e. new but sub $900, no eBay please - I'm too chicken for this kind of money). This would preferably be a place that you have used.

2) Can you think of any compelling reasons why I should not buy one (i.e. horror stories, significant missing functionality that you expected but didn't get)

3) Anyone using it with T-Mobile, I'd appreciate a blurb about your experiences so far.

My sincere thanks in advance for all responses.

db

[Ryan Joseph]

I just got my i-mate in the mail yesterday. Words like "cool' and "sweet" and "wow" come to mind, but none seem adequate. This is, without a doubt, the best device I've owned!

Previously, I had the sp230 (http://www.anextek.com/sp230.html) PPC phone, but this one blows it away.

With its 128MB RAM, I can have a dozen programs running without slowing the system down.

The camera is just too cool. it seems to work well even in low light, but I've only had it for a day.

And it's got Bluetooth, so I can use my old BT headset from my t68i.

One note: make sure you get a good case for it. With the wireless GPRS internet can camera, you're going to want to take it around with you everywhere. Aluminum cases are great protection, but the one I have seriously reduces my signal strength...sometimes as much as half 8O.

And when you think that this has more memory and a faster processor than the upcoming MPx or h6300, you start to realize what a cool device this is.

In fact, I posted this reply on my i-mate using GPRS through T-Mobile. Sweet.

I don't have any complaints about using it with T-Mobile, either. ignal strength is good (unless it's in the case :)), GPRS connects fast, and voice calls are clear.

Oh, one more thing...the speaker on this thing is way louder than that on my sp230. Great for listening to music or taking calls on speakerphone.

Oh, (I keep thinking of stuff) if you have a choice, get an i-mate, not an XDA II. that way you can join Club i-mate (http://www.clubimate.com). :D

[Darren Behan]

Thanks, Ryan, all of the info is very helpful and encouraging. I was actually looking at the aluminum case but now will look for something else. Can I ask where you got your iMate from?

db

[Ryan Joseph]

I'm still using my aluminum case because of its protective ability, but whenever I'm somewhere with low signal, I take it out and the signal strentgh jumps.

Anyway, I bought my i-mate from the Buy and Sell (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=13) forum here at PPCT. Wherever you buy it, be it here, eBay or another site, just make sure they accept a form of payment that gives you some protection. The seller I bought mine from accepted PayPal, which gives me full fraud protection, so I didn't worry.

And I just noticed another great feature about the i-mate. The battery charges really fast. It was at 20% less than an hour ago when I dropped it into the cradle and now it's at 70%. Very nice. Quick charging is always a plus. :mrgreen:

[Gavin Henriques]

I have had my I-Mate for a couple of months now. All I can say is...WOW! :D It is truely a great device. There are tons of accessories available(like a cf sled with extra battery), it has tons of memory, a 400MHz processor... I could go on. The device does not seem as peppy as my iPAQ 4150 was, but is fast enough. I bought mine from tek'n'toys. I would call them first to make sure they have it in stock. They generally responded to me. However, there have been some complaints about them. They will not rip you off or anything, but if the device is not in stock, you may wait for weeks. Also, check mobileplanet. Goodluck and let us know how you fare!

[Darren Behan]

I have actually ordered an iMate from iCube this morning & should have it in my greedy, geeky hands by Wednesday next. I'll keep my fingers crossed on that given that they are in tight supply and ship dates are known to slip. Actually this place came recommended from someone who runs another PDA site and has had dealings with them. (No offense PPCT :wink: )

I called iCube this morning since I had a few questions and was a little nervous to get an answering machine but I left a message anyway. (I don't know if that is the usual practice or not.) Someone called me back within a half hour not only in reference to my call but also with my order in hand (placed earlier this morning) and an email that I sent as well. (Understand that none of my correspondence was anything frantic, just routine inquiry, so they were not incentivised any more than normal to call me back) I spoke a very friendly and professional woman who answered everthing I had to throw at her and then some. Granted, this is the phase when they are trying to get your money but it was still a positive experience.

I'll continue to post in this thread how the rest of my experience goes with them so if anyone is looking to get an iMate/XDA II they know where to go (or not if this goes south)

Thanks again to Gavin & Ryan for your taking the time to help me out.

db

[Darren Behan]

Well, not surprisingly, the iMate did not arrive from the distributor and therefore will not be shipped on time. Supposedly the company that makes them have just opened a distribution center in the US, etc. Next theoretical arrival date would be Wednesday, meaning I would get it on Friday but I truthfully have little faith in that.

[Insert long whiny rant on how I am so damn sick and tired of creeping delivery dates every time - and I do mean every time - I try to order something electronic - it's truly madness]

That said (or not cause I put it in brackets :wink: ) the folks as iCube continue to be very nice, responsive and professional. Reasons I have not cancelled so far:

1) I emailed them today indicating that I'd appreciate a call if the date slipped (since I knew it would - see the rant I didn't write above). Got a call back within 3 hours. The fact that I got a call back at all puts them way ahead of anyone I've deal with recently.

2) The person that called gave me Wednesday as the next date they were told to expect them but said that it truthfully is not firm, apologized, and offered to cancel my order so I could get it from somewhere else faster if I wanted - all without me saying anything. Some would argue that this is not good business sense on their part, personally, I think it's brilliant and a breath of fresh air.

3) Offered to overnight it when it comes in. Probably not that big a deal and generally industry standard but also unprompted.

4) Offered to call me on Wednesday regardless of the situation to let me know where we stand and I actually think there is a good chance that he will.

5) They haven't charged my credit card yet.

6) No one else has any either.

To be continued...

db

[Darren Behan]

Well, I have to say that the folks at iCube have been fantastic and my stuff is on it's way, have the tracking numbers and everything. :D They went so far as to have the distributor send my iMate directly via Fedex overnight which is not the standard procedure - I have confirmed this independently. At every step of the way, they have called me directly to let me know what was going on which, once again, I have not seen this in the industry. All the way around a great experience dealing with them and I would recommend them wholeheartedly. You can find them at http:\\www.icube.us

Admittedly, I don't know if my experience is necessarily typical as this is my first and only transaction with them so far but if you are looking for an iMate, I'd definitely consider these guys. They are, incidentally, also the least expensive that I've found.

It's nice to have something work out without having to scream and yell at someone to do their job for a change. I didn't have to do anything other than sit back and let them tell me what they were going to do for me - and they actually did it as well.

More updates on my experience with the actual product to follow for those who are interested.

db

[Darren Behan]

OK, have had the iMate for a few days now. Before installing anything I flashed the rom with the latest version from Club iMate without a hitch eeverything is updated and works fine: Here are my first impressions which are by no means a comprehensive review:

Pros:
All around a solid machine - good hardware/software combo. So far seems stable.
Phone works fine, receptions seems to be pretty much as good as my old phone.
In general I am pleased with it.

Cons:
Battery life is scary. W/ Bluetooth turned on and what I consider normal use (2 - 15 min calls, and an hour or so total PDA use) you are recharging before the day is out. I am experimenting with Pocket Hack Master to see what I can to to eek out some additional life but it looks like I'll be buying a backup battery.

Jabra 250 Bluetooth headset is just OK. In order for it to work well you really have to have it on the same side of your body and almost can't even turn your head without it breaking up. I've tried this when the iMate is in an aluminum case as well as the leather case it ships with and there isn't any difference that I can tell. Don't know if this is an issue with the headset or weak bluetooth on the iMate. I'm trying different BT headset in the next week or so and we'll see.

If I had to vote in the above poll I would have chosen #2. Don't regret the purchase at all but I'm used to going days without recharging if need be. Now if I go away for the weekend, a charger better be coming with me.

[Gavin Henriques]

Glad to hear you finally received your i-mate. I agree with the battery life. Believe it or not, it was worse with the previous ROM!!! I carry a spare battery and charge whenever I can (while driving, or if I am at my desk...). Bluetooth seems fickle with this device. Hopefully, the future PPC Phones will improve this. All in all, I still would purchase too :D .

[Kadegboye]

I use XDA II and I agree with everything you say about the battery life. I charge mine everyday. The function that consumes the most power is the phone especially if you use the speaker phone. The only good thing about power loss on this device is that you will not lose any data until after 72 hours : This time interval is enough for you to travel from one end of the world to the other to charge your device.
Kay.

[Darren Behan]

I try to make pretty regular backups, particularly while it's new and we have not established a bond of trust yet :wink: so while I could stop whatever I'm doing several continents away to fly back and charge it 8O, I'd probably go with restoring a backup. Hopefully, I remembered to bring the charger with me in any case.

For my normal usage pattern during the week battery life is not really too much of a problem. Probably 50% of the day it's plugged in and always overnight. Weekends tend to get a little harder as my overall usage is up significantly by comparison. I like to do the crosswords, use it to score golf when I'm playing, and talk on the phone, naturally. One thing that I've done to try and improve battery life a bit is to use Pocket Hack Master to throttle the processor down when not using it. Haven't been able to test that too well but very, very informal impressions is that it does help a little - need to see what happens this weekend though. In any case, I grabbed a spare battery from the folks at iCube ($69 in stock with free ground shipping - did I mention that these folks are great?)

The only other thing that I am having any difficulty with (and it seems everyone else is to some extent as well) is the MMS app. Can't get it to work no matter what I do. I've tried about 10 different suggestions from a variety of sites all to no avail. There is this application called EZWap which is supposed to work but since my only goal in trying to get the preinstalled app to work was to get it to work (I have no particular desire to do MMS and T-Mobile US charges $0.25 a pop for them), I can live without it. All else fails, I can just send the picture as an attachment without any problem.

Still waiting for my other bluetooth headset so nothing new to report there.

Also still in search of the perfect case. As I mentioned before I have both the leather one it ships with and the aluminum case. I used to have a iPaq 1945 which fit nicely in my shirt pocket even in a case. You can forget that with either iMate case and so far I've been alternating them and weating it on my belt. Pretty much decided I don't think I care for that too much - probably try the aluminum in the pants pocket. The leather case is too big for any pocket. Hmmm....Having reread this paragraph myself, I can't imagine who could possibly care but I'm going to leave it here anyway in case someone has any case suggestions.

Otherwise, it's a great device and I'd buy it again knowing what I know now.

[surur]

The biggest power-drain by far is bluetooth. If you leave it on it will pretty much drain your battery in only a few hours. One solution to this is to keep it off most of the time, and only switch it on when you have a call, and then off after the call.

A utility called Pocket Bluetooth Tools (http://bluetooth.i-networx.de/index_e.html) will do this for you automatically, and make a variety of other bluetooth chores easier. It does however change how things work significantly e.g without PBT, when you phone rings, it rings in the headset. With PBT, it rings on the phone, and you have to press the button on the headset to answer.

You should make back-up, try it out for a few days, and see if you can live with its quirks. It is however great at saving your battery, which without bluetooth running is normally excellent.

Surur

[Darren Behan]

Thanks very much Surur, I do belive that I will give it a try. Sounds like it could save me some battery as well as make life overall more convenient. Appreciate the suggestion.

db

[sxt1173]

I understand that there are issues over Imate deliveries which are being resolved. The company on the link below offer both Imate and Qtek 2020 ( same device ) and have just noticed the new Ipaq 6300 for pre-order. Next toy on list I think!

http://www.ekmpowershop.com/ekmps/shops/agbglobal/index.asp