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I-mate Bought by HTC for Rugged Designs, Patents?

Radu Iorga — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 09:06:46 +0000

I-mate was one of the pioneers of the smartphone segment, no doubt about that, but at some point they were claiming that they created the first Windows Mobile phone, a title disputed by many companies. Last we heard, they weren’t doing so well, because of some financial and internal issues, but now word’s out that they were bought by HTC.

The Taiwanese company might be in this for the useful patents owned by I-mate, or maybe for its rugged designs, but it would be nice to see a couple of products spawned by this buyout. If you remember, at some point I-mate was borrowing technology heavily from HTC, but the latter cut them loose and trouble started afterwards.

In case you’re wondering what went wrong here it is: ODM disputes, internal fraud, total closure, employees getting fired and… the end. Keep in mind that the buyout is only a rumour we found via Phonenews, so take it with a grain of salt.

[via wmpoweruser]

i-mate Kicks the Bucket

Radu Iorga — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 19:49:09 +0000

As the economic recession is coming to an end, we learn that it has taken its toll on companies like i-mate, that recently closed the doors of its Dubai HQ. The company, led by boss Jim Morissson (not The Doors’ singer) announced its employees that they should take two months of compulsory leave without pay.

Next thing you know, the office was locked and the employees had no place to go, as far as work is concerned. Last we heard, i-mate launched the rugged phone 810-F and among their famous models there were also i-mate 8150 and the 6150 handsets.

In case you remember, initially HTC was all about rebranding HTC devices and selling them, making quite good business out of this initiative. However, their lack of originality eventually killed the spirit of the company, that had made quite well specced smartphones.

[via coolsmartphone]

i-mate Readies Legionnaire Smartphone, Warrior Netbook Bundled

James A. — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 06:23:18 +0000

Get ready for a very neat combo from i-mate, that showed the world a couple of brand new handsets during Mobile World Congress 2009. Among those there was Legionnaire (pictured below), that comes with a 10 inch netbook, codenamed Warrior.

Legionnaire is a Windows Mobile smartphone that can be integrated in Warrior and used as its touchpad. The netbook will set you back $200, as for Legionnaire, it’ll pack HSDPA, GPS, a 800 MHz CPU, Bluetooth and Windows Mobile 6.5. We’ll see this combo surfacing at the end of summer, probably making us forget about buying an Eee PC for now.

[via Engadget Mobile]

iMate 810F Gets Tortured (Video)

James A. — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 14:38:44 +0000

Want a phone with military standards, that can withstand a huge storm, spilled hot coffee and any shock? Enter iMate 810F, theWindows Mobile 6.1 Professional smartphone, that gets tortured below. Ketchup, coffee and salt on the same phone, below:

iMate 810F is a quad-band GSM rugged device, supporting HSDPA and packing a QVGA TFT touchscreen display, WiFi, an accelerometer and a QWERTY keypad. There’s also a 2.2 GB internal memory on board, a GPS and compass plus a great 624 MHz Intel PXA CPU.

[via dailymobile]

i-mate Introduces Legionnaire and Centurion Windows Mobile 6.5 Handsets

Radu Iorga — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 09:30:07 +0000

i-mate announced during MWC 2009 a couple of new smartphones, the Legionnaire and Centurion, that use Windows Mobile 6.5. Legionnaire is a full touch device that will hit the market in Q3, accompanied by the i-mate Warrior UMPC. Legionnaire will be integrated into Warrior, becoming its touchpad.

i-mate Legionnaire will retail for $500, while Warrior will be available for only $199. Next, i-mate Centurion (below) shocks us all with its tiny size and, of course the device doesn’t pack a touchscreen, but it does use a full QWERTY keypad.

Centurion supports HSDPA, GPS, Bluetooth and uses a 2 megapixel camera. It’ll hit the market in the second half of 2009, for $550.

[via Unwired View]

i-mate Introduces a Tiny Messaging Device @ MWC

James A. — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 10:07:28 +0000

Although we just moved on into the Windows Mobile 6.5 era, we’ll still see a bunch of Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard devices getting launched in the following months. Among those, there’s a tiny newcomer from i-mate, that got shown yesterday at the company’s booth in Barcelona, during MWC 2009.

This device will start shipping in the second half of 2009 and is a prototype right now, without even having a name. The i-mate handset you can see in the image above is only the result of a design study and its simple and petite looks remind us of Moto Q9h. No info on its specs, either.

[via pocketnow]

I-mate Brings Die-Hard 810-F Rugged Handset to MWC 2009

James A. — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 16:41:17 +0000

We already knew that i-mate was set to announce a couple of new handsets at Mobile World Congress 2009 and it turns out that one of them is the uber-rugged 810-F. This is practically the Highlander of handsets, with a lifetime guarantee and fully rubber sealed casing.

The new i-mate phone is water and shock proof and can withstand humidity, pressure and temperatures as cold as -10 degrees Celsius or as hot as 60. Of course, the device meets all necessary U.S. military standards, so it might go with you to the moon and back and still be able to send a text message.

Its specs are not to be neglected, as well, since i-mate 810-F packs a GPS, an accelerometer and 2.2 GB of internal memory. The smartphone runs Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional and supports HSDPA, WiFi, plus it comes with the Secure i-Q software that allows the user to completely lock the device and wipe personal data if it gets stolen. That will be done remotely via PC.

[Source: blogs.computerworld.com via wmpoweruser]

i-mate New Smartphone Mockups Reveal the Future; Ready for MWC Release?

James A. — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 06:42:55 +0000

According to msmobiles, i-mate is readying something “revolutionary” for Mobile World Congress 2009, an uber-smartphone that will one-up the likes of HTC Touch HD or Palm Pre. Wmpoweruser did a mockup of the device, pictured in the first image below and followed by a second mockup, done by Unwired View.

Wmpoweruser’s mockup is a combination between i-mate Ultimate 5150 and Palm Pre, while Unwired View’s version is based on i-mate Ultimate 9502. According to the latest rumours, the new i-mate device will feature a VGA screen, Windows Mobile 6.5 and a QWERTY keyboard.

At least it should, unless i-mate has some new touchscreen-based technology to showcase at Mobile World Congress.

[via wmpoweruser and Unwired View]

i-mate Launches Go Interface for WM 6.1 Devices

James A. — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:43:39 +0000

i-mate launched Go today, a new UI for its handsets that takes advantage of the high res touchscreen’s capacity and offers touch access to all of the phones’ functions. Also, we got word that Windows Mobile 6.1 has just reached the i-mate Ultimate devices, among which the 9502 and 8502 models.

WM 6.1 will also hit Ultimate 8150 and Ultimate 6150 pretty soon, but back to the Go interface, it’ll support tapping or sliding your finger across the screen, as you navigate through WM tools. You’ll even customize your own interface, by adding icons to it in order to ease the access to some functions later on.

i-mate Go is available for free download at www.imate.com for devices like Ultimate 9502, Ultimate 8502, Ultimate 8150, Ultimate 6150 and JAMA 101. The new UI is powered by VITO Winterface.

[via i-mate]