i-Mate PDA2k - smartphone - GSM (01/27/2005)

Review: Ok so i have been a cell phone carrier since 1991. The imate being the latest toy in my arsenel of cool things, i use the pda for all business appointments as a pda should be, and the contacts, excel, word and notes sections for reviewing and writing, the only thing i dont do is forward email to it, as its not required in my business to do email constantly, although the unit does do it very well in the windows outlook format. Camera, have used it a few times, not that great, but what cell camera is?

Have to say, was at verizon last night, purchased a moto Q, it lasted 2 hours before i returned it, not a pda, not easy to use, no spreadsheet capability, cant compete, yeah it looks cool, thats about it.
Imate kicks its butt, its a little large, and just a little heavier, but its features are just too much to compare, the Q does not have it. Go with the IMATE, i have 2 years with it now, cant live without it.

Review: I bought this phone used so Im not sure if my issues with it are because of that.. The battery does not last very long especially if youre using WiFi. If the battery dies out completely and the phone turns back on then all of your settings are lost. This includes all the pictures you may have taken, the settings for caller id's and music id's and etc. There is a program on the phone though called Xbackup which can let you back up information and I guess put it back onto the phone. Little did I know that the program existed until the 3rd time I lost my info... People seem to have trouble hearing me when I speak, coincidentally that was the problem with my V551 although they could not hear me at all. With this phone they can barely hear me unless I speak really loudly. There is a spot for a storage card which is awesome. The camera is very low megapixel which makes it almost worthless but I guess its better than not having one at all. Almost everything is customizabe which is awesome. I can decide what color I want my friend's number to be and what color her name pops up. I can also make the caller Id picture fairly large on the screen if the one I put on the phone is the right format. Awesome programs that come in handy. The touch screen is pretty cool but worthless if youre used to texting and driving at the same time like me.. excellent for WiFi, music, and just screwing around. It seems weird to me that when an unknown number calls there isnt a buttor you can press that would store it into contacts. I dont have a book on the phone so Im not so sure if I can't locate it or what, but if I wanna put the number that called into my contacts I have to memorize it and then go into contacts to save it. Didn't think it had speaker phone until it accidentally dialed one of my friends while it was in my purse. It froze up on me maybe once in the month Ive had it.. The power button doesnt seem to work on mine as well. I have to take the battery out in order to turn it off. Other than that it is a great phone. Ill try getting bluetoth headset to see if it makes it any easier for my friends to hear me. Lost the stylus within the first 2 weeks of having the phone. It doesnt seem to hold well in its little compartment.. Great phone just keep a spare battery on you if you expect to play games, use wifi, or use it..

Review: IF YOU REALLY WANT A SMARTPHONE, DO NOT BUY AN iMATE PDA2K!!!! This is a very popular phone in the Middle East but all of my friends who use it like it but they have lots of problems and have to soft reset quite often. This smartphone has very nice PDA features that work well but it has basic software & other unknown problems that will drive you crazy. I purchased one in September 2005 and have barely used it other than to check out the features. It worked fine at first but now it will not work at all. The unit will not turn on even after it has been charged and hard reset. I took it to Axiom Telecom repair center in Dammam, Saudi Arabia and they told me that I downloaded some software that has corrupted the unit??? It was obvious that they did not know what they were talking about. I cannot even power up the unit. The only software I downloaded was the upgrade from the iMate web site and now it won't even charge (yes, I tried a different battery). The cradle is fully operational but the unit will not charge. When the unit did work, the battery life was very poor so I had to place it in the cradle often. If you want a Pocket PC, purchase another brand that is more reliable. I am going to sell my PDA2K at a hugh loss once I get it working. I purchased a Palm One Palm TX and it is fantastic. The only thing the TX does not have is a phone but I have decided that I do not want my PDA and phone together.

Review: I have used this phone for some time now, and i must say it lives up to my expectations. The WiFi support is an excellent feature, and word-prosessing is a jiff with the keyboard.

I love it.

Review: I have been using this I mate for one year now and I don’t remember how many time it have been formatted, coz of battery issues , you see every time you ran out of battery everything stored inside the I mate will be deleted ,and ofcourse the life time of the battery is very short.including the programs that you installed and all the saving thing + contact + msgs …etc( COMPLETELY FORMATTED ),you can alwayse use the backup but some programs need to be installed again to work .! I don’t know how they release these kind of systems , that was first , second DON’T USE IT AS MOBILE . this phone is made to use as pocket pc with phone , this phone program is very low old standard program , no radial, hard to store contacts plus the hanging part which of course will never end , I dunno how could they rate it 9 I am absolutely not satisfied with this product , i use it mostly on the net I deal with stocks, emails and contacts storing beside surfing the net of course oh and the surfing programe is not good at all you can't access to your bank account that for sure beside other sites , I dunno if the other pocket pc are like this also , but my advice if you want a pocket pc avoid the once with the phone and see if it get formatted every time your ran out of battery or not . personally after my I mate decided to go SWIMMING IN THE SEA while i was enjoying the tan , I am not thinking to buy another one I am searching for either a better pocket pc no phone no format every time I ran out of battery or I will go for the smallest not books ( vaio sony T 350) .

Review: After years of looking for the one device that does it all and does it REALLY well, finally I found the imate PDA2K. I am based in the UK and do lots of travlling to the US etc and this is one tool that is truly useful everyhwere. I know some of the carriers in the UK have branded this and are selling it. I have no idea why the US is so slow off the mark with this one.

This is bar none, the best PDA/Phone on the market anywhere and has absolutely everything. Add to the features the fact is simple to use, robust and interfaces with just about everything you have a bloody powerful tool everywhere you go.

I really cannot praise this phone enough. I come from the games industry and work developing simulations for the US military and this baby has made my life on the move so much easier.

I also have very rarely posted a review of anything, but this seems to be so underated I had to write. The one fault is the support from Imate, but given the units robust build and the support from retailers its not a major drawback.

If you live on the move and are looking for something better than a blackberry and lighter than a laptop, check this out!

Imate, keep up the good work and fix the support issues! And yes despite the support issues this does indeed rate a 10

Shaun Wallace - CEO
CSO-Simtek Ltd

Review: I bought this a couple months ago and I LOVE IT. I've even referred to my girlfriend as the I-Mate PDA2K of girlfriends and she was like "Whoa!"

Right now (7/05/2005), there is no comprable device... Phone, MP3, Video, Pocket PC applications like Tiger Woods Golf, Bluetooth, WiFi (Skype even has a pocket pc app that I've used with the device and it worked perfectly). AM I RAVING? YES, WITH GOOD REASON.

I normally don't even bother to submit my opinion on these boards, but for this one, I felt compelled to. This device produces GEEK EUPHORIA that this technofile has never experienced before.

There is no chance that anyone would be dissappointed with this device, however that being said, I should note that the stereo headphones / microphone it comes with are weak and there is right now no suitable replacement. I'm waiting for a decent bluetooth stereo headset with Microphone to come out, which will compliment this thing nicely.

Review: Been following up the recent progress on PDA/Cell combos and this is it! Bought one as a gift, played with it and loved it. I was going to wait for the TREO 700, which hopefully will have WIFI, but the IMATE PDA2K gets everything done, no need to wait any longer. What made the difference for me is that internet phone service skype can be used with this Smartphone. So u can make free calls to PCs where there is wifi connection. This is it, getting one for myself and of course for my wife!!!

ps. CNET editors: waiting for your review of the IMATEs please! Thanks a lot for your wonderful website and thanks to all contributors!

Review: I have been using this PDA and i liked it ,,
i have never used PDA+phones before but this feels and look good.
windows Mobile is user friendly but i am hard to find good softwares, for sambian O/S can find more..

anyways good stuff, if u have money to buy it go for it then Jam

Review: I've been searching high and low for 2 years for this kind of phone. I'm married to it now. I use GPS navigation with a bluetooth receiver, internet surfing with is top with this pda. Phone functions superbly, camera takes snapshots and videos for posterity. I love it!

Review: This blows away the treo 650 my friend just got. It has many more features than your better smart phones and is very easy to use. The slide down key board is very easy to use when sending e-mail or useing word or notes. Its expensive and hard to get this phone/pocket PC. So far the best to date.