I-mate SP5 (black)

CNET editors' take

• Reviewed by:
  Bonnie Cha
• Edited by:
  Kent German
• Reviewed on: 01/30/2006

If you're not a smart-phone fanatic, there's a good chance you may not have heard of I-mate. Although it's been in existence since 2001 and only landed on U.S. shores in April 2005, the company made quite a splash with the I-mate Jam, earning a 7.6 rating from CNET editors and an even better average rating of 8.5 from CNET users. The company's other smart phone, the I-mate SP3i, however, didn't fare as well, with several complaints of poor quality. Well, I-mate is hoping to right this wrong with the SP5, as it sports a revamped design and new features. Read on to find out more about the smart phone; the I-mate SP5 will be available in April.

Upside: The I-mate SP5 is a good-looking device, and you can't deny the advantages of its compact form factor (4.2 by 1.8 by 0.7 inches; 3.7 ounces). This candy bar-style smart phone won't weigh any mobile professionals down. It also rocks a sharp 2.2-inch-diagonal QVGA screen that shows 64,000 colors. Design elements aside, the SP5 has features for both work and play. The quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900) world phone runs Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition, has integrated Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, and supports EDGE networks. It also has 64MB of ROM, 64MB of RAM, and a Mini SD card slot. For a little more fun, there's a 1.3-megapixel camera with video-recording capabilities and Windows Media Player 10 Mobile for more videos and music. Other goodies include a speakerphone, as well as text, multimedia, and instant messaging.

Downside: For ultimate road warriors, the I-mate SP5 may not be the best fit, since the device runs Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition rather than the Pocket PC Edition. That means it doesn't include the full Office Mobile Suite, namely Word, Excel, and PowerPoint; however, you can get these applications through third-party apps. Also, while Outlook Mobile is on board, the SP5 is better for viewing e-mail rather than sending it, since there isn't a QWERTY keyboard. Finally, as with its sibling, the I-mate Jamin, if a carrier doesn't pick it up, your wallet will feel the crunch as you shell out $399 for an unlocked version.

Outlook: The I-mate SP5 has a lot of good things going for it--a small form factor, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi--but it will face plenty of competition from the Cingular 2125, which is available now, and the T-Mobile SDA, which will be available in February. Still, we're anxious to get our hands on the device, and we'll be sure to get a full review up as soon as we can.

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Recent user reviews

• Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 8 reviews
• My rating: 0 stars Write review

• Showing 3 of 8 user reviews

• 1.0 stars

  "3 times sent back for service"

  by Owen A Cook on March 20, 2007

• 1.0 stars

  0 out of 1 people found this helpful

  "If you can deal with someone other than I-Mate on service it would be worth it."

  by dannyeller on December 23, 2006

• 4.5 stars

  1 out of 1 people found this helpful

  "a first-rate smartphone"

  by icarve1970 on July 19, 2006

• See all 8 user reviews Write review

Reviews from around the WebPowered by alaTest

• alaTest.com

  Editors' rating: 82

  Summary: alaTest has collected and analyzed 627 reviews of HTC Tornado (Riemma, Faraday, Noble, Tempo) / Qtek 8300/ Qtek 8310 / i-MateSP5 / i-Mate SP5m / Dopod 586W / Dopod 577W / O2 XDA Orion / O2 XDA IQ / T- from international magazines and websites. Experts rate this product 79/100 and users 74/100. Comparing these reviews to 520934 other Cell Phones reviews gives this product an overall alaScore™ 82/100 = Very Good.

  Read full review

• the-gadgeteer.com

  Read full review

• mobiletechreview.com

  Editors' rating: 90

  Summary: This review has been a short introduction to the new i-mate SP5m. It's very clearly a worthy evolution of the breed. It's faster, smarter and more connected. There'll need to be a ROM update for that keyboard problem and perhaps the SIM issue. The ...

  Read full review

• gadgetcentre.com

  Editors' rating: 80

• gsmarena.com

  Summary: Let me start this review in a way similar to the one I used in the review of the communicator Qtek 9100 several weeks ago. Today I am holding another device manufactured by the Taiwanese HTC - a company, whose products can be found under various names ...

  Read full review

• phonearena.com

  Editors' rating: 77

  Summary: The call volume through the handset was average and adequate for even noisy environments. The reproduced sounds by the bundled headset were on the other hand very loud. The quality of the speakerphone was good as well, almost no difference when I had ...

  Read full review