My cell contract came up for renewal, and you never guess what I managed to get my hands on. I-Mate 2020 Pocket PC 2003 Phone edition. Wow this is one neat device.
So I have finally given up my communicators for a PDA.
Hardware Spec:
CPU : Intel(R) PXA263 400Mhz
ROM : 64Mb
RAM : 128Mb
Flash : 32Mb
Bus : 32 Bit
LCD : 240x320 TFT
Colours : 65536
Bluetooth
GSM Tri-Band
GPRS
IrDa
640x480 Camera
SDIO/MMC slot
Software:
Os: Windows Pocket PC edition 2003
Physical:
Dimensions : 69.9mm x 130mm x 19mm
Weight: 190g
Battery life:
Talk Time : 2 – 4 hrs
PDA : 13 hrs
Standby : 150 – 170 hrs
My feelings:
Well I must admit I’ve been after a Pocket PC phone edition for some time, and had IPaq such a device on a cell contract I would probably have had one by now. This device came available earlier this year and finally I have managed to get one, must admit it was worth the wait.
The battery life is a bit of a concern but I have managed to source the people that handle this device. Don’t try get any extra stuff out of the Cell vendors. They stop once you have the device (Typical). But the good news is the importers sell directly to us public, so if you want extra’s (Like me, a battery) then you can get hold of Leaf Industries ( http://www.leafwireless.com/ ) in Randberg Joberg.
It didn’t take long to get the device wired up to my PC and my first little .Net application running, wow it was pretty easy, I am impressed.
Next was to get the device to call a Web Service that was running on the PC. Ready, get set, Go! And it worked. Wowee, this is fun. That was using the USB connection, now I want to try Bluetooth. I must admit the Bluetooth functionality does seem limited on this device, All I seem to find is Activesync (which works really well) and DialupModem service for Bluetooth. I have still not found Bluetooth network services yet.
The phone part is really simple, does not have all the fancy features my communicator had (like custom rings per contact), but then I’m sure it’s just a matter of finding the software for it. But the rest of the features of the device sure makes up for it.
Another slight disappointment is it does not come with WiFi, but you can get a WiFi SD card from Leaf. But if I had a choice I’d prefer having GSM built in and to add a WiFi card.
Conclusion for now:
This is a really great device, and apart from the battery life (when compared to cell phones only ) it is easy to handle and I am really pleased that I have one now. (Finally)
Picture time:
