WORLD EXCLUSIVE: Paul Reviews... the i-mate SPL

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

I'm pleased to announce that my i-mate SPL review is now online... I believe my review is the first full review of this handset to be published!

Click Here to read the review in full, and don't forget to also check out the i-mate SPL 'Ask Paul' feature.

Here's a few images and quotes from the review for you :rolleyes:

There's no doubt about it, 'thin is in'! A craze for super thin phones kicked off by the Motorola RAZR shows no sign of slowing, and with Samsung now blazing the thin-device trail too, the boundaries really are being pushed - at least in the feature phone market.

That's not to say that the Windows Mobile market has been completely left out! Motorola have shipped the Q on CDMA networks in the USA, Samsung have shipped the i320 / i320N in Europe / Asia and there is a 3G variant of the same device waiting in the wings on major European and American networks - the i60x. If you believe the rumour-mill, a show-stopping 3G Q will hit the streets in Q1 2007 too.

To i-mate's credit, they did not just sit around and watch HTC erode their market, they took a new line, by looking to procure Windows Mobile devices from sources other than HTC. No mean feat you might argue, with HTC undoubtedly the leading Windows Mobile device manufacturer.

What you see before you is one of the first devices to emerge from a non HTC i-mate relationship, the i-mate SPL, which has been designed and built for i-mate by Techfaith Wireless.

This leads us on nicely to battery life :(

Battery life is always difficult to 'review' as it were, because everyone's usage case is so difficult. Some people make calls all day, some people text all day, some people listen to music etc. etc. - let me tell you about my first couple of days with the SPL.

And so, on to the conclusion.

I have to confess, I didn't have high hopes for the SPL. Being the first i-mate device not from HTC, so thin in size, with what appeared to be an old processor, I was ready to be disappointed. After recently reviewing the Virgin Mobile Lobster 700TV, I knew what it was like to have high hopes and then have my heart broken :)