The official i-mate 9502 'Ask Paul' thread

[Guest decalingo]

i will get the Sony X1 to replace my imate 9502.

Sony X1 got 3" 800x480 compare to 9502 at 2.8" 640x480.

seeing more on screen is always better! less scrolling!

So, your only concerns with 9502 are the buttons (external ones), right? But other than a bigger screen and higher resolution, is there anything else seen as a drawback in your current Ultimate, being resolved in your future X1?

[Guest netnerd]

So, your only concerns with 9502 are the buttons (external ones), right? But other than a bigger screen and higher resolution, is there anything else seen as a drawback in your current Ultimate, being resolved in your future X1?

i feel the buttons in 9502 is all in the wrong places! sometime u have to look to tell which button is which. also u cant tell which is top or botton of the phone just by holding it. these are just minor complains, i can live with it. 9502 only support up to 2G microSD, i can live with this since i really dont need that many porno on the microSD. haha

ya. i will be upgrading to sony X1 for the 3" 800x480 compare to 2.8" 640x480. and going by spec, X1 is even smaller and lighter then 9502!

but X1 wont be out atleast for another 4 months?

[Guest Metoo]

i will get the Sony X1 to replace my imate 9502.

Sony X1 got 3" 800x480 compare to 9502 at 2.8" 640x480.

seeing more on screen is always better! less scrolling!

Having used 2.8" VGA, and 3" WVGA (G900/910) extensively, I can honestly say the jump in usability between the two isn't that great.

OK you're getting a third more horizontal pixels, but IMO it's a mistake to try and squeeze them into virtually the same space.

The pixels are so much closer together and 2.8" VGA is already pushing the limits of what most people's eyes can see.

My experience was that 3" WVGA is simply past the point of diminishing returns.

That's why many people who want high res have tried the Etens, 9502, G900/910 and the like, and gone back to the E90 (including me).

There's little point in cramming a web page or terminal screen onto a tiny display unless you can read it comfortably - and for that, you still can't beat the Nokia.

Like the Actress said to the Bishop, the extra inch makes all the difference.

Edited June 1, 2008 by Metoo

[Guest netnerd]

That's why many people who want high res have tried the Etens, 9502, G900/910 and the like, and gone back to the E90 (including me).

There's little point in cramming a web page or terminal screen onto a tiny display unless you can read it comfortably - and for that, you still can't beat the Nokia.

Like the Actress said to the Bishop, the extra inch makes all the difference.

isnt E90 got a 800x352 screen?

maybe u have bad eyes, i still perfer 800x480 instead!

seeing more is better! less scrolling!

i'm happy with windows mobiles and have no plan to switch to S60

[Guest decalingo]

i'm happy with windows mobiles and have no plan to switch to S60

Netnerd! I'm sorry but if possible, could you please give me some feedbacks on these issues?

1-While working with your 9502, did you happen to have any problem with the seemingly low amount of RAM?

2-How do you find the speaker quality -while listening to a music?

3-Have you tested some games on it? I'm just wondering how the integrated GPU could perform on 9502. Especially coming from S60, I'm expecting a completely different experience on gaming. Am I right?

4-Does it make sense to also consider Toshiba Portégé G910 versus this model as an alternative?

Thank you so much for your help :D

[Guest Metoo]

isnt E90 got a 800x352 screen?

maybe u have bad eyes, i still perfer 800x480 instead!

seeing more is better! less scrolling!

i'm happy with windows mobiles and have no plan to switch to S60

You miss my point entirely, but then I wouldn't expect you to get it if you've never tried using such a screen. The phone, or OS, has nothing to do with it. I'm merely pointing out that squeezing 800 pixels into a 3" frame is a wasted opportunity, when the whole experience can be made so much better by just a modest stretch of the screen. The G910/E90 comparison here and G910 pics here show just how tiny a 3" WVGA screen is in real life (approx 65 x 45mm - cut some paper out and see for yourself).

Another factor is that by squeezing in those extra pixels and the widescreen format without significantly increasing screen dimensions, fonts are smaller than on 2.8" VGA, making WM's "normal" text even harder to read, especially at a distance (e.g. on a desk or car dash).

I don't deny that technically the higher res means you can cram more into one page, but like I said, the actual benefit in real life over VGA for me was marginal - especially when you consider the CPU and battery overhead incurred, WM's lack of support for scalable fonts, and the physical limits of how small text can before it becomes a strain to read.

@decalingo - there is extensive feedback on the G910 on the Expansys forums. For someone who wants a smaller HTC Universal or E90 style clamshell, it's a nice design, in theory. But it has lots of shortcomings. If you want to play games, have any kind of video performance, or listen to music (or anything) out of the speaker, forget it. If you do try it, make sure you buy from somewhere with a decent returns policy in case the "quirks" make it unusable for you.

Edited June 2, 2008 by Metoo

[Guest netnerd]

WM's lack of support for scalable fonts, and the physical limits of how small text can before it becomes a strain to read.

u do know u can make the texts bigger in email and internet, right?

believe me, i know what i wanted! 3" wvga 800x480! i dont need to cut paper or anything to see how 3" looks. i currently using 2.8" vga, and very happy with it! it just depends on what u do with the phone, not everybody play games or play video on it! i mostly using it for phone calls, email, texts, internet, and gps.

i also have a sony 4.5" umpc running on 1000x600 resolution! are u going to complain about that too? haha

or

u know how many blackberry been sold?

are u going to complain about unable to play games, or video on it also?

everybody have different need!

Edited June 2, 2008 by netnerd

[Guest Metoo]

i feel the buttons in 9502 is all in the wrong places! sometime u have to look to tell which button is which. also u cant tell which is top or botton of the phone just by holding it.

So it would seem, especially that darn Caps key :D Mind you, it's not just you who has trouble (check the end of the vid)

http://www.solopalmari.com/content/view/4441/#5

u do know u can make the texts bigger in email and internet, right?

believe me, i know what i wanted! 3" wvga 800x480! i dont need to cut paper or anything to see how 3" looks. i currently using 2.8" vga, and very happy with it! it just depends on what u do with the phone, not everybody play games or play video on it! i mostly using it for phone calls, email, texts, internet, and gps.

i also have a sony 4.5" umpc running on 1000x600 resolution! are u going to complain about that too? haha

or

u know how many blackberry been sold?

are u going to complain about unable to play games, or video on it also?

everybody have different need!

It wasn't me who was asking about games or video. Perhaps you could give decalingo some more feedback as requested?

As for making fonts bigger, you're nearly there, but again you're missing the point. If the screen had been stretched to accomodate the extra pixels, the fonts wouldn't have to be so small in the first place.

The nonsensical thing is, if Samsung can fit a 3.5" 240x400 display into the i900, why couldn't Sony/Tosh have done the same with 480x800? It would have made the thing so much more usable (especially on the G910).

http://www.pconline.com.cn/coolshow/new/mo...05/1300096.html

Edited June 2, 2008 by Metoo

[Guest decalingo]

@decalingo - there is extensive feedback on the G910 on the Expansys forums. For someone who wants a smaller HTC Universal or E90 style clamshell, it's a nice design, in theory. But it has lots of shortcomings. If you want to play games, have any kind of video performance, or listen to music (or anything) out of the speaker, forget it. If you do try it, make sure you buy from somewhere with a decent returns policy in case the "quirks" make it unusable for you.

Thank you :D So maybe I should stick to Ultimate 9502 at the moment. I'm not really looking for multimedia purposes on WM but I was just curious how the gaming experience on this platform (more specifically on 9502) would be. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm expecting a far superior performance compared to S60.

[Guest Metoo]

Thank you :D So maybe I should stick to Ultimate 9502 at the moment. I'm not really looking for multimedia purposes on WM but I was just curious how the gaming experience on this platform (more specifically on 9502) would be. Correct me if I'm wrong but I'm expecting a far superior performance compared to S60.

I'm not a gamer myself so I'd have to let someone else make comment as to the best device for that. However I would say one immediate flaw of the 9502 (perhaps one of its biggest) is that the D-Pad is cheap and nasty, with an uneven shape that makes it very hard to use the Up button. That might impact quite severely on gameplay.

[Guest netnerd]

Netnerd! I'm sorry but if possible, could you please give me some feedbacks on these issues?

1-While working with your 9502, did you happen to have any problem with the seemingly low amount of RAM?

2-How do you find the speaker quality -while listening to a music?

3-Have you tested some games on it? I'm just wondering how the integrated GPU could perform on 9502. Especially coming from S60, I'm expecting a completely different experience on gaming. Am I right?

4-Does it make sense to also consider Toshiba Portégé G910 versus this model as an alternative?

Thank you so much for your help :(

1. i removed all the junks from windows\startup\ folder, i have 39.5MB free ram, that is good enought

2. sorry, i dont listen to music on it

3. dont like to play games, i rather surf the internet! :D

4. Toshiba Portege G910 looks hot! but it only got 2100mzh 3.5G, no USA 3.5G! i'm not interested!

also if u can wait, get Sony X1 instead! X1 is smaller, thiner, and lighter!

Edited June 2, 2008 by netnerd

[Guest decalingo]

also if u can wait, get Sony X1 instead! X1 is smaller, thiner, and lighter!

Dude I wish I could wait longer but I can't :D What about HTC Diamond? I'm in UK and it's going to get released in 10 days. FYI, I can get Ultimate 9502 at £400 while by paying an extra £30, I can buy Diamond. What do you say? Do you consider it as a far superior device - compared to 9502?

@Metoo: Forgive me if I haven't followed your posts correctly but you've finally switched to E90, right? Was it JUST because of the platform (WM vs. S60) or was there any sort of device issue? Have you ever had an Ultimate 9502 before?

Edited June 2, 2008 by decalingo

[Guest netnerd]

Dude I wish I could wait longer but I can't :D What about HTC Diamond? I'm in UK and it's going to get released in 10 days. FYI, I can get Ultimate 9502 at £400 while by paying an extra £30, I can buy Diamond. What do you say? Do you consider it as a far superior device - compared to 9502?

it depends if you need the qwerty keyboard or not. i find the qwerty keyboard on imate 9502 pretty handy to write emails or reply to posts on forums, it much faster then using the onscreen keyboard with stylus.

if u need keyboard, get 9502

dont need keyboard, get diamond.

[Guest Metoo]

Dude I wish I could wait longer but I can't :D What about HTC Diamond? I'm in UK and it's going to get released in 10 days. FYI, I can get Ultimate 9502 at £400 while by paying an extra £30, I can buy Diamond. What do you say? Do you consider it as a far superior device - compared to 9502?

@Metoo: Forgive me if I haven't followed your posts correctly but you've finally switched to E90, right? Was it JUST because of the platform (WM vs. S60) or was there any sort of device issue? Have you ever had an Ultimate 9502 before?

The Diamond is already in stock Expansys - albeit at a hefty premium.

I've gone back to my trusty E90 as my main phone after dallying with the G910 and 9502. That latter had a serious bug in that it would often lose the network (O2) when on stand-by, that's not something I can afford to happen. I've no real bias for the OS - I love the tweakablity of WM but also the way S60 just works without ever loading hacks or going near a registry editor. Plus it has way the best camera (for video too) and that great wide screen. The latest firmware make it as responsive as any WM machine (apart from the i780, which I use if I want something ultra compact to carry around).

Personally I think the Diamond is overrated and is just an attempt to mimic the eye candy of the iPhone and its imitators. AFAIK it was originally intended as a low end start to HTC's new range so the way the price has jumped up because of the hype is just a rip-off IMO. But as you can probably tell from my other device choices, I much prefer something with a more business like design - i.e. that gets the job done without silly gimmicks. Plus, if you're still looking at video, games and music, the lack of a memory card slot on the Diamond, and only 4Gb on board, is a real shortcoming.

Edited June 2, 2008 by Metoo

[Guest decalingo]

I much prefer something with a more business like design - i.e. that gets the job done without silly gimmicks.

That's exactly what I was thinking of :D I'm not that much into Diamond's design aspect and of course the fact that they've been trying to imitate the iPhone UI.

Plus, if you're still looking at video, games and music, the lack of a memory card slot on the Diamond, and only 4Gb on board, is a real shortcoming.

Well, I think I would carry around two gadgets at the same time :o N95 would be for the multimedia purposes and Ultimate 9502 will serve me with the other aspects (hopefully!). Does it make sense?

if u need keyboard, get 9502

Thanks dude :( That's what I wanted to hear from you :lol: I suppose the full QWERTY keyboard will give me a totally new experience, other than the usability advantage that you just mentioned.

[Guest kanzlr]

hi there!

As i got my 9502 two days ago and having tried a few things, I feel I can answer some questions:

Overall, I think the 9502 design is rather nice. the buttons are fine for me, the keyboard has a good feel (it is small, but well designed). only problem with the buttons is that tha directional pads "up" section is very narrow and a bit hard to press, at least harder than the other directions.

the performance is good. I played a few 320x240 videos and H264 streaming HD TV over HSDPA and it was very fluid.

also, the games I tried run absolutely smooth (Orions: The second Age, GTS World Challenge, Nanobotz).

RAM is a non issue. I too removed the two i-mate services/customizer from Startup and disabled the Phone Skin via registry and I now have 41,7MB ram left on startup with all my plugins and tools running (pocketplus 4, PDC, TodayAgenda, QuickMenu) and my rather big Exchange data synced.

[Guest decalingo]

Hi Kanzlr! Thank you for your feedback :( Hope you enjoy your new gadget :D