I-Mate JAMin

This was my replacement for my Nokia 6210 and Dell Axim PDA, The model I have is supplied by Orange and branded the M600, although it is the same phone. Having had a PDA/Phone combo before I was a little sceptical about its suitability, with it being a great PDA but useless as a phone with it being too large to use effectivly. The did not disappoint, with a comfortable size, easy to hold in your palm and easy to hold against your ear without being ...
...by no means the smallest, but it does have that heavy well built feel and fits into your jeans pocket quite nicely. When using the supplied case the phone will no longer fit into your pocket de to the belt loop, and would you really want to hang this kit off your belt?
The buttons are also easy to press when accessing from your pocket, answering or even cutting off calls.

The screen is good, with vivid colours and although smaller ... more

This was my replacement for my Nokia 6210 and Dell Axim PDA, The model I have is supplied by Orange and branded the M600, although it is the same phone. Having had a PDA/Phone combo before I was a little sceptical about its suitability, with it being a great PDA but useless as a phone with it being too large to use effectivly. The did not disappoint, with a comfortable size, easy to hold in your palm and easy to hold against your ear without being oversized. Compared to some phones on the market it is by no means the smallest, but it does have that heavy well built feel and fits into your jeans pocket quite nicely. When using the supplied case the phone will no longer fit into your pocket de to the belt loop, and would you really want to hang this kit off your belt?
The buttons are also easy to press when accessing from your pocket, answering or even cutting off calls.

The screen is good, with vivid colours and although smaller than some pda counterparts is very easy to read and it is quick not to notice the difference. However, using the unit in the sun is a problem as the screen seems to be ultra reflective, and thus impossible to read.

The sound quality of the calls is very good, as is the speakerphone mode. The microphone may not be that good in speakerphone as i usually have to switch to normal to be heard correctly. There is a small choice of ringtones, although you can set your own sounds and MP3's as your ring. Midi files sound very strange when compared with a standard mobile, This is not a problem for me as I dont require 'novelty' tones, but could add music if I wanted to.

Built into the phone is a 2 megapixel Camera, and as long as you have a very steady hand it is actually quite good. There is a number of different modes and sizes and all can produce some very good photos, the downside is the blurring that occours when taking quick pics.

Using Windows Mobile 2005 it has all you would expect from a windows PDA, plug it into you PC and you have instant connection. The pda outlook communicates with your PC Outlook seamlessly, but this is what I would expect, and a reason for buying a Microsoft based phone.
As a PDA it is relativly fast, considering the 200mhz processor is not the quickest on the market, and it easily compares to my previous 624mhz Dell. Activesync also allows you to install thousands of useful applications to the unit to increase functionality.

Although being small the connectivity options are huge, quad-band GSM with EDGE, Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g and an SDIO-enabled SD/MMC card all put the phone up with the best. I personally have a simple 1gb SD card, use the Bluetooth for headsets and sat nav and wireless access to browse the net. The wireless picks up the router very quickly, does not eat the battery excessivly and is easy enough to use on a small screen. It use this to wirelessly control servers and other computers using the built in Terminal Services client.

Using GPS through bluetooth is also good, the pickup is a few seconds, and usually before the GPS unit has figured out where I am. The update is quick as well making it suitable for city driving, This is using a 32 sat bluetooth GPS unit, which will make a difference. I also use a lot of Point of Interest files on the live view, something that killed the Dell PDA and this unit handles them effortlessly. On top of all this the power usage when using the gps is very efficient.

The battery life is very good, although I do charge mine daily either connected to a PC or the mains. It has been left for a week on standby, and still has life enough for phonecalls.

Best phone I have ever had?
Possibly, but slight confusion if you need to use the functions whilst on the phone, finding the keypad can be fun especially if you are on a time sensitive call, like typing in bank account numbers. I have also closed calls or placed on hold when knocking the screen with my cheek, annoying for me, inconvenient for the caller.

Unfortunalty this is the trade off for getting an all in one unit, but this is the best compromise between the small phone and the PDA which makes this phone is fantastic. 

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