Below is the review of the i-mate 9502 that I wrote in 2008.

Review of i-mate 9502  by Gavin Fabiani-Laymond

Date of Review – 24th April 2008



Available from – http://www.clove.co.uk



Price – £355.00 + VAT



Pros – Slide out keyboard, Excellent Touchscreen, Endless buttons, GPS integrated, TV out, Excellent ring volume, loud speakers, quick responding, compact, 3mp autofocus camera with flash



Cons – Weighs 200g, SDHC compatible, so 2gb microsd cards max



Recently, I  reviewed the i-mate 8502 which has a qwerty thumboard on the front of the device. The 8502 also comes with a 2mp camera and only a qvga screen. Well I now have the 9502, and this includes all the features and specifications of the 8502, but adds a 2.8 inch vga screen, a 3mp autofocus with flash camera, and a slide out keyboard, similar in concept to a Sidekick. There are also more buttons on this device.

I have shown the 9502 with the new Samsung i780, HTC Touch & Vox for comparison. Ironically, the Samsung i780 even though it is about one third of the depth of the 9502, its nearly the size height and actually a few millimetres wider.

When you open the 9502 box, it is full of extras. These include i-mate Ultimate 9502 Pouch Case, TV Audio-out Cable, USB Sync Cable, Stereo Headset with microphone, AC Adapter with UK/US/EU, 2 x Stylus Pens, Battery, Getting Started CD, Getting Started Guide, User Manual.



The included bundle is excellent value. Also worth noting is that the 9502 uses mini usb so readily connectable with standard connectors.



Some shots of the sides of the 9502.

Below is the specifications of the device. Worth noting that the 9502 has a large capacity battery, a magical VGA screen, integrated GPS, Bluetooth profiles includes printing and the HID profile for keyboards and TV out.





Technical of i-mate Ultimate 9502

Operating System –
Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional

Processor/ Chipset –
400 MHz Qualcomm MSM 7200

Memory –
256 MB ROM
128 MB RAM

Display –
2.8” VGA (640×480) Touch-screen
262k color TFT with backlight

Operating Frequency –
Quad Band – GSM / GPRS / EDGE/ HSDPA / HSUPA

Keyboard/ Buttons –
Slider LCD exposes 39-key Qwerty keypad
Power button
Send and End buttons
Messaging and Internet buttons
Camera button
Volume up and down
Three (3) software programmable buttons
Two (2) soft-keys
Start and OK buttons
5-way navigation
360° Jog wheel and OK / Back
Soft reset

Camera –
3.0 Megapixel auto-focus camera – LED Compensation light
VGA camera for Video Calls

Connectivity –
WiFi 802.11 b/g
Bluetooth 2.0, A2DP (Advanced Audio Distribution profile)

GPS –
NMEA 0183

Interface –
Combo port for USB, TV Audio output, Charging
MicroSD card slot
Audio jack (2.5mm)
SIM card slot

Power –
Removable 1620mAH, Lithium ion-Polymer battery
Standby up to 180 hours (UMTS)
Talk Time up to 260 minutes (UMTS)

Dimensions –
116mm(L) x 60mm(W) x 17.8mm(T)

Weight –
200g with battery pack



If only the micro sd slot supported sdhc cards, this would make this device truly unbelievable. I-mate are rumoured to be working on an update to Windows Mobile 6.1 which might include support for sdhc cards.



You must charge the device for 8 hours. It is extremely tempting to turn the phone on, but I just about resisted. While you charge the device it is a good idea to register the device at http://www.clubimate.com and login and use the Custom iq service. This allows you to create a custom installation. You can setup all your email and activesync settings, and save up to 16mb of cab files for automatic installation. When you turn the device on for the first time it notes what mobile operator you have and configures the device for use. All the data, voicemail, sms and mms settings were installed automatically. The next options included registering the device as an enterprise one and whether I wanted to use the i-mate device customization. I entered my user name and password and next I get a message asking if I want to install over the air 10mb of files. Best use wifi if you don’t have a unlimited data plan. Wonderful touch. I-mate also offer a 2 year guarantee.



Memory. The 9502 has available after its first boot 98.92 mb and 36.12 mb of program memory. The program memory could be more, especially for a VGA device. I found I had to use a good task manager like Magic Button to close the programs. However, I did not run out of memory.



Using the keyboard. The screen slides up very quickly to reveal a lovely qwerty keyboard. The soft reset hole is top right of the keyboard. I found it simple to type using two fingers, one each side. The grip is great and having the VGA screen is lovely. The screen rotates from portrait to landscape instantly.



Camera. The 3mp camera was quick to fire up. It had a quick shutter speed for a pda phone, with auto focus and led flash. The quality of the camera was impressive.

Software. The 9502 comes with all the standard windows mobile software, including windows live. It also has all the i-mate device customisation and support options. In Pocket Internet Explorer there is an option to view web page in high definition. Lovely touch again.

GPS. There is no included GPS software. I installed Tom Tom 6 which worked beautifully and looked great on the VGA screen.



TV Out. Like the 8502, the 9502 has a TV out feature. The TV feature shows exactly what is on the 9502 screen in real time with no lags. As the 9502 is vga the resolution on the TV screen is excellent and idea for powerpoint presentations of picture shows.



The memory card slot is under the battery cover on the side of the device.



Camera shot. Notice how sharp all the objects are despite varying distances.

I would recommend the i-mate 9502 as the ultimate power horse. Available and with thanks to http://www.clove.co.uk for dispatching it so fast.