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Review: In many ways, the i-mate JAM is an unexceptional Pocket PC/phone combo, much like the O2 XDA. However, its small size makes it genuinely pocketable, and a practical alternative to a smartphone. The full Pocket PC operating system is more flexible than the Smartphone edition of Windows (as seen on the i-mate smartphones and the Orange SPV). In particular, it's a much better device for Web access: with appropriate third-party software, you can squeeze an SVGA Web page to fit (just) legibly without reformatting. A few cons that cost it a star: - Modest battery life. Good for size and for a pocketPC, but worse than a phone (although modern high-speed colour phones can be pretty poor, too). Top up the charge every day (it charges from its USB cable, so it's easy) and you'll be fine. - No cradle supplied, or even available at the time of writing. Seems like a crazy omission, but no more than an inconvenience. - No built-in Wi-Fi. Easily added with a Sandisk 256Mb + Wi-Fi SDIO card, but that annoyingly pokes out the top. No doubt this will come on the JAM 2. - No GPRS EDGE. Also likely to appear in later models. - Slight flakiness. Compared to, say, one of the simpler Nokia phones, anything powered by Windows is going to look a bit flaky. The worst problem I've encountered so far is with Bluetooth: with my SonyEricsson HBH-300 headset, after almost exactly 8 minutes on a call the remote party can no longer hear me, even though I can hear her or him fine. Dropping and reconnecting clears the problem, but it's a pain. Although I'm a gadget fan, I'm pretty picky about what to use day-to-day for communications. For e-mail, I'm hanging onto my Blackberry for now, but the JAM is small enough to have become my phone, and it's handy still to be able to have data connectivity even when I've left the Blackberry at home. Recommended. |
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