Smartphone Thoughts: Small, Sleek, and WiFi Enabled: The iMate SP5m Smartphone Reviewed

What Comes In The Box?
It's no surprise that you'll find a shinny new Windows Mobile Smartphone in every i-mate SP5m box, but what else will you find? Here's the full list:

• i-mate SP5m Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone;
  
• 1150 mAh Li-ion Battery;
  
• USB Sync and Charge cable;
  
• European power cable;
  
• North American outlet adapter (courtesy of Expansys);
  
• Stereo headset / hands free adapter;
  
• ActiveSync 4.0 CD;
  
• Quick Start Manual;
  
• User Manual.

Figure 1: Besides the ActiveSync CD, Quick Start Guide and the Manual (Who uses these anyway?), this is everything you'll find inside the box. The outlet adapter was not in the i-mate box, but it was inside the Expansys box.
Getting Up Close And Personal
The i-mate SP5m is just a hair longer but significantly taller than the Typhoon. It has a nice silver finish and a sturdy feel to it. I've noticed that the sound quality and volume is better than the Typhoon was. Overall cell signal seems to be a little stronger, however, this is hard to judge. I don't have any fancy equipment to measure this with. It's just me looking at the phone and thinking that I don't usually get four bars in this part of the building. ;)


Figure 2: The keypad isn't as cramped as I expected. Locating and pushing the correct key is easy. The amount of wrong key presses hasn't increased, or decreased, while using this phone. Click on the image for the full size image. (968KB)

Small keys and big fingers? It hasn't been a problem for me. My fingers aren't too big, but I haven't had any issues finding and pressing the correct key. It appears that the rocker switch from the Typhoon is a thing of the past. The SP5m has a little joystick that allows you to navigate around the phone without any problems. There was no period of time spent getting used to it like the rocker switch required.

One of the things I really like about the SP5m is the space between the top row of buttons. The top row holds your left and right softkeys along with your home and back buttons. I use my phone in all sorts of conditions and at times it's hard to look at the keypad. I can easily feel my way to the right button without having to look at the phone. On the SP5 there is very little space between the keys in this location.


Figure 3: The SP5m has a 1.3 Mega-pixel camera with a little mirror for self portraits. The little grey circle to the right is the external antenna jack.