Our friend Mauricio over at Geekzone has posted a very pictorial review of the Windows Mobile 2003 based i-mate Pocket PC Phone (sold by Telstra here, and also sold as the XDA II), which has just now hit New Zealand - wow, we think we're doing badly here in Australia, but at least we've had this baby for a couple of months (however, CDMA Pocket PC Phones have yet to appear in the Australian market - so I guess we're even on that score!)

"I am excited about doing this review. The main reason is because this is the third Phone Edition device I'm testing, but the first on a GSM network (the other two were the HTC Falcon/Audiovox PPC 5050 and Audiovox Thera, both on a CDMA network).

The i-mate Pocket PC is being marketed in New Zealand through Vodafone dealers. This is the same XDA II and QTEK 2020 model, rebranded by Carrier Devices as i-mate. The company market this Windows Mobile 2003 Pocket PC Phone Edition throughout Asia-Pacific and some middle-eastern countries. The i-mate is based on the HTC Himalaya design (FCC ID: NM8 HIMALAYAS)."

Mauricio has noted the Bluetooth problems with the device, which are symptomatic of all Windows Mobile 2003 based devices using Microsoft's Bluetooth implementation.

"But wait there's more! If this is not the most strange Bluetooth implementation I've seen, you have to know that, at least in my experience, the headset doesn't work. I've paired this phone with two headsets (a Jabra BT200 and a Sony Ericsson), and in both cases calls are diverted to the headsets as expected. At least until I turn the device off. When I turn the device on again I'm not able to connect to the headsets to place or receive calls. The headsets are close to the Pocket PC, they were not turned off, the i-mate blue LED was blinking all the time, but out of the blue (no pun intended) it decides that it'll not talk to the headsets anymore. Until the next time I pair the devices. And this on a freshly hard reset device."

All in all, quite a nice review, and well worth a read!

Source: Geekzone