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SINGAPORE : Do you fancy texting emails in the shower or receiving a call while you're swimming laps? Meet the i-mate 810-F (S$1,050) - it's quite an animal of a phone.
The rugged smartphone with a Qwerty keyboard and an impact-resistant touchscreen is sealed shut with screws and covered with a tough, rubber-like material. It is designed to operate in temperatures between minus-10 and 60°C and is waterproof at depths of 1m for up to 30 minutes.
We threw it around, placed it in the fridge, ran a bicycle over it and yes, made a call in the shower. Indeed, it continued operating without a hitch.
This is also one secure smartphone. A built-in software called Secure i-Q allows you to lock, wipe and sound the alarm in the 810-F wirelessly via any computer if it is lost or stolen. We were particularly impressed by its loud alarm.
It's relatively portable and compact, measuring 111x66x15.5mm and weighing 150g. i-mate has also managed to squeeze in a 2.46-inch touchscreen display, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, WiFi, a digital compass, GPS and 2GB of storage (no expansion slots, we're afraid) in this quad-band phone.
While we like its portability and rugged features, the phone seems a bit ancient with the preloaded Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, though its 624MHz Qualcomm processor runs zippily.
You need to expend a bit more effort typing on the Qwerty keyboard because the keys can be quite stiff.
What's interesting is that i-mate offers free insurance and replacement cover (door-to-door, by the way) for the first 12 months of ownership for registered users. For an annual fee of about US$150 (S$211), you can extend the coverage. And yes, it includes a complimentary replacement if the phone is lost, stolen or broken and full annual servicing to ensure that the phone is as good as new. How about that?
- TODAY/il
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