Apparently i-mate will be among the companies trying to make waves at next month’s Mobile World Congress and from the sound of things, we could be in for a surprise – or another big let down. Crediting a PR firm as its source, msmobiles revealed that i-mate is preparing to unveil and new handset at MWC and it looks to be putting all of its eggs in one basket.

At MWC 2009 i-mate will be unveiling its brand new product – one which sees them break new grounds with a revolutionary mobile device that’s like nothing else.

i-mate Hummer? While we hope it’s something a bit more interesting, we’re certainly not getting our hopes up. “Break new ground” and “revolutionary” are buzz terms that are tossed around with no discretion these days. Obvious speculation: Touchscreen, hi-rez display, Windows Mobile 6.5, tweaked UI based on i-mate Go and some bells and whistles to top it off. What do you guys think – does i-mate have a few tricks left up its sleeve or is this the last ditch effort of a battered company?

Thanks, Ivan!

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First things first… It’s no TouchFLO 3D. Ok, now that we have that out of the way we do have to say that we’re happy to see another company making an effort to tidy up the Windows Mobile UI a tad. Who knows how far away we really are from Windows Mobile 7 becoming a reality and in the meantime, even many Windows Mobile die hards seem to be losing patience with the very dated look of the OS. Samsung, HTC and Sony Ericsson aren’t the only companies attempting to bandage their mobile OS of choice however, as i-mate has just announced its “i-mate Go” UI. No, it’s not the catchiest name in the game, but those of you looking for high visibility and simple design for your i-mate UI should be pleased. i-mate Go is powered by VITO Winterface of course, a Windows Mobile UI enhancement that essentially started as an iPhone rip off and evolved into a slightly less obvious iPhone rip off. Apparently that subtle change was enough to get the i-mate folks to bite, so job well done. The i-mate Go UI is available for the JAMA 101 along with the Ultimate 6150, 8150, 8502 and 9502, and can be downloaded for free from the i-mate website.

[Via phonearena]

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The i-mate Hummer, huh? We’re not positive if that’s an internal name or not, but we’re assuming it is. If you’re still an i-mate fan at this point in time, bless your heart. In any case, we’ve got the drop on this new i-mate handset, and it does look like it’s bringing some respectable specs to the table this time around. For starters, it’s ruggedized device that’s water resistant, and it’s got a metal-alloy-screwed case. See the “screws”? It’s a Windows Mobile Standard device, and we’re pretty sure it will ship with Windows Mobile 6.1. In terms of other specs on the handset, there’s UMTS/HSDPA, Wi-Fi, a 2 megapixel camera, and a 2.5″ screen. No carrier information or release timetable at the moment, but the one positive thing we have to say about this handset is the one-handed form factor. HTC needs to step it up and get things moving in that department. The Palm Pro is nice and all, but there’s nothing like a little HTC Thinnovation, you feel us?

Thanks, Daddy G.!

i-mate hasn’t shut down its US offices located in Redmond, WA but pretty much everyone on the workforce there likely wishes that Friday never happened. An amazingly large percentage of its Redmond team was told to box their belongings and hit the road this past week. Among those sent packing were the entire engineering, QA, and tech writing departments. Even a few higher-ups who escaped the ambush walked out on their own accord, including the Chief Software Officer and VP of Sales and Marketing. Dark days at i-mate indeed. The massive layoffs likely come in part as a result of i-mate’s difficulties in distributing the Ultimate line of devices. i-mate has a lot riding on Ultimate handsets, as unexciting as they may or may not be, and sales to this point have hardly been what the manufacturer hoped for of course. It’s also hard to buy something if there’s no distribution. So who’s left now that the smoke has cleared? Apparently just enough people to create and maintain an online sales portal. Best of luck to those who were sent on their way.

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You can call i-mate a lot of things, but no one ever accused them of being good at naming their devices. Continuing that trend, then company has just announced two new handsets, aptly titled the Jama 101 and the Jama 201. The two phones, in typical i-mate fashion, are nothing to email home about. The Jama 201 is the most intriguing of the pair, sporting a full QWERTY keyboard, 300 MHz processor, 128 MB ROM/64 MB RAM, a 2 megapixel camera, and it runs on Windows Mobile 6 Professional Edition. Sadly the handset tops out at EDGE, and Bluetooth is the only other form of connectivity. The Jama 102 is even more depressing, with a full size touchscreen replacing the QWERTY board, and little else to differentiate it from it’s bigger brother. Pricing and availability isn’t yet known, and might not be necessary?

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We here at BGR are big fans of the series, "Will it blend?". Because we are big fans we have decided to do a variation of it, but in our own sick and twisted way. Will it freeze and survive? That’s the question, and some devices will hold up much better than others. Watch as we put the i-mate JAQ through the vigorous test and find out what happens!

Coming to us straight out of some daring, rebellious employee’s hands (probably one of them that was fired without notice), is i-mate’s 2007 product roadmap. There’s a bunch of stuff here, some of it old news, and some of it surfacing for the very first time. Check the link for the full rundown, but my personal favorite is the Vox knockoff codenamed the ‘Informer," which features dual band HSDPA, a slide out QWERTY pad, 2 megapixel shooter, and a 2.2" TFT screen running atop Windows Mobile 6 Standard.

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Download the PDF here

The i-Mate PDAL was recently officially announced by i-Mate. Specs are the usual, 2 mega-pixel cam, AKU3.2, Windows Mobile Pocket PC, Wifi, and EDGE. I really can’t say anything else, no keyboard, no go. Enjoy the pics

As you know by now the i-mate JAQ was so ugly that even a mother couldn’t love it. Not to i-mate’s credit they are releasing a much more polished device that actually could pass for good looking. The reason for the remarks against them is now they are on there own having lost the only manufacturer they had, HTC. The JAQ3 is a rebranded UBiQUiO 501 with an added scroll wheel. The JAQ3 is manufactured by TechFaith Wireless. Atleast TechFaith didn’t design the original wack JAQ. I just don’t see the appeal in this phone even for the lower price point they are targeting besides it being slim. No 3G means no JAQ3 to me. Shoutout to E-Gadget Depot for the hookup! Leave a comment and let us know if your an i-mate, or HTC loyalist