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i-mate Smartphone Has Intel Inside, Runs Windows 8 Pro--Assuming It's Not Vaporware

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News Posted: Tue, Feb 26 2013 2:57 PM
According to the Seattle Times, erstwhile mobile device maker i-mate has something amazing brewing: a 4.7-inch phone that runs a full version of Windows 8 Pro--not Windows Phone 8, mind you--and also docks into a station that includes a 27-inch monitor, a wired business-looking desktop phone, and a separate “auxiliary” 10.1-inch tablet.

The phone, called the “Intelegent”, reportedly features an Intel Atom (Clover Trail) processor, 2GB of RAM, 64GB of onboard storage, 4G network connectivity, and up to 10 hours of talk time on a single battery charge.

i-mate Intelegent
Image credit: Seattle Times

The price tag? $750, for just the phone. If you want the whole schmeer with the dock and everything, it’ll run you a cool $1,600.

Granted, for what the Intelegent promises to do, that’s an appropriate price, and such a system would be a terrific innovation in the enterprise; but more than anything, this sounds like vaporware. Aside from the fact that i-mate is attempting to restart itself after failing last decade, this hub sounds far too demanding for even the most robust smartphone or tablet. Is that hardware really going to drive telephony, a huge monitor, and a 10.1-inch touchpad with any meaningful level of performance?

i-mate Intelegent
Image credit: Seattle Times

That said, we hope that i-mate pulls this off, because if it works as advertised, everyone who works in an office will want one. According to the Seattle Times, the company’s founder, Jim Morrison, said that he has a facility in California ready to crank out 10,000 units weekly, using parts from South Korea, Miami, and Japan, so who knows?
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MichaelSorrentino replied on Wed, Feb 27 2013 4:29 PM

In order to do this Windows 8 Pro would have to have support for screens smaller than 7 inches, and currently Windows 8 Pro doesn't even support 7 inches the rumored Windows Blue update is supposedly going to add support for 8 & 7 inch devices, but it is an interesting concept :)

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kalqlate replied on Wed, Feb 27 2013 9:43 PM

I would think that screen resolution rather than screen size is the determining factor. If this device follows the current trends, its phone screen resolution will be at least 1366 x 768; the current sweet spot for Win 8 devices.

I think at the right price, and $1600 does seem to be about the right price, this platform should do well. I can see many desiring the phone plus two docking stations; one for home, one for work; maybe even a third for another room at home.

I'm sure that many other manufacturers will not be two far behind. Microsoft has been planning such a platform for a long time. I recall Apple mentioning such as well. I can't imagine that Samsung won't soon present such a platform surrounding its Galaxy phones... other Android players as well as the latest batch of processors from NVidia and Qualcom could easily function as the core of a workstation/dock. My dream for several years now has been a full, powerful windows system in the pocket. When Haswell is in full stride, full OS phones will be very practical and the market will explode.

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