News

Nice iMate Skype PDA! - but what about the battery life?

by Guy Kewney | posted on 10 February 2005

Excellent news that Skype will be available on three new iMate PDA-phones ready to roll. But the real question is not going to be "how easy is it to use?" but "what does this do to my battery life?" For sure, we won't be able to find out when it launches at 3GSM next week.

Skype has announced that its software will appear on the i-mate PDA2K and the PDA2 handsets, with the option of seeing it on the "Magician" pda phone.

The iMate PDA2K is a pretty standard pocket PC, with telephone capabilities. It's defined as follows by iMate:

Powered by GPRS & WiFi technology, so you can access the internet, send/receive emails, and download important files at high speeds.

Built in QWERTY keyboard - simply slide your screen up to reveal it conveniently hidden underneath.

Get the latest Microsoft® Pocket PC tools including MSN® Messenger, Internet Explorer, & Windows® Media Player. View your screen in landscape format if you choose.

PLUS! built in Bluetooth®, digital camera/video recorder, MP3 Player, and 128MB RAM.

It's a nice PPC. Jason Dunn described it as "the most functional Pocket PC I've ever used," adding: "It's everything the iPAQ 6315 wished it could be." Other reviews have occasionally winced at the price, but nobody seems to have asked how much talk time it gives.

The Magician was greeted with pretty much a rave review - despite not having a keyboard - by our own Tony Smith; but again, no indication of what it will do to battery life if you stick a WiFi card into the spare SD slot, and start chatting.

The thing about WiFi hotspots is that once you're connected, talk is free. The inclination is to talk as long as you like on Skype. On a notebook PC, you'd better have a power socket handy. And on a Pocket PC, the same question arises; if I chat for an hour, will I be able to look up phone numbers or add appointments or addresses?

The thing will be on view on Monday 14th in Cannes. We'll see how easy it is to get a long-talk-time test!