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Yes, it's red, but does that make the i-Mate SPL "cool"?

It's a phone, and it's called the SPL - which has unfortunately made reviewer Matt Chapman think of the Scottish Premier League. "It's a consumer-pleasing candybar handset that still has business-friendly features (like RIM's Blackberry). The SPL follows in those footsteps, and for once you won't be embarrassed pulling it out of your pocket," Chapman says.

His review says that if you can forgive the name, and don't mind the loss of convenient access to Mini SD storage capacity (to make it extra slim) then it's a nice Windows Mobile device with good battery life. Except... it's neither a business phone, lacking business software, nor a nice consumer phone, being slow and clanky.

It has a two megapixel camera, but it's not much use, because it takes so long between pressing the button, and waiting for the OS to realise that this means "load the camera software" and then waiting for the camera software to realise that there's a subject to focus on, and then realising that you are squeezing the trigger... "what cute doggy?" - the subject will be long gone.

Another review shows it in black. It's also available in ghostly blue, and ghastly pink.  Out of sympathy for readers, NewsWireless has resolved to show only the red version. Masochists can read the full Reg Hardware review, which shows the other colours. Don't pretend you weren't warned... and if you want to read the same reviewer's opinions on another site, you can