Q-like Smartphone from Inventec Coming to i-Mate

It appears that a Pocket PC phone that Inventec unveiled earlier this year will soon be offered by i-Mate.

This device, which will reportedly be called the JAQ, will have a form-factor similar other recent smartphones, like the Motorola Q and iPAQ hw6900. This means it will include a built-in miniature keyboard.

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i-Mate's upcoming device will also have a 2.8-inch, 320-by-240-pixel (QVGA) touchscreen and an integrated GPS receiver.

In addition, the JAQ will include 64 MB of RAM, 128 MB of ROM, and a miniSD card slot. It will run Windows Mobile 5.0 on a 200 MHz OMAP processor from TI.

This will be a GSM/GPRS/EDGE device with Bluetooth 1.2 but not Wi-Fi.

i-mate has not yet officially announced this device, but a report that it's coming soon leaked out anyway.

Who or What is i-Mate?

There are a number of companies called ODMs (Original Design Manufacturers) that design smartphones and then offer them to carriers around the world. The carriers then take these devices, re-brand them, and offer them to their customers.

Obviously, though, not every carrier offers every smartphone, which sometimes leaves people who want a specific device out in the cold. That's where i-Mate comes in. This company gets devices from the ODMs, re-brands them, and then offers them to customers around the world.

Because these models are unlocked GSM phones, they can be used on the wireless networks of most carriers worldwide.

This gives people the opportunity to get smartphones they wouldn't otherwise be able to.

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Via pdamania.hu