i-mobile 502 Review
Bt Jonathan Cheah
At A Glance:
Price: RM 599
Local Distributor: Samart i-mobile (M) Sdn Bhd.
Contact: 03-21648564
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Build quality: 8/10
Applications: 8/10
Interface: 8/10
Value-for-money: 7/10
Overall rating: 8/10
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+ Solid Feel
+ Slide down autolock
- Poor Camera
- No memory expansion
- Limited ringtones
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The i-mobile 502 is rather similar to certain Siemens and Samsung slider models. In fact, the railing that both halves of the phones slide upon appears to be strikingly similar to the ones on the Samsung E800.
It is a nice-looking phone though, although you do have to press and hold down the camera button at the side to activate that feature. This phone could use a better camera though. The one we looked at was rather blurred and did not have all that many features.
Casing
The 502 is very light, and both halves slide open silently, except for the chime tone that the phone makes when it slides open.
The plastic casing appears rather cheap, as does the electric blue lighting surrounding the softkeys right below the screen. The keys light up in a different shade of blue, and was barely bright enough to read in the dark.
However, having said that, the keys are large enough for most fingers and the response speed was surprisingly quick. The SMS response is excellent, and beats out most of the bigger brand names in terms of how fast the phone responds to multiple presses of the key.
I did not really like the circular navigation key, as I found it rather difficult to move around the menus using that key. At times, some of the softkey functions did not work. A notable one is the ‘unlock’ command shown when the phone is closed. You have to press and hold down the softkey for that function unlike the press-release and press-other-button common to other slider phones.
Software
There are two games in the phone. One is the evergreen Tetris, and the other one is simply called Jumper. Both appear to be games for the fairer sex, and the cutesy look of the whole device indicates the preferred user of the phone.
There is a built-in radio to the phone, and you have to attach the earphones to activate this function. I was surprised by the lack of a video function for the camera, as this is quite common now in most makes of phones.
Making and fielding calls was a breeze. The 502 works just like any other phone. Press the call button and a list of recently dialled numbers is shown to you.
| Editor's Opinion |
The i-mobile 502 is a fairly decent phone. A coat of varnish paint or lacquer on the shell would have enhanced its selling price a little.
The screen is presentable, but the manufacturer needs to look at better choices for ring and message tones. Download your own ringtones from a computer. A cable is provided in the box for this purpose, and an installation CD is in the box.
Nevertheless, the price for this product appears to be quite reasonable, and in the era of 3G phones, I think that this phone can give its competitors a run for their money. The Koreans better watch out here though. Clones of their phones are muscling their way into the market.
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