At first glance, the i-mate Ultimate 8502 looks more like a PDA, rather than a pocket friendly mobile. The phone measures 116x55mm wide and 15mm thick. A QWERTY keyboard designed for leprechauns fills the bottom half of the phone; too small for humanoid fingers and a little impractical for making phone calls from the tiny keypad.

Thankfully there is a touch screen, and the bundled stylus works well enough. It also hides away neatly after use; a nice design feature. The 2.6“ QVGA screen is surprisingly vibrant and runs Windows Mobile 6.

There are quite a few features to learn, and we found ourselves wishing the instructions were more detailed. A 2MP camera is hardly amazing, but good for happy snappers.

The i-mate 8502 is HSPA compliant and Telstra 3G ready, with Bluetooth and built-in Wifi making the grade. Thanks to the speedy Next G network, GPS functionality and live Foxtel channels feature are strong selling points. Making a successful 3G connection was mostly painless as we navigated through the Telstra ‘My Place’ menu, with Foxtel loading very quickly.

Thankfully, Foxtel does not incur 3G data charges, and is based on a small monthly subscription fee for accessing its channels. A free preview of their channels is available for a limited time.

However, Foxtel streaming seems to suffer from poor image and audio synchronicity. But if you can get over the fact that the dialogue is slightly out of loop, you’ll soon love having a portable Foxtel connection wherever you go.

As the 3G network expands and improves, the mobile television space is going to be huge. We tested it on the bus and found it really useful for catching up on the local news and sport. Call quality was excellent and battery life felt adequate over the time we tested it.

One of the cleverer features of the i-mate 8502 is its ability to connect to a set of Video and Audio cables and output onto a television. We tried it on a 42 inch Plasma and the screen image was fairly sharp and accurate.

Foxtel didn’t fare as well, and video at that resolution was highly pixelated and difficult to watch. As a straight output for data presentations, it’s certainly a handy feature to have. All the necessary cables come pre-bundled, so all applications are ready to use straight out of the box.

Ultimately, the i-mate 8502 is surprisingly robust. Some of the menus feel a little confusing and clunky, the phone is oversized, and the micro keyboard lacks usability, but the i-mate is still a phone worth considering for its excellent video and 3G functions.