Windows Phone 8? We don’t need no stinking Windows Phone 8. That’s i-Mate’s take on things apparently, as the company is skipping Microsoft’s phone OS with their new smartphone and jumping right to Windows 8.

For those that don’t know (or remember) i-Mate, they were once well known for their rugged Windows Mobile handset that was designed to handle just about anything you could possibly throw at it and yet somehow still survive the mayhem and destruction brought down on it.

So what kind of hardware is this Windows 8-based smartphone planning to arrive with? The phone will have a 4.7-inch display, an Atom processor, 2GB RAM, 64GB storage, HSPA+, LTE support and will run on the Pro version of Windows 8.

The Windows 8 Phone will also have an optional docking station that includes a wired handset for making calls over the net, and more. The “HUB” package will also come with a 23-inch display, keyboard and mouse. In short, you can make this phone your desktop PC as well. Not enough options for you? There is also an auxilary 10.1-inch wireless tablet in the works.

As you can probably guess, this will not exactly be a cheap buy. The phone buy itself is a stagerring $750. The “hub” with the phone, dock and monitor package comes in at $1,600. The wireless tablet is seperate, not sure on the costs though.

While not a popular brand in the US, i-Mate is actually rather well known in the United Kingdom and Dubai. This might not be for everyone, but it is certainly a unique niche item. You have to wonder what they were thinking with a 4.7-inch display. Although I personally like displays of this size, going into the desktop to change settings and other options won’t exactly be a cakewalk with such a tiny display – 5.5-inches or so would have been a better fit.

For those wondering, since this runs on Windows 8 and an Intel processor, it can also handle full desktop apps, though the Atom processor certainly won’t be strong enough for anything too intense.

What do you think of the concept, could this have potential or is the idea of putting a full desktop OS onto a phone just too impractical at this point?

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What you see here is the Lenovo ThinkPad 2. It’s a Windows 8 tablet that will ship with a full QWERTY keyboard, giving you a laptop-like experience when you need it. And it’s going to sell for $799. This was formally revealed at PepCom in New York City where the Lenovo rep said that the ThinkPad 2 would indeed sell for that price when it launched on October 26.

Remember that this isn’t “just” a tablet. Realistically, it’s probably closer to being a really thin ultrabook with a touchscreen, thanks to the Intel processor under the hood. It gets Windows 8 Pro, a 1366×768 IPS display, 10 hour battery life, dual cameras (2MP + 8MP), AT&T-compatible LTE, NFC, USB ports, and a stylus. The $799 price also includes the full Microsoft Office 2013 suite, but I hear that the keyboard doesn’t have an “extra” battery like what you get with Asus Transformer Pad series.

$800 might sound like a lot of money for a tablet, but when you consider that most ultrabooks start at around this range, this doesn’t so far out there. That said, it’s rumored to have just an Atom “Clover Trail” chip rather than something from the Core i3/i5/i7 series, so your performance could be significantly hindered. What do you think? Would you buy it at $800?

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