Customer Reviews

Cingular 8525 PDA Phone

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

I am still a bit conflicted by this PDA-phone. Although, I will say that after trying this phone, the Motorola Q and having a pretty good hands-on with the Blackjack and the Treo 680... this is the one that I am going to stick with. On the upside, the processor is very responsive and rarely slows down even when multiple programs are running. The keyboard is easy to type on and if you are in a 3G service area you will have amazing internet access speeds. If you are not, the EDGE service is pretty darn slow. Another bonus is that you will be able to use this phone and search the internet/use it as a modem for your computer while recieving calls. The battery is actually quite good when you consider the processor speed. It will last every bit as long as a Treo or any other PDA-phone on the market. It also has WiFi and the device will use WiFi or EDGE or 3G (whichever is fastest) automatically. In additon, it is very well built (the keyboard does not loosen or "wiggle"). The phone can be charged from either the USB cord or the supplied power cord.
The only problems with this phone is the lack of internal memory (less than 32MB after the pre-installed programs are accounted for). If there is a good way to run programs off of the memory card (which there may be), then I would give this a 5 star rating. There is no included carrying case (the 8125 case fits this phone). The phone is a bit on the heavy side and is a little thick. The camera is good only for still photos and does well outdoors. The image quality suffers alot if the subject of the photo is moving or if there is poor lighting. Also (and no fault of the phone), it has been a bit of a transition to get used to the Windows Mobile 5.0 OS.
In my mind, this phone has a few advantages over the other phones in its class including the Treo 680 (slower processor, no 3G service, poor quality camera), the Blackjack (slower processor, battery life not as good, keyboard is harder to type on), Motorola Q (terrible battery life, slow processor) but it is larger and more expensive.

I've had this phone now for 2 weeks and it has met all of my expectations and exceeded them even. I upgraded from the 8125 and just about everything is a huge improvement!
The 3G(UMTS) is very impressive with it's speed. I even use this phone as a modem on my home pc and it's nearly identical in speed as DSL when surfing the net or downloading file/music etc.
Camera is very impressive with clear resolutions for a camera phone with the 2MP.
I also use a bluetooth headset 2.0 with this and mine works wonderfully with sony erriccson; it's quite intuitive and picks up the signal instantly. The 'blackberry' scroll wheel is a huge plus on this phone and I find myself using this feature more than any other buttons.
The mini cpu has doubled from 8125 so this baby is faster, stronger, and smarter!
I will also be using this unit as a GPS device thru Telenav($10 per month for unlimited use). This will just about meet all your needs if you like windows os and until we get improved 3G rollout here stateside which is still about 2 years away, this baby will satisfy all your technical needs! For other needs, your on your own!!!

This phone has been a surprise I thought it was going to be a good phone but it's actually a great phone, from the 3G to the wifi to the software that came with it. but one of the things you don't hear about is the fact that this phone can handle two Bluetooth devices in the same time , and to my surprise I downloaded My TomTom navigator five software , that was great because I did not think it would work ,it worked fine in treo 650 , but I didn't think I would be able to download it on to my Cingular 8525 ,but it worked great , and that's how I found out, that I was able to use two Bluetooth devices in the same time , I have a BlueParrott B150TK RoadWarrior Bluetooth Noise-Canceling Headset , the best blue tooth I ever used ,maybe the most ugly Bluetooth I ever used ,I am a truck driver and it's very noisy this is the first one that works great on receiving and sending .but anyway back to the 8525 . I had my navigation system working with my Bluetooth receiver, and I was talking with my headset in the same time, you lose the vocal directions of the GPS when you talk But on your Bluetooth headset and that's it.

With excel I could keep up with my hours of work ,and you can download the things you may want that are not on the phone ,like in my case I downloaded (1-Calc - the Revolutionary calculator)This calculator has everything ,From Currency Converter to Unit Converter to
Scientific Functions and more, so basically this phone does a great job and everything I needed it to do, it does take a little time to get to know your way around, like any new phone you get a different brand, the buttons are configured differently.

Now all we need is a phone that could take out the trash. And do the dishes.

Bought this phone last week and received it a few days ago.
I was on a month-to-month plan with AT&T but renewed a 2 year contract with AT&T through Amazon to take advantage of this great price.
So far I LOVE this phone, it's packed with many cool features and programs. Since it's windows-based, it's quite simple to navigate around the features, especially if you are already a "PC User".
Based on my experience with the phone thus far, here are a few tips that will hopefully save you time:

-When you purchase this phone through amazon, don't be fooled into thinking you have to change/upgrade your current phone plan if you are an existing customer. AT&T told me that my family talk plan was no longer available and that I had to upgrade to the current family plan that was $10 more per month, yet gave me 50 less minutes per month?! Do what I did, tell them you are simply upgrading your phone and adding the required PDA package and that this should have nothing to do with having to change your mobile plan. I should know, I've had my account for 9 years and every time my contract runs out and I upgrade my phone, I've NEVER been required to change my talk plan.

-The 208 pg. operation manual comes on a CD Rom. Either print it out for easy reference, or expect to have to keep turning on your computer to access the manual.

-If you already have wireless internet at home, you can access this connection with your phone and surf the internet this way. However, call AT&T directly and have them walk you through setting up wi-fi access via the AT&T network. This will give you wi-fi access when you are away from home. (very important because when you buy the phone through amazon, it's an AT&T phone, but it's not configured to run off the AT&T network right out of the box).

-To set up access to your email accounts, again, call AT&T and have them walk you through it. The manual can be somewhat vague and confusing, and don't bother using the Xpress Email function, set everything up manually with AT&T.

-I live in San Diego and have Cox internet and also have a cox email account. I set up the phone to access my cox wi-fi internet, then proceeded to set up access to my personal cox email account. I later noticed that when I was away from home, I could not access my cox email account via the AT&T network. Turns out that if I want to access my cox email account, I had to set it up using the AT&T network settings vs. using my home wi-fi access. Bottom line, if you want to access your email accounts away from home, set them up using the AT&T networks settings and have AT&T walk you through it.

-If you want to buy a carry case for this phone DO NOT buy a case that uses a magnetic closure! I read a few reviews and some people ruined their 8525 by carrying it in a case with a magnetic closure. Somehow the magnets affect the phone's screen when it's on. I went to Fry's to look for a case and while my phone was on, I put it in a case with magnets and I noticed that my screen went from portrait mode to landscape mode each time it came near the magnetic field! Anyway, don't risk it.

-If you plan on surfing the internet a lot or accessing email, be sure to buy a car charger or carry your wall charger around because the battery will drain fast.

Don't be afraid to call AT&T for tech support. They are extremely knowledgeable and were more helpful to me than the manual.

Good luck and have fun!

If want to use the fantastic feature of Wi-Fi capability of this phone without a data plan, DON'T DO IT. Wait until the service providers figure out they need to allow for Wi-Fi only and allow users to turn off data if they want it off.

I got this phone to use off Wi-Fi - at work, at home, at coffee shops, etc. It's one of the few phones that is Wi-Fi capable. I wanted to use it for free Wi-Fi access since there is absolutely no reason you should pay data charges if you're willing to find open Wi-Fi.

BUT - Cingular sets the unit up to automatically go to their data services at every chance. After specifically discussing with at least 3 Cingular reps that I was getting this for free Wi-Fi access and did not want to use data at all, I was shocked to see over $100 dollars in data charges. I called to complain and was faced with a $240 bill. The next month was over $350 and the next is back to $240. I have tried to get Cingular to turn off data to my account - which they seem unwilling or unable to do. I even had a supervisor tell me that you have to go through the Cingular data network to connect to local Wi-Fi - my analogy to Wi-Fi laptops not needing that was lost on them. I've tried to trick the auto-sign in - putting in false modem numbers and passwords. I thought that would do it. But, then came another big bill.

At this point, I'm contacting consumer interest groups to see if a class action lawsuit is the only way for Cingular to stop this.

No phone is perfect, even this one but this one comes close to it when it comes to PDA phones. The phone has a lot of features that no other Cingular phone has. My rundown of the phone:

PROS:
Great sound quality while on the phone
Bright touch screen with stylus
Very good battery life
Fastest 3G network
Wi Fi
Windows mobile
excel, word, powerpoint (viewer only)
excellent slider Qwer. keyboard
usb connection
Slingplayer works terrific compared to the Blackjack
2 megapixel camera + video
macro mode for camera
nice rounded design (better than the 8125 that it replaces)
nice charcoal gray color

CONS:
Heaviest phone I've ever had
thickest phone I've ever had (still pocketable though)
Headphones not the standard kind but are included
A bit worried about the life of the slider keyboard
Expensive
All in all I would give it a 4 1/2 star rating but since that's not an option I rounded up to the 5. It really that good of a phone

I've been carrying around a mobile and a PDA for some time now, and finally decided to upgrade to one device after many years of monitoring devices and reading reviews. This one pretty much had everything that I wanted on it, namely WiFi, and had good reviews from multiple respected sources. I'm still finding all sorts of cool features on it such as the ability to take a great picture, send it in an e-mail, AND add a voice wav file to it. The ability to sync my work Outlook e-mail, calendar and To Do list is also a lifesaver for me.

The voice dialing on this thing is amazing. I upgraded from a Razer, and the voice recognition on that thing sucked. The 8525 has a wonderful microphone for recording notes or as mentioned, voice memo's when sending e-mails.

The 3G network is amazingly speedy. I live in the DC Metro area, so my reception is really good. The unlimited data plan is worth every penny. It's fun to be able to look up my favorite website, text message or e-mail when I'm out and about.

My only two complaints about this phone is Windows Mobile 5 and Express Mail. I'm a Palm and Mac user, and so the transition to Windows was a bit painful. As has been mentioned, the Palm operating system is MUCH more intuitive and easy to use. Now that I'm getting used to the foibles of Microsoft, I'm liking it better - especially after downloaded the Firefox browser!
Express mail is full of problems. If you can get it to work, huzzah for you. I ended up using the messaging client because Express mail would not push to the internet and get my Yahoo mail. The included messaging service works perfectly. The tech support at Cingular was good, and they walked me through the set up.

One download that I would highly recommend is SBP Pocket Plus. This software allows you to actually exit out of programs. Without it, the OS still keeps programs and files going in the background even if you've Xed out of it. It also helps you to organize your desired icons in a tabbed format, and makes it easy to customize the device.

Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase. It's functional and has some neat frills.

I got the 8525 six months ago. It's good, and I'm happy I got it. Having said that. It's expensive, or was. It needs to be rebooted several times a week - seems to freeze on me every other day (the cingular store said, yeah that happens). Works well as a phone, though it is a pain to dial numbers by hand, the keypad is virtual (not sure what you do when you have to dial 911 in a hurry).

The Internet access has been great. We don't get 3G much in DC, and oddly get it more in out of the way places like the Chicago burbs, but even without 3g I've liked the speed of the access. I've used my phone a LOT as a modem for my Mac powerbook laptop and it works great - quite fast in fact. Having said that, you need to scour the Internet for instructions on how to connect the two, but you can find it and eventually it works.

As for the keyboard, I was a bit duped thinking the keyboard would permit me to type like a normal full sized keyboard. I type fast, like 90 words a minute, and I still have to type with two fingers on this keyboard, it's just the way it is. I find that my friends with blackberrys and treos tend to go from zero to 60, in terms of picking up their toys and doing a web search, quicker than me.

Don't get me wrong, it works well, and the wow factor is nice - people admire the phone. Also, I had to cajole Cingular/ATT into unlocking the phone for me - they refused at the store, but the nice lady on the phone did it for free when I called from Europe and begged. I bought a French SIM card and it worked great in the phone.

You'll hear varying stories on whether ATT can still charge you for accessing free wifi in Europe while still having your American SIM card in the phone. My tech friends say this is impossible. But Cingular claims it's true, as did the helpful lady on the phone who actually seemed to know her tech stuff. To be safe, remove the American SIm card if you're abroad and surfing the net with this thing - oh yeah, it really does work with foreign wifi, even without the sim card. Pretty cool.

Oh one more thing, as with many phones, I find the volume is just too low during calls. It's especially a problem when I download movies or tv shows from my computer (I use a PSP video 9 to shrink the movies and shows to the right size, then just sync the computer with the phone - for Mac users, you have to use Missing Sync and it doesn't always work, it's kind of weird, sometimes it syncs sometimes it doesn't). Anyway, yes you can watch tv shows and stuff on here, but the volume is very low and when sitting on a plan, forget it - I could not hear my shows using the headsets. I'm going to buy an adaptor so I can try different headsets on this. Oh yeah, buy an extra storage card, I got like 2 gigs for 50 bucks or something, it's worth it. I'd read the 4 gig cards weren't working as well with this phone, maybe that's fixed now. I think that's it.

Slingbox IS compatible with this phone, and it's cool as hell, I have it, and it works - but again, the volume issue if you're anywhere even vaguely loud (having said that, i was on jury duty and sitting in the courthouse in a crowded room and could hear my shows fine through the cheap earphones). So, all in all, I'm satisfied, it's cool, it works. I've never owned another smartphone or treo or anything, so have nothing to compare to. I'll consider switching to an iPhone in a year when that shakes out more. PS The size doesn't bother me, I have it in my pocket all the time, in jeans or a suit it's fine in your pants. In shorts, yeah it starts to get a bit big, but again, it's really not as large as it looks.

The camera sucks. It auto sharpens all the photos horribly - I've tried to stop it, you can't, it just does. REally really really bad photos - and I take photos for a living, but also take them for fun, you won't be using this phone for photography, trust me, it's bad. The video isn't bad however, I just don't have a reason to use it.

As a long time user of PocketPCs, I've been awaiting the opportunity to use a converged device. The processor is very responsive, even after weighting the system with extra apps like Wisbar Advanced, PocketBreeze/Contacts/Weather and iLauncher.

The always on data connection (get the unlimited data plan) makes having the internet and your email at your fingers at any time.

The device looks bigger than it really is, about the same dimensions as 2 stacked RAZRs. It fits well in my hand and can fit into many large size cell slip holsters (generic $10.00 Wal-mart case works just fine)

The one thing I do miss is the quality of the screen on the device. I've used Axim x50v/x51v for 2 years and those devices have amazingly beautiful screens. This one is a bit smaller and lower resolution that the 480x640 that I was used to.

I am in a border area where I have 3g at work and EDGE at home, I have seen speeds from 92k - 850k, which is great even at the low end, considering that you can keep the internet at your side constantly.

The device on standby will easily exceed a days use, and moderate use should still keep it through a day's typical availability. Quite frankly, the expected market for this device should have handy USB ports around :-)

Bonus points to MS for requiring manufacturers to use mini USB for power connections. No longer will I buy a tech toy that uses anything else (if I can help it). One cable to rule them all

Hi, I just recently purchased this phone. and so far these are the problems. Yes you do have to restart the device, it does get hung, but i don't blame the phone, after all it has windows mobile 5 in it. The restart has occurred twice to me in the past week, So be careful. This phone is pretty close to being perfect. Other than the fact that it has windows, The 3G connection is crazy fast and it is amazing to have. If you take this phone be ready to take a good data connect plan as even thought it has wifi capabilities, Cingular has programed it to first connect to their data connect feature.. which in return will give u a nice thick bill.. Once you buy the phone i suggest that you get this software Spb Pocket plus. It helps shutting down softwares running in the background, and adds more features. The screen clarity is amazing and it has great features. It can connect up to 6 bluetooth devices at once. Overall i give it a 4 because of the hardware. the one star missing is cause it has Windows. Sorry Microsoft but you need to remove the bugs outta this windows too.