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Cingular 2125 Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone Review December 17, 2005 [MS Smartphone] | By anonymous 6. Its not really a surprise that Cingular stores don't have the Cingular 2125 in stock yet, most managers don't even know what it is, makes sense since the device was officially released just this week. Of all the managers we talked to, for the most part they simply couldn't get past the fact that the 2125 is Cingular branded, they believe all phones have to be a Nokia or Motorola. Here is a phone that makes Symbian Series 60 devices look like technology from the 80's. We got our hands on a Cingular 2125, and we are reviewing the hell out of it!  Ordering is painful - When it comes to ordering a Cingular 2125, until they are in stock at your local store you are much better off ordering online or by calling Cingular. If you are willing to accept a 2 year contract, it can be ordered online for $299, if you want a 1 year contract, it will cost you $369, and you will have to call to order, or buy it from your local Cingular store. If you already have a contract and wish to simply buy the phone, it will cost $399, and it will be SIM locked, which means you cannot use the phone with other wireless carriers like T-Mobile, or European carriers like Orange, O2 or Vodafone. With a one or two year contract, for release there is a $100 rebate if you purchase an unlimited data service with your plan. The pain of ordering is due to the fact that not a single Cingular employee knew what the device was, I even had a store manager tell me there is no such device, and there wont be any Cingular only devices. Its a good thing we didn't listen to that jerk. 
 Opening the package - When you buy the phone with a contact it is shipped with a 64K 3G SIM, even though the devices doesn't support UMTS, the SIM will. The SIM comes pre-installed in the device, simply put the battery in the device and charge it until the left LED turns solid green. While the device is charging, you can take a look at the contents of the package. It comes with the phone, a battery, a charger, a synchronization cable which will charge the device also, the quick start guide / manual, an Xpess mail / Goodlink information pamphlet, a leather holder, stereo hands-free earphones, and a software CD with the outdated Outlook 2002 and ActiveSync 4.1. The hardware is adequate, but the additional software is lacking, the only third party applications shipped with the device are the wireless modem drivers, and ClearVue. Its a shame they didn't even include demo versions of some of the better software available for the device. Getting Started Disk - When you pop the Getting Started CD into your personal computer, an installation wizard will appear that will help you to install ActiveSync 4.1, the latest version as of this writing. ActiveSync is the desktop program that communicates with your Windows Mobile device to synchronize information. It will add and update your contacts, tasks, email, and schedule with Outlook. ActiveSync also provides a way to install applications onto your Windows Mobile devices, transfer files, and provides internet access to your device when it is connected to the computer. After the installation of ActiveSync 4.1 has completed, you may be asked to reboot your computer. The getting started cd will then automatically restart if you restarted your computer, and enable the getting connected wizard from ActiveSync. The getting connected wizard prompts you to connect your device and searches for it to create a partnership. After ActiveSync has been successfully installed and a partnership has been created with your Windows Mobile device, the getting Started CD will allow you to add applications, of which only ClearVue and the Wireless Modem driver are available. ClearVue is a functionless viewer for common Microsoft Office files like Word and Excel. It also links to download Microsoft Voice Command, an application that is not available for Windows Mobile Smartphone. The additional applications offering is exceedingly lacking. You will also be able to start a Windows Media sync with your devices, and see the user manual PDF file. The Cingular 2125 - The very first thing your going to want to do with the Cingular 2125 is going to be one of the big problems with the device; your going to want to turn it on. The power button is horrific. It's almost impossible to turn the device on. The trick is to press the power button 10 times harder than you think you should and hope it works. Once you finally get the device to start, Windows Mobile will boot. The device has an acceptable startup time, it's much much faster than a RIM BlackBerry, and one of the fastest Windows Mobile Smartphone devices to boot up, if you don't count the time spent trying to get the power button to work. It took about 35 seconds to boot to a usable device, the C550 takes a whopping 1 minute and 30 seconds, BlackBerry's commonly take over a minute as well.  Size matters - The phone is small, really small, in fact is the same size as an Audiovox SMT 5600, a bit thinner than the Orange C550, and the same thickness as the Orange C550. The protruding antenna at the top of the device does make it a slight bit longer than a SMT-5600 however.  Improved control - The biggest improvement over the SMT5600, and C550 is the directional joystick. Gone is the unmanageable rocker pad, and in is an easy to use joystick, the joystick is slightly more inset than the C550, which makes it harder for accidental movement, and gives a better tactile feeling when using. The device does not have dedicated media button which leaves a barren feeling to the soft key area, but certainly won't be noticeable to people that have not had a media enabled device previously, like the Orange C550, the TMobile SDA Music, or SDA Music 2. Say yes to hi res - The screen is a beautiful QVGA (240x320) screen, the hi-resolution screen for Smartphone devices which have a base 176x220 resolution. The QVGA resolution changes the aspect ratio of the screen, to make it a bit longer than the original screens, this additional real estate allows applications to display more items in a list, usually one more than previously. Many people believe that the higher resolution means more items on the screen, this simply isn't true. The size of the screen physically is the same as a low resolution screen, except for the additional length due to the different screen ratio. The higher resolution means more pixels for the text, which makes it look brilliant. Images also have more pixels, and look amazing as well. The display simply looks great, but the same amount of space is used for the user interface. One exception is web browsing, Internet explorer can show more information on the display from the higher resolution, but the text still remains large enough to read. 
Operating System - The device has Windows Mobile 5.0 for Smartphone OS 5.1.70 (Build 14406.1.1.1). Windows Mobile 5.0 isn't a huge jump on the Smartphone platform like it is on the Pocket PC platform, however it has many improvements and changes over the previous Windows Mobile 2003 SE Smartphone platform. The start menu now has a grid view that shows large icons on the screen. It still has simple one key access to each item, and has moved the more function to the left softkey. This change is amazingly subtle but you will notice it if you ever use a Windows Mobile 2003 device again, it really belongs there. 
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For More information, or to order online http://www.cingular.com/smartphone - by Adam  Post your comment (free registration is required to post, but if you register you can edit your posts later) [ 31 Comments ]
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