AT&T 8525 PDA Phone (AT&T)

Average customer rating: 4.0

Good, but a bit pricey
Cingular 8525 exceeded my expectations!
Useful device - If it worked. Customer support is TERRIBLE!
solid phone but way overrated
4 stars for form, 5 for features, 1 for durability and support

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AT&T 8525 PDA Phone (AT&T)

Manufacturer: Cingular
Product Group: Wireless
Binding: Wireless Phone
ASIN: B000KFWUMG
2006-11-20

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Amazon.com Product Description

The award-winning Cingular 8525 3G Microsoft Windows Mobile 5.0-based Pocket PC phone, with its compact size and ultimate connectivity, is truly the complete mobile office solution. Roam anywhere in the world and use the phone's high speed Internet access, Bluetooth, and Wi-Fi capabilities. The 8525 gives you more control than ever over the way you work.

The Cingular 8525 lets you do things you'd typically need a PC to do, like email, text messaging, instant messaging and Web browsing--all from one integrated device. What's more, the phone's software is designed to sync seamlessly with email, contacts, and calendar information on your PC. The 8525 also offers great mobile music and video options, thanks to Windows Media Player. Other design features include a unique slide-out QWERTY keyboard that makes messaging, note-taking, and other writing tasks a breeze.

<B>Design</B>
Under the hood, the 8525 features 128MB of embedded memory and 64MB RAM, running on a 400 MHz Samsung processor. Up front, the 240 x 320 LCD touch-screen supports over 65,000 colors, while the rear of the device houses a 2.0 megapixel camera. The design of the 8525 is clean and uncluttered, with just a few buttons for mail, Internet Explorer, and contextual menus. Meanwhile, call answer and end buttons surround a five-way toggle that allows you to navigate and control the Windows Mobile interface. As mentioned, a full QWERTY keyboard cleverly slides out from underneath the screen. This allows you to hold the device horizontally, and the screen is automatically placed in landscape mode when you're using the keyboard. A side scroll wheel is conveniently tucked away on the side, making navigation when accessing the music player and other various applications a cinch when needed. A mini-SD memory expansion card slot is provided, as is an infrared port and support for a stereo Bluetooth headset. A mini-USB port is also included for wired data transfers and charging.

<B>Calling and PDA Features</B>
The 8525's phone and PDA functions are designed to provide an integrated, seamless experience. A single main screen summarizes all the important information you need to make it through the day. Here you'll get message notification, upcoming appointments, dialing functions, tasks, and more all in one spot.

As a phone, the 8525 features all the functionality folks expect from a cell phone, including a handsfree speakerphone, polyphonic ringtones, a vibrate mode, and picture and ringer ID. The unit comes stock with preloaded unique ringtones, while more ringtones can be downloaded from Cingular Wireless' MEdia Net service.

Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile combines email, calendar, contacts, tasks, and notes into a single application that seamlessly integrates with the 8525's phone functions. Meanwhile, headsets, car kits, and other wireless peripherals can also be paired with the unit via Bluetooth.

Staying productive on the road is made possible by the Microsoft Office Mobile suite, which includes Word Mobile, Excel Mobile, and PowerPoint Mobile. Meanwhile, the File Explorer application makes it easy to browse the files on your 8525.

<B>Messaging and Internet</B>
With the 8525, you can surf the Web with the bundled Internet Explorer application, or use MSN messenger to stay in contact via instant messaging. Plus, the inclusion of Wi-Fi capability in the 8525 allows you to surf the Web or check your email at blazing speeds when you're connected to a Wi-Fi network. No Wi-Fi network available? No worries; the 8525 is compatible with the latest generation of UMTS/HSDPA 3G data networks. With UMTS and HSDPA, you'll be streaming and downloading at speeds so fast your head will spin. And lastly, robust SMS and MMS functionality is built into the Windows Mobile interface.

Getting on the Internet with your laptop or PDA is easy with the 8525. When used with a Cingular data plan and the phone's Bluetooth or USB data capability, the phone can be used as a wireless modem for laptops and PDAs.

One of the most important tools bundled with the 8525 is Microsoft ActiveSync, which allows you to quickly synchronize your device's tasks, calendars, email, and contacts with your desktop. You also get Exchange ActiveSync, an application that lets you synchronize data with an Exchange server. Syncing can be done via USB, or wirelessly via Bluetooth or infrared.

<B>Imaging and Entertainment</B>
Another great feature of the 8525 is that it supports Windows Media playback right out of the box. With Windows Media Player, you can play streaming and downloaded video and audio content in a variety of formats.

As mentioned, the 8525 can take 2.0 megapixel pictures, and while the camera is great for taking stills, it can also function as a camcorder, allowing you to capture video to the unit's memory. An integrated media application organizes your captured photos and videos. For gamers, the phone supports Java-based and Windows Mobile games, and games are available for download via the Cingular MEdia Net service.

The Cingular 8525 also sports an airplane mode feature, which allows you to safely use the non-wireless functions of the phone (such as music, games or organizer functions) on an airplane during flight.

<b>UMTS Wireless Broadband Coverage</b>
Learn More about where UMTS coverage is offered. </p> <B>Vital Statistics</B>
The Cingular 8525 weighs 6.21 ounces and measures 4.43 x 2.28 x 0.86 inches. Its lithium-ion battery is rated at up to 4 hours of digital talk time, and up to 200 hours of digital standby time. It features UMTS with HSDPA capability, and runs on the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz GSM/GPRS/EDGE and 850/1900/2100 WCDMA frequencies. The phone comes with a one year limited warranty.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but a bit pricey.......2007-06-13

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.

Cingular 8525 exceeded my expectations!.......2007-06-02

After reading many of the reviews, I was shocked that the 8525 was far better than I expected. I took the time to go through the online tutorial. In addition the DVD that was included was self explainatory. The battery life was better than I was led to believe, especially after the push to talk upgrade. You have more than one way to access info. i.e contacts, task, photos, etc. This is my first smartphone. I hope you enjoy this product as much as I do.

Useful device - If it worked. Customer support is TERRIBLE!.......2007-06-02

Less than a month after I purchased this exceptionally expensive phone, it stopped working. I called the vendor, and they decided that the damage was not covered by the warranty, (apparently, getting accidentally sprayed by a neighbor's garden sprinkler is enough to totally kill this phone) and after keeping me on hold for the better part of half an hour, informed me that they would do NOTHING to help. They did offer to sell me a new phone at full retail! How generous!

Is this how this company treats its high end clients? I have (soon to be past tense) full data service on two phones, and bought their top of the line phone.

To top it all off, another friend had an 8525, which got in the way of a coffee spill. They refused to help there, as well.

This phone is apparently, ridiculously fragile for day-to-day business use. I now have a $400+ paperweight. Don't make the same mistake.

solid phone but way overrated.......2007-05-31

i bought this phone because of all the positive reviews and i was satisfied at first. its been about two months that i've owned this phone and i have to say its not really worth the price. first of all, the biggest disappointment is that it doesn't have the same email technology as blackberries and treos. i'm talking about the direct push email feature. that means that you have to go to your inbox and select "send/receive" to get new email every time you want to check your email. that gets very annoying especially when everyone with the other pda phones have seamless integration of email on their phones.

the phone is also pretty bulky. i bought the phone knowing this already and was willing to make the sacrifice. i actually like the weight of the phone, but it wasn't worth having such a big phone without having effective email software. the best feature might be the slide-out keyboard which is useful.

this phone is also not as sturdy as most phones esp. not as sturdy as blackberries. i admit that i am a phone-dropper becuase i am very thoughtless at times. however the keyboard became loose after a couple of drops (i'm not talking about big drops, just small ones from my lap to the ground). and now the power button is stuck in the phone.

p.s. cingular sucks and they are notorious for misleading advertising. their slogan for least dropped calls is just absolute b.s. i switched from sprint because i thought sprint was bad but now i wish i was back with them or with verizon.

4 stars for form, 5 for features, 1 for durability and support.......2007-05-29

So I've had a Cingular 8525 for a month. Mostly, I love it. To be sure, the form factor is a bit chunky (but then again so is mine). The large screen makes browsing the web, reading and responding to email, and working with Word Mobile documents very easy. The slide out keyboard is easy to use and much more user-friendly than the tiny keys that were on my old Treo. The phone part is decent. No physical keys, but the display menu works reasonably well. (Not to be used while driving, however.) The unit linked easily to a bluetooth earpiece. Ditto a bluetooth keyboard.

Now for the bad news. After just a month, the large display cracked. My situation was exactly the same as that described by another Cingular smartphone user: "The external LCD screen on the phone cracked mysteriously. This seems to be a design flaw. Do a web search ( "Cingular 3125 cracked LCD" ) and you will find a number of owners who have had this problem. The descriptions are all the same - no one dropped the phone, they just generally pulled it out of their pocket and it was cracked. The crack appears on the *inside* (internal side) of the screen so it is not the result of physical damage by the user (no external facing dents/marks etc). Users posting in web forums report that the damage is not covered by Cingular. They also report that the phone is not insurable."

Ditto here. The phone was not dropped, it wasn't abused, it just came out of my shirt pocket broken. Although this looks like a design problem, Cingular refused to replace the unit. I ended up buying a replacement. And a case. Meanwhile, the run-around I got from Cingular (two stores and three phone calls), plus their "it's not our problem" attitude has won them a lot of ill-will on my opart.

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