AT&T 8525 Reviewer's Comments
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They broke the mold when they created “TopTenREVIEWS Gold Award” winning smart phone the AT&T 8525. No seriously, weighing in at 6.21 ounces this phone is the heaviest phone we reviewed, but what do you expect from a cellular phone that has a huge 2.8 inch touch sensitive screen with a sliding QWERTY keyboard, email push, conference calling, full web page access, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth; Microsoft Active Sync with a document, spreadsheet editor and power point, PDF viewer; GPS, camera, video recorder, Window’s Media Player and more. The only thing this phone can’t do is fly to the moon and we’re sure the possibility is in the future.
In addition to being every busy business professional’s dream phone, the AT&T 8525 operates on AT&T’s high-speed 3G network and is the first phone offered in the United States to use both UMTS and HSDPA technologies, providing faster Internet connections and download times.
AT&T 8525 Screenshots. Click to Enlarge
Productivity/Travel:
The 8525 comes packed with Windows Mobile 5 Pocket PC edition, an operating system that includes various applications including an appointment and email manager, mobile versions of popular Microsoft programs like Word, Excel, Power Point and Outlook. Active Sync allows you to take files created on the PC versions of these and convert them to the mobile versions. This phone also includes the ClearVue PDF viewer.
Outlook mobile is one of the most invaluable pieces of software included with this phone. Outlook mobile can sync with your Outlook on your PC; therefore, all your messages can be forwarded to your phone and any changes you make on your computer or phone like, adding contacts, additional tasks or appointments, will update and be available on both devices.
The 8525 includes GSP capabilities; however, you have to subscribe to AT&T’s Telenav Navigation service.
Voice/ Text Features:
This high-tech, powerful little PDA fulfilled all of our voice feature expectations including conference calling, 3-way calling, voice command and Push to Talk. Additionally, it performs basic functions like text and MMS messaging. Apposed to traditional predictive text, the 8525 has handwriting recognition for all your notes and message needs. As a bonus, we would have liked to have seen it include threaded text display for text messages and IM.
The AT&T 8525 is a phone built for the business person on the go. It includes quad-band world frequencies enabling you to travel and use your phone in most countries around the world. Admittedly, you would have to discuss plans with AT&T’s carrier service, and traveling with your phone can be expensive. However, if you unlock the phone you can simply switch SIM cards from country to country.
Internet Features:
The Internet is one of the places this phone shines. The 8525 is the first unit sold in the United States to offer 3G UMTS/HSDPA support. These technologies allow you to connect to the Internet and receive broadband-like speeds. Additionally, if you are out of the 3G network the phone will automatically detect surrounding Wi-Fi availability.
The phone comes pre-installed with Internet Explorer Mobile, Bluetooth version 2.0 and has the ability to sync with Outlook and receive pushed emails from Outlook and standard POP3 and IMAP accounts. Start receiving email from both business and personal accounts in a matter of moments.
Additionally, you can use your phones as a modem for your laptop.
Mulitmedia Features:
Although this phone is built for business it includes a decent selection of play tools. It comes packaged including Windows Media Player 10 and a 2 mega pixel camera. The media player is compatible with PlaysForSure online stores and allows you to listen to various music files including MP3, WMA and AAC (iTunes.) The 8525 also supports streaming video and MPEG-4 files.
The camera has eight capture modes, a flash, self-portrait mirror, a self-timer and more. The 8525 also includes a video recorder.
Technical Specifications:
With regards to navigation one of the best features of this phone is the scrolling mechanism located along the side. With this you can wade through various functions without opening the keyboard.
At almost four and a half inches high and 6.2 ounces, the 8525 is one of the largest modern smart phones on the market. However, it includes a 400MHz processor, 2.8 inch touchscreen, a full QWERTY keyboard and a memory expansion slot. The battery can support about four hours of talk time, ten hours of audio time and eight days on standby.
Summary:
Formally known as the Cingluar 8525 and HTC TyTN this phone was built for the ultimate workaholic. With features typically associated with computers and laptops the AT&T 8525 enables you to go where you need, when you need, without leaving your business behind.
©2008 TopTenREVIEWS, Inc.
