HTC 8525 Smartphone
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- Processor: 400 MHz Samsung S3C 2442
- Screen Size (Diagonal): 2.8 inch
- Installed Memory: 64 MB
- Operating System: Windows Mobile
- Design: Mobile
- Style: Smartphone, Touch Screen
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3G logo is a flame because it will burn you up how slow it is!
Pros
Gadget, Clear and loud conversations, car charger not included.
Cons
Slow, Expensive plans to get full use, separate charge for text versus data (internet)
Recommended it?
No
The Bottom Line:
If you don't absolutely need it don't get it!
This is my first pocket computer/PDA device ever. My review is from someone going from a standard Nokia 3120 (phone with an alarm and calendar) to this new Cingular 8525 pocket PC with Windows Mobile 5.0. The most similar item that I own is a Navaman ICN 510 navigation unit which I have reviewed. (Correction I returned this phone and purchases a BlackBerry Pearl and I love it read the review)
It's appropriate that the 3G logo is a flame because it will burn you up when you realize how slow it is. The price of the phone and monthly plan does not guarantee speed or quality.
My impression was that I could use this to easily look up things online the sad fact is that few websites are designed for mobile devices. Yahoo and Msn are perhaps the best and the amount of info in mobile format is low. If you want to look up weather or to see if you received emails it is acceptable. To read news or anything paragraph sized it is extremely restrictive. You can look it up, its jut going to take a while to download and figure out what you are looking at.
The learning curve: I have about 12 hours of watching online tutorials, downloading stuff and just playing with the unit. I think it's going to take about another 10 hours for me to get the full comprehension of this unit. I don't think that the unit has a lot to it, if anything I'm realizing that it is very condensed. The amount of personalization that you can accomplish is minimal. Its three methods of inputting data are an example of its complications. You start using one method and accidentally hit another. I thought the tutorial on the phone and on the CD would be sufficient but it has not been. I have started reading the 212 page manual that only comes on a CD and no hard copy.
The msn network was easy to set up. I just put in my email and password and it all worked perfectly. To my surprise every instant message I send or receive is a separate charge not included on the data internet plan. I found this to be a bit crazy but was told that it is standard. You can talk all you want on weekends, you can surf the net all you want but text messages are a separate charge.
PTT Push to talk service Cingulars attempt at Nextel technology not available yet. The brochure says software upgrade in 2007
Telephone operation is delayed. When you select answer it takes it a second to answer. When you select ignore it takes it a second to ignore. Quality is equal to my Nokia in signal strength. Clarity of voices heard and being heard is better and louder. Voice activation works good but dialing a call requires using the touch screen. Calling someone you called before the last call requires you to go into a sub screen, on other phones you just hit the green call button and down and you have access to a previously called list not with the 8525.
Setup ActiveSync was very easy I plugged in the unit and it synced up with my address book. Unfortunately it required updating my old phone numbers from my previous phone to a new format. A bit of a pain since I had over 300 contacts to modify. The main problem: the phone uses the field (File as) to sort the names. Example. If your accustomed to looking up Spouses Mother in your old phone in the new format it would display it as Mother Spouses. In outlook on your computer you can tell it to file it as Spouses Mother so when you synchronize it up with your phone it is where you expect that contact to be under S and not M. Other wise you have to remember each contact backwards to scroll through a list and find them. The current problem every new contact I enter it displays it by last name first name so I have to go into outlook periodically to keep my old system of filing.
Camera is a typical cell phone picture, it just eats up 2 Mega pixels. The quality is good enough to say you attended and that is it. Lots of settings I played with all of them but it did not help the picture quality. The camera was also very slow in taking pictures.
Handling is tricky when you grab the unit you probably will press a button by accident. When you go to take a picture you easily hit the PTT button by accident and get a message that says not yet available and you have to select ok to exit out of it (extremely annoying). I plan to disable it completely when I figure out how. So far I am going to say you probably can not. After inactivity the unit powers down like a laptop, so when you go to look at it after a while, you don't have to worry about selecting something by accident because the button are inoperable. The lock function is complicated to use, you have to use the touch screen.
The key board is acceptable when I select a button it works, but I feel it could have been designed better.
Webpage browsing is slow slow slow. It was very easy to get it going through my home router, even using a security key, it was just slow. I used my router and the unit was still slow. Example: Yahoo.com it took over 1 minute to download the basic page. I have used it in a few networks and found it to work fast once on a standard G modem using the built in Wifi. It took about 40 seconds to download yahoo.com
Bluetooth works effortlessly and wonderfully. If you've never had a Bluetooth headset run out and get one I use a Plantronics 340 with this phone and I love it.
Display rocks! I find it extremely clear to see I just wish you could zoom down bellow smallest when looking at websites. I think they pre set them so you do not realize how slow your internet connection is.
Battery life I have to recharge it every night or I end up without a phone since it doesn not come with a car charger.
As I finish this review my screen says The Push to Talk (PTT) service is not Yet available. Once again I hit the button by accident. I have 30 days to return. Work paid for this phone and the service, I just don not see the benefit of keeping this phone. It is supposed to be a partial replacement to my laptop and I just do not see it that way. I see it as a real-time weather checker and Instant message machine with a good contacts list and calendar. But then my old phone did these things, minus the full contacts list.
IN THE BOX
Battery
AC Charger
Wired stereo ear bud headphones
Mini-USB sync cable
Y cable for simultaneous charging and headphone use
Spare stylus
Getting started guide
Microsoft ActiveSync 4.2
Microsoft Outlook 2002
SOFTWARE
Microsoft Office? Mobile - Access Word, Excel, PowerPoint files PDF Reader
Microsoft Windows? Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC with Messaging & Security Pack
Microsoft Direct Push Technology - Email, calendar, contacts & tasks
TECHNICAL SPECS
Weight 6.21 ounces
Dimensions: 4.43 x 2.28 x 0.86 inches
Talk Time: Up to 5 hours
Standby Time: Up to 10 days
Large 2.8" 240x320 64K color touchscreen
Powered by Samsung 400 MHz processor
Quad-band world phone - GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA - 850/1900/2100 MHz
128MB ROM / 64MB RAM; 51MB user available memory
Average download speeds 400-700 kbps
Additional Security features, including S/MIME support, via the Microsoft Messaging & Security Pack
It's appropriate that the 3G logo is a flame because it will burn you up when you realize how slow it is. The price of the phone and monthly plan does not guarantee speed or quality.
My impression was that I could use this to easily look up things online the sad fact is that few websites are designed for mobile devices. Yahoo and Msn are perhaps the best and the amount of info in mobile format is low. If you want to look up weather or to see if you received emails it is acceptable. To read news or anything paragraph sized it is extremely restrictive. You can look it up, its jut going to take a while to download and figure out what you are looking at.
The learning curve: I have about 12 hours of watching online tutorials, downloading stuff and just playing with the unit. I think it's going to take about another 10 hours for me to get the full comprehension of this unit. I don't think that the unit has a lot to it, if anything I'm realizing that it is very condensed. The amount of personalization that you can accomplish is minimal. Its three methods of inputting data are an example of its complications. You start using one method and accidentally hit another. I thought the tutorial on the phone and on the CD would be sufficient but it has not been. I have started reading the 212 page manual that only comes on a CD and no hard copy.
The msn network was easy to set up. I just put in my email and password and it all worked perfectly. To my surprise every instant message I send or receive is a separate charge not included on the data internet plan. I found this to be a bit crazy but was told that it is standard. You can talk all you want on weekends, you can surf the net all you want but text messages are a separate charge.
PTT Push to talk service Cingulars attempt at Nextel technology not available yet. The brochure says software upgrade in 2007
Telephone operation is delayed. When you select answer it takes it a second to answer. When you select ignore it takes it a second to ignore. Quality is equal to my Nokia in signal strength. Clarity of voices heard and being heard is better and louder. Voice activation works good but dialing a call requires using the touch screen. Calling someone you called before the last call requires you to go into a sub screen, on other phones you just hit the green call button and down and you have access to a previously called list not with the 8525.
Setup ActiveSync was very easy I plugged in the unit and it synced up with my address book. Unfortunately it required updating my old phone numbers from my previous phone to a new format. A bit of a pain since I had over 300 contacts to modify. The main problem: the phone uses the field (File as) to sort the names. Example. If your accustomed to looking up Spouses Mother in your old phone in the new format it would display it as Mother Spouses. In outlook on your computer you can tell it to file it as Spouses Mother so when you synchronize it up with your phone it is where you expect that contact to be under S and not M. Other wise you have to remember each contact backwards to scroll through a list and find them. The current problem every new contact I enter it displays it by last name first name so I have to go into outlook periodically to keep my old system of filing.
Camera is a typical cell phone picture, it just eats up 2 Mega pixels. The quality is good enough to say you attended and that is it. Lots of settings I played with all of them but it did not help the picture quality. The camera was also very slow in taking pictures.
Handling is tricky when you grab the unit you probably will press a button by accident. When you go to take a picture you easily hit the PTT button by accident and get a message that says not yet available and you have to select ok to exit out of it (extremely annoying). I plan to disable it completely when I figure out how. So far I am going to say you probably can not. After inactivity the unit powers down like a laptop, so when you go to look at it after a while, you don't have to worry about selecting something by accident because the button are inoperable. The lock function is complicated to use, you have to use the touch screen.
The key board is acceptable when I select a button it works, but I feel it could have been designed better.
Webpage browsing is slow slow slow. It was very easy to get it going through my home router, even using a security key, it was just slow. I used my router and the unit was still slow. Example: Yahoo.com it took over 1 minute to download the basic page. I have used it in a few networks and found it to work fast once on a standard G modem using the built in Wifi. It took about 40 seconds to download yahoo.com
Bluetooth works effortlessly and wonderfully. If you've never had a Bluetooth headset run out and get one I use a Plantronics 340 with this phone and I love it.
Display rocks! I find it extremely clear to see I just wish you could zoom down bellow smallest when looking at websites. I think they pre set them so you do not realize how slow your internet connection is.
Battery life I have to recharge it every night or I end up without a phone since it doesn not come with a car charger.
As I finish this review my screen says The Push to Talk (PTT) service is not Yet available. Once again I hit the button by accident. I have 30 days to return. Work paid for this phone and the service, I just don not see the benefit of keeping this phone. It is supposed to be a partial replacement to my laptop and I just do not see it that way. I see it as a real-time weather checker and Instant message machine with a good contacts list and calendar. But then my old phone did these things, minus the full contacts list.
IN THE BOX
Battery
AC Charger
Wired stereo ear bud headphones
Mini-USB sync cable
Y cable for simultaneous charging and headphone use
Spare stylus
Getting started guide
Microsoft ActiveSync 4.2
Microsoft Outlook 2002
SOFTWARE
Microsoft Office? Mobile - Access Word, Excel, PowerPoint files PDF Reader
Microsoft Windows? Mobile 5.0 Pocket PC with Messaging & Security Pack
Microsoft Direct Push Technology - Email, calendar, contacts & tasks
TECHNICAL SPECS
Weight 6.21 ounces
Dimensions: 4.43 x 2.28 x 0.86 inches
Talk Time: Up to 5 hours
Standby Time: Up to 10 days
Large 2.8" 240x320 64K color touchscreen
Powered by Samsung 400 MHz processor
Quad-band world phone - GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Tri-band UMTS/HSDPA - 850/1900/2100 MHz
128MB ROM / 64MB RAM; 51MB user available memory
Average download speeds 400-700 kbps
Additional Security features, including S/MIME support, via the Microsoft Messaging & Security Pack
