Sascha Segan at PC Mag got his mitts on the Cingular 8525 (aka: the Hermes) Windows Mobile smartphone and if I were a mobile maven on Cingular’s network, I’d be looking forward this to this offering. The 8525 succeeds the 8125 and offers many of the same features: QVGA screen, slide out QWERTY keyboard, WiFi, Bluetooth and more. The processor gets a bump to 400 MHz (double the clock speed of the 8125), while the camera tops out at 2 Megapixels.
The key difference is in the 3G radio as the 8525 supports Cingular’s HSDPA network; reported throughput in the review is around 850 Kbps on the download side, which is extremely comparable to the EV-DO results I routinely get with my XV 6700 on Verizon’s network. Here’s the stunner though: HSDPA allows for simultaneous voice and data, something that my EV-DO device does not support; this alone would be worth the $399 with two-year contract to me. Watch for the phone around mid-month, but read the review now.
Update: the official Cingular press release with full details is now available.
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