- Average user rating: 3.5 stars out of 77 reviews Back to product review
- My rating: 0 stars
Full user review
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37 out of 37 people found this review helpful
3.5 stars
"Most features in a phone form factor"
Pros: Small, syncs with outlook, great screen, decent call quality
Cons: EDGE service not as fast as advertised in my area, can't listen to music with a bluetooth headset, no flash for the camera, can't listen to AACs downloaded from the ITunes music store
Summary: I had the previous version of this phone, the SMT 5600 and was very happy with it until the call quality started to deteriorate (calls became garbled and at least 2 drops or failed connects per day). That forced me to upgrade to this phone, made by HTC for Cingular. HTC used to make several of the PocketPCs for Hewlett Packard back in the days of the standalone PDA and they were usually leading-edge. This smartphone is a solid, decent phone and syncs well with the 1400+ business contacts in my address book. The email and calendar is still not powerful enough on this device to replace my BlackBerry, but is small enough that I can use the phone on weekends with out being nagged by emails on the crackberry and I don't have the "talking into a calculator" feel.
It is also a decent phone. Call quality is not as good as other phone-only devices I have used, but that seems to be the price for combining a phone with enough space for 1400 contacts. Also, contrary to the quick take CNet did, it does have a speakerphone which works well and is easy to access when in a call.
By contrast, I tried the Treo 700W, which is a horrible implementation of the phone in Windows Mobile. The speakerphone, bluetooth and mute/hold settings are all buried in menus that are impossible to find when you are in middle of a call and need them. The Cingular 2125, however, has these functions where you would expect to find them when you are in a call.
The screen has excellent resolution however these size screens are really not practical for surfing the web, made worse by the fact that Cingular's EDGE service in my area (SF Bay Area - peninsula and south bay) is not any faster on this phone than the old GPRS service I had on the SMT 5600. Using DSL reports mobile speed test I have gotten speeds ranging from 20kbps to 60 kbps on a good day, which is in the range of dial-up speeds. By contrast, my BlackBerry (also EDGE capable) gets around 150-160kbps in this area and while skiing in Salt Lake I was able to clock the Cingular 2125 at up to 180 kbps. The slow speed in this area combined with the small screen and the time it takes to connect everytime you click a link causes a lot of scroll, scroll, scroll, click, wait........, opening, wait......, loading, wait........, and so on. This is odd to me given that I live in Silicon Valley for the access to work so poorly.
That said, the most useful app I have loaded was Google local mobile, a little java app that allows you to scroll around an interactive map of the area, do searches and get driving directions in your area, just as you would on Google Local on your computer. Very handy.
With a 500MB mini-SD card, I can load the "Highest Rated" mp3s (no protected AACs) from my music library. The music/media sync, however is not really useful at this point, since the phone does not allow you to listen to music using the bluetooth headset, as I have found is common with most Windows Mobile phones. I don't understand the reason for this limitation since it seems only normal that if you are wearing the headset to take calls, you will want to listen to music between calls. So your options are to listen to the music over the speakerphone -- which sounds like you would expect on such a small speaker -- or use the included wired stereo headphones. The included stereo headphones are decent quality and sound good, but the reason I got a bluetooth headset was so that I wouldn't have to bother with the wires. And carrying around 2 headsets so I can listen to music with one and take calls with the other is just silly. So I'm still using my iPod for music, which is an all-around better solution anyway.
The camera takes good, big pictures (1.3 Megapixels) but you have to be in good light, since there is no flash. Also, there is no Wi-Fi on this device. Also, I like the control button setup around the 5-way "joystick" including the dedicated "back" button and the 2 soft buttons. I'm still undecided on the dedicated "Home" button, since the "End" key takes you back to the home screen when you press it and the "Back" key takes you back to the Home screen when you're in a call in case you want to look up another contact or a calendar entry. It seems that the Home button could have been dedicated to something else, possibly as a "Start" key.
Overall, this is a solid business device and is the best Windows Smartphone setup on the market given the strong integration with outlook, the decent phone quality, great screen and compact package. The phone is not yet an "all-in-one device" and many of the features as advertised are not yet fully baked. Hopefully Cingular can figure out coverage in my area and the device manufacturers can figure out how to better integrate bluetooth with the media capabilities of their devices. Then I can start to get rid of at least one of the several devices that I have floating about my person.Updated
So now after using this device for 6 months, I've had the following 2 problems:
1/ the navigation stick keeps giving up, so I can't scroll or select with it. I've had the phone replaced by Cingular once and it's happening again, so I may need to replace it again soon.
2/ like with its predecessor, the SMT 5600, the call connections are suffering. The frequency of failed connections and dropped calls has increased in the last 2-3 months. Also, after hitting the send key, the phone will often take 10-15 seconds to begin dialing like it's searching for a signal although it says one is available. Using the BlackBerry (also with Cingular) the call connects immediately.
Clearly the antenna is not as strong with this one as with the Blackberry or Motorola phone-only devices.
Still, its a handy device for keeping a large address book and some limited calendar/internet usage. Google local mobile is still extremely useful, although slow.
If you're more concerned about call reliability and quality and don't have a large number of contacts you may want to consider another phone with a better antenna.
- 6 replies to this review
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Judging by both your writing style and thoroughness, I believe we are kindred spirits. Thanks so much for taking the time to put together not only the initial review but also the follow up. It seems that every @#$@#$-ing manufacturer is hell bent on putting out flawed mobile phones. I think if they had concentrated on higher quality and fewer features we'd all be better off, but I guess the bimbatic nature of the American consumer dictates the need to add all of the non-essential features which overcomplicate mobile phones unnecessarily. As Jeff Goldblum's "Ian Malcolm" character illucidated so well in Jurassic Park, "Yeah...But your scientists were so preoccupied with whether they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
In any event, thanks for your time, energy, and consideration. -
Great bit of information.
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Appreciate all the information
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http://www.google.com/glm/getstarted.html
It says to select your phone brand but there's nothing for Cingular or HTC. How did you get it? -
Avictorino, great review of the phone. I have a quick question that I hope you can help me with as someone who has had the SMT 5600 and the 2125. Have they changed/improved the MMS client on this phone. On the old model MMS was clearly an afterthought that was purchased from a 3rd party company as evidenced by the bizarre address book implemention and the bizarre way incoming messages were handled. Any info you could provide on this would be appreciated. Thanks.
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Only two more things to add to the review. First, the music started speeding up when played in Microsoft's Media Player. A power cycle of the phone cleared that up. Second, I seem to bump the answer button when removing the phone from the supplied leather case. Once I perfect that, I'll be fine. Comparing to the quality of the E1 ROKR, this doesn't even come close, but the ROKR doesn't do email. If the microphone/voice quality was as good at the Motorola phones, I'd be a really happy camper with the 2125.
