AT&T 8525
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| AT&T 8525 | |
| Manufacturer | HTC |
|---|---|
| Type | PDA Phone |
| Connectivity | GSM/GPRS, EDGE, UMTS (3G), HSDPA, Bluetooth, 802.11b/g, USB, IR |
| Operating system | Windows Mobile 6.0 |
| Input | Keyboard/Touchscreen |
| Camera | 2.0 Megapixel |
| Power | 1300/1350 mAH Battery |
| CPU | Samsung SC32442A ARM Processor at 400 MHz |
| Memory | 128 MB Internal Flash, 64 MB RAM, Micro SD Card |
| Display | 2.8" 65k color QVGA TFT |
The AT&T 8525 (originally Cingular 8525) is a 3G UMTS/HSDPA Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Pocket PC with worldwide access to Broadband Internet, Email, personal and business software applications, and documents using Microsoft Office Mobile. It was released by Cingular Wireless (now AT&T Mobility) on November 16, 2006.[1]
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[edit] Manufacturer
The original design manufacturer of the 8525 is High Tech Computer Corporation, based in Taiwan. The 8525 is based on the HTC TyTN HERM100 (the battery has a regulatory model number of HERM160).
In the same way the TyTN was part of the first line of phones directly marketed by HTC, the 8525 is AT&T's first 3G UMTS/HSDPA Pocket PC.
As of September 2007, HTC is currently the world's leading provider of Microsoft Windows Mobile-based smart devices, and is reported to be demonstrating phones to Google to provide them with the gPhone concept.
[edit] Features
The 8525 is interchangeable on both of AT&Ts 3G UMTS/HSDPA and traditional GSM/GPRS/EDGE networks for global coverage. Like other 3G phones, the 8525 offers simultaneous voice and data or other wireless application needs, however this can also be achieved with the built in Wi-Fi. The phone can be teathered to a laptop to share the broadband internet connection.
Like many modern PDA phones, the 8525 has Bluetooth 2.0 and Wi-Fi (802.11b/g) which you can manage via the Comm Manager utility. The 8525 supports a number of recent Bluetooth profiles, including A2DP for stereo headsets, AKU2.3, MSFP, wireless headsets, dial-up networking, car kits, or even a GPS receiver to take advantage of AT&T's location-based service, TeleNav.
Push to talk is also now available as a ROM upgrade for older 8525 models.
AT&T claims that the 8525 is the carrier's first UMTS/HSDPA Pocket PC. UMTS is broadband Internet access with transfer speeds up to 2Mbit/s, HSDPA still improves upon that with the possibility of up to 14.4Mbit/s. The average connection rates are in the 400kbit/s to 800kbit/s range in many areas, but AT&T has the potential to upgrade these network protocols.
[edit] Camera
The 8525 has a 2 megapixel (1.9 UXGA) camera with a slide to switch between macro and micro shots, a built-in white LED flash for night shots, and a mirror for self-portraits. It also can take Small, Medium, and Large picture sizes, as well as 1 and 2 megapixel modes.
The 8525 offers eight capture modes; photo, video, MMS video, panorama, burst, sports, contacts picture, and picture theme. Also included are 5 light modes; Automatic, Sunlight, Moonlight (night mode), plus 2 Indoor lighting modes, one for incandescent, and the other fluorescent.
The camera button is on the bottom right side of the unit, so the phone is held like a typical digital camera while taking pictures or shooting video.
Unlike the HTC TyTN, the 8525 does not have the second video telephony camera on the front, as video telephony is not supported in the US.
[edit] Design
The 8525 sports a smoke-gray color scheme similar to other Herm100 models. Also much like the Dopod 838Pro or the Orange SPV M3100, the 8525 has a distinctive chrome-like band that wraps around the right side (or topside in widescreen mode) of the screen. The 2.8-inch (71 mm) diagonal touch screen takes up most of the front of the AT&T 8525, and displays at a 320x240 pixel resolution.
Above the screen are 2 multi-colored status LEDs. The left status LED blinks green when Wi-Fi is enabled, and blinks blue when bluetooth is turned on. The right status LED blinks green if there is network connection, blinks amber for all system notifications including missed calls or new messages, blinks red when battery power is down to 10% or less. Whereas steady amber means charging, and steady green means full charge. Steady red can be observed if you are charging the device while replacing the battery.
There are also numerous input devices; a traditional directional pad, a full 41 key QWERTY keyboard (including its own direction keys and softkeys), a scroll and push wheel (for easy one handed operations), and a touchscreen. Additional buttons include; 4 softkeys (2 by the d-pad, 2 on the keyboard), 2 ok buttons that minimize applications (1 by the d-pad and 1 next to the scroll wheel), 2 windows keys (1 by the d-pad and the other on the keyboard), a messaging key, an internet explorer key, a camera button, a push to talk button, a comm manager button, and a suspend button (60 physical buttons/keys total).
However, some people seem to find this number of keys confusing. Also, various complaints have been made about the small buttons around the directional pad on the face of the HERM100 unit. The style is hard to manage because of the small and cramped style compared with even the default layout of the HTC TyTN HERM200.
The bottom of the 8525 includes an infrared port, a mini USB port, a latch to open the battery cover, a reset hole (used with the stylus tip), and a stylus holder that sits off to the bottom-right corner of the 8525 (near the camera button).
On the back, there is a 2MP camera with macro and micro adjustment, a self-portrait mirror, and a LED flash for low-light images.
[edit] Operating System
The 8525 ships with Windows Mobile 5 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack.
HTC has been working on a version of Windows Mobile 6, and in July 2007 released a generic update freely available to the public. Several carriers have confirmed a non-generic late summer release for their versions of the Hermes.
Much like AT&T, by early May 2007, Dopod International had announced its plans to make available free updates to Windows Mobile 6 for selected devices, among the devices on the list is the TyTN-based 838Pro. It planed to start offering the upgrade program by July 2007. As of August 6, 2007, HTC Europe has released an official Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional upgrade for the HTC TyTn. The upgrade is available for free to HTC e-Club members, membership to the e-Club is also free.
The official update to Windows Mobile 6 for the AT&T 8525 was released on November 1st, 2007 and is available on HTC's American website. HTC warns users to save a copy of the Rom Upgrade Utility as all new and refurbished 8525 devices (including those received via Warranty Exchange) will come loaded with Windows Mobile 5 rather than Windows Mobile 6. Users must also hurry as the RUU will only be offered on HTC's website for three months, until February 1, 2008.
[edit] Specifications
- Manufacturer: HTC
- Type: Smartphone / PDA phone
- Communications:
- Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11b/g, Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP enabled, and MSFP push-email, IrDA
- CPU: 400 MHz Samsung SC32442 stacked ARM CPU
- GPU: ATI Imageon Multimedia co-processor
- Operating System: Windows Mobile 5.0 with Messaging and Security Feature Pack (Upgrade to Windows Mobile 6 Available through HTC)
- Camera:
- Memory: 64 MB RAM, 128 MB ROM (Up to 51MB available memory for user storage)
- Memory card: Micro SD expansion slot (up to 2GB per Micro SD card and up to 32GB per Micro SDHC card if running Windows Mobile 6)
- Screen: Transflective QVGA 240 x 320 65,536 Colors 2.8" (42 x 57 mm) TFT LCD Touch Screen with backlight LEDs (switches to Landscape 320x240 when retractable keyboard is extended)
- Weight: 176g (6.2 ounces)
- Dimensions: 112.5mm (L) x 58mm (W) x 21.95mm (T) or 4.4" (L) x 2.2" (W) x 0.8" (T)
- Battery:
- Removable and rechargeable Li-Ion 1300/1350 mAH
- Standby time: Up to 200 hours for GSM; 180 ~ 250 hours for UMTS
- Talk time (Screen off): 4 ~ 5 hours for GSM; 2 ~ 4 hours for UMTS
- Media playback: 8 hours (WMV); 12 hours (WMA)
- Input:
- Sliding blue LED back-lit QWERTY keyboard (featuring an ambient light sensor, when it detects low light and a key is pressed, the LED automatically illuminates)
- Scroll and Push wheel (for one-handed use)
- Accessories:
- AC adapter
- Battery (rechargeable and user-replaceable)
- Carrying Case
- HTC ExtUSB power plug
- Sync Cable (HTC ExtUSB)
- Stereo wired headset with microphone (button for voice command)
- Applications:
- Windows Media Player 10 Mobile
- Instant Messaging: Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger, & Windows Live Messenger (available via MEdia Net download)
- Email: Microsoft Direct Push, Good Mobile Messaging, Xpress Mail, POP3 or IMAP4
- MSN Services: Pocket MSN, MSN Messenger
- Turn-by-turn GPS navigation capable (with AT&T TeleNav)
- Voice-activated dialing
- MMS and Java applications
- Smart Dialing
- Comm Manager
- ClearVue PDF
- Office Mobile
- ZIP
