My new Cingular 8125 (the US version of the HTC Wizard) arrived in the mail yesterday and (not surprisingly) I had to make a trip to the Cingular store after spending an hour or so on the phone with Customer Service / Tech. Support. However, with a new sim card installed, I was out the door within a half hour with a fully functioning gadget. While the run down of available features is well documented around the internet and most reviews are favorable, here are some features that sold me on this PDA / Smart Phone over the competition:
- Windows Mobile 5.0 with Word, Excel, PowerPoint software installed (read / write capability)
- Internet via wifi / or Cingular Edge / GPRS
- QWERTY keyboard (returned the T-mobile SDA without it)
- Wifi enabled (bluetooth, too)
- Cell phone as modem for my laptop (does this really work? wouldn't it be too sloooow?)
- Push e-mail (not quite as good as my old crackberry, but I probably have to tweak a few things)
- Music and video player (I also bought a 2GB miniSD card)
- Camera with flash and camcorder
- All the phone bells and whistles (speaker phone, voice dialing)
I've only had it for a day, but after they installed the new sim card I have had a blast trying out the features. I had read a lot about the phone before it arrived, but there is quite a learning curve. However, there is no question that I already know more about the phone than any of the Cingular folks trying to "help" me today. They were really nice, but they were convinced I had a "defective device" when they couldn't get it working and almost had me return the phone.
I am still a bit concerned about the billing for the phone and data service package. It is certainly not cheap as configured (est. $90 / month for the phone and data) However, with Cingular's comparatively large network, my goal is to use this as the "family" phone in both NYC and PA, so I will be canceling all other services (including Vonage which has not been a perfect solution as a "home" phone replacement, by the way). Therefore, it should be cheaper than our current combined plans – I think 🙂 We've all heard / experienced cell phone bill horror stories (surprise roaming fees, text messaging overages, etc), so I have my fingers crossed that the data plan I have is truly "unlimited". Now, I have to start thinking more about "mobile learning" possibilities.
Jennifer, thanks for stopping by the "think:lab" blog (http://thinklab.typepad.com/think_lab/) recently as a blog-nod to the Cingular 8125. Being very much (emphasis here is not false) a luddite (at best) when it comes to technology and new-fangled-gadgets, I am only beginning (understatement) to realize what this new phone/handheld will do. Love to have you walk me through some of it, since you obviously are way ahead of the curve (especially my little funky curve). Just accepted a new role with my company that will require being available nearly 24/7, and also traveling extensively, so if I can get the 8125 to work well, if I can figure out a few bells and whistles, it just might be a truly revolutionary part of my day! In any event, when time allows, due get back in touch — use my email that should have come along for the blog-ride — and love to learn more about what you do daily (in and out of the blogosphere). BTW, I appreciate that you and your significant other are photographed together as your blog-identity; made a similar choice at "think:lab" to have my wife (Karla) with me. Good to see it done elsewhere.