Cingular 2125 Review by PC Magazine

[Kris Kumar]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1927239,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530' target='_blank'>http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,1927239,00.asp?kc=PCRSS02129TX1K0000530</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The Cingular 2125 ($299.99 with contract) is a powerful, good-looking smartphone that brings Windows Mobile flexibility to a truly pocket-sized handset. It's a good choice for making phone calls, syncing with PIM data, and surfing the Web. Although it's better-looking than the very similar T-Mobile SDA, we prefer the SDA's added Wi-Fi power."</i><br /><br /> <img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/Kris-Feb06-2125PCMag.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />The Cingular 2125 could not score the PC Magazine Editor's Choice designation like its cousin the T-Mobile SDA because it doesn't have built-in Wi-Fi, but it did score more points in the style category.

[Mike Temporale]

Right! No WiFi = No Editors Choice Woo Hoo! :rock on dude!: Go WiFi Go!

[LHBALESJR]

Right! No WiFi = No Editors Choice Woo Hoo! :rock on dude!: Go WiFi Go!

I've got the Cingular 2125 and so far its been a great little phone. I had the Razor V3 for a couple of weeks and it too was a nice phone but I couldn't live with the limited contact storage on the Moto. I also carry a Dell Axim X50v.

I checked T-Mobile's site and the SDA still does not appear to be available yet. I wonder if they will also be offering a $100 rebate when this phone comes out? If they do, I would probably rather have the SDA over the 2125, even though I really prefer the looks of the 2125. Looks aren't everything but I really liked the look of the Audiovox SMT5600 and the 2125 is much closer to it than the T-Mobile SDA is. If T-Mobile doesn't offer the $100 rebate to bring the phone down to $199, like the 2125, I still would choose the 2125 if I had it to do over again. Since I have the Axim, it just would't be worth the extra $100 for me. I like being able to check my email on my phone but I don't think I would be doing enough web surfing to justify spending an extra $100 to surf faster (or even MUCH faster). I might feel differently about it if not for the Axim. One question about the review. They suggest that the talk time on the 2125 is much longer than on the SDA. Are they assuming some WiFi usage in with this. It would seem like both phones should have very similar battery life if you weren't using WiFi. They mention something about T-Mobile's firmware but would that really cut the talk time in half?

Benchmarks from PC Mag review:

T-Mobile SDA
Benchmark Test Results
Continuous talk time (Wi-Fi off): 9 hours 42 minutes
Video playback time (Wi-Fi off): 7 hours 22 minutes
Jbenchmark 1.0.4: 6641
Jbenchmark 2.1.1: 684

Cingular 2125
Benchmark Test Results
Continuous talk time: 14 hours 43 minutes
Video playback time: 8 hours 41 minutes
JBenchmark 1: 6636
JBenchmark 2: 703