Cingular 3125: The Taste Test

[Rocco Augusto]

Friday afternoon FedEx was nice enough to drop off my brand spanking new Cingular 3125. Since my contract was up with T-Mobile, I decided it was time to jump ship and return home to Cingular where I have had service since I was old enough to get my first cellular phone. I won’t lie; the move was nowhere near painless. For starters, buying a phone from Cingular’s Business Care Center was the most horrific experience I have had throughout my entire cellphone life. Sure I got one heck of a deal on the handset ($119.99 no mail-in-rebate), but to be honest I would have rather shelled out the extra money to get it from the store.<br /><br />The phone itself is very responsive. After spending months upon months with my old Cingular 2125 which suffered from the well documented “sticky-key-effect”, it is so pleasant to actually use a phone that can keep up with my speedy fingers. This is by far the best Smartphone I have had the privilege of using, but it does have its faults.<br /><!><br />The first major fault of this handset is that it does not come with a case of any kind! I was a little shocked to find this out since I was becoming accustomed to getting a new case with all of my HTC carrier branded devices. This wasn’t so bad though since I run a cellphone accessory company now. I just grabbed one of the new vertical pouches that I got in and the phone was a perfect fit. ;)<br /><br />After playing around in the Setting menu there was one thing I found that also shocked me. They removed the Wireless Homescreen which came with previous North American HTC devices such as the T-Mobile SDA and Cingular 2125. For the past few months I have been using this as my main homescreen so I am really disappointed that it is gone. I enjoyed being able to turn Bluetooth on and off without having to hit a million keys to do so.<br /><br />The File Manager got a tiny face lift as well. The bad news is, I can now no longer delete the unwanted icons from my start menu such as Cingular Mall and everything else Cingular. I tried to do the deleting via Windows Vista RC1 only to find out that I can no longer access the Windows directory of my Smartphone. I’m unsure whether to blame my phone or my laptop, so needless to say, I did not take a hammer to either of them.<br /><br />I also find myself hitting the camera button often when holding my phone in the closed position. I’m not sure if this is because I have clumsy fingers or the phone suffers from a clumsy design, but it happens a lot. I often hear myself taking a picture of the inside of my pocket or case and while it is amusing, I would prefer if it didn’t do it. :)<br /><br />Speaking of taking pictures, somewhere down the line the developers decided to take away my favorite feature from the built in camera application. You can no longer save your images in folders based off the date like you could on the T-Mobile SDA and Cingular 2125 (with ROM update). We go back to the painfully tedious method of saving all your images to one folder. If you take a lot of pictures and plan on using a program like ShoZu then prepare to face the wrath of thumbnail loading hell!<br /><br />However, the battery hump isn’t that bad at all. You really don’t notice it and it actually makes the phone feel a little more comfortable in your hands. Not to mention, you get some SWEET battery life out of this new battery. I started playing with my phone on Friday and still have not performed the first charge on my phone and it is now Monday night! Now that is power!<br /><br />I don’t want to get too much into the handset because we will be reviewing it here on Smartphone Thoughts soon. I just wanted to give you guys my initial impressions and talk about my annoyances, which I do for ever new device I play with. Jerry picked up one of these bad boys as well so keep an eye on this thread because sometime this week Jerry might be posting his thoughts on it!

[tsahnocub]

I'm not at my home computer at the moment which is running Vista RC1, but I seem to recall having to make sure that you can view hidden folders in explorer to see the Windows folder on the phone.

It is possible, I just think they're hidden by default. Double check and see if "Show Hidden Files and Folders" is enabled.

You can get to the Folder options from the Organize drop down in Vista's Explorer.

Hope that helps.

[LarryKeith]

The organization of camera pictures into date folders can be turnded on/off in the registry. I did this with my iMate SP5 as I was tired of waiting for the thumbnails.

To turn it on -
RegKey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\Camera\Captparam
Action: Alter Value: EnableDateFolder from default value to 1

This should work on the 3125 as well. I hope this helps.

[Hyer]

Do you know if the new battery will be available for those of us that couldn't wait for this release and have the imate version? I barely make it though the day and many days don't.

[servoisgod]

"I decided it was time to jump ship and return home to Cingular where I have had service since I was old enough to get my first cellular phone."

Dude, how old are you? Cingular hasn't been around that long :P

"I enjoyed being able to turn Bluetooth on and off without having to hit a million keys to do so."

I just arrow down to the Cingular line on the home screen then hit 2...of coarse this is assuming that you use the same on I do (Windows Default).

"The File Manager got a tiny face lift as well."

Yeah, I really hate this new one. They moved one thing that I used to use here to the Task Manager program now (system info).

Under XP I can still delete all the icons (and HAVE). Cingular puts so much crap on this phone it's not even funny.

Anyways, just a few things from my point of view.

Aaron

[Cattle-Dog]

I've been using my 3125 for almost a week now. I originally had an AudioVox 5600 with ATT, then went with the Verizon 6700. I liked the 6700 in most respects, but hated having to use the stylus for many aspects of the phone (or smudging the phone to death with my fingers). In addition, it's hard not to pay half as much with Cingular.

I really appreciated your thoughts, but the one thing I find different in my experience is the battery life. I'm not able to get more than 2 days out of this phone. I was really hoping that by leaving the 6700 and coming back to a SmartPhone, I could pick up at least another day. I haven't dared to turn on blue tooth yet, but I do use push mail form my Exchange server. On both my other phones it was via SMS Sync, and I am wondering if the constant "checking in" with the Exchange server is eating up the battery with this one? Rocco, are you using push mail?

Does anyone recall a registry setting to tone down how often the 'keep alive' feature calls home?

Another observation is, I charged it yesterday for 8 hours until 6 PM. I surfed the internet on it for about 10 minutes before retiring to bed that night. This morning, I used the headset to stream a local talk radio station. I still had 4 bars of battery, but it died in about 1 hour. Seems rather short to me.

Another area I found lacking was the keypad. While I would give 5 out of 5 stars for style, I find the actual implementation a little lacking. I wouldn't go as far to say I dislike it, but compared to the similar design of my wife's RAZR, it doesn't really compare in feel or feedback.

I also agree with Rocco's observation about the lack of a case as well of the lack of choice of aftermarket cases (or accessories in general!), despite this phone being out for several months over seas. I'd like to see any accessories that you have that are compatible with this phone Rocco, if you don't mind. Either here or via PM is fine.

Overall though, I really do like this phone. Much more manageable than the 6700 series brick (which did me well in most other regards).

[Rocco Augusto]

I'm not at my home computer at the moment which is running Vista RC1, but I seem to recall having to make sure that you can view hidden folders in explorer to see the Windows folder on the phone.

It is possible, I just think they're hidden by default. Double check and see if "Show Hidden Files and Folders" is enabled.

You can get to the Folder options from the Organize drop down in Vista's Explorer.

Hope that helps.

i tried that, even system folders. i just hate the cingular icons. i never use media mall or cingular music or good or any other of that trash. i cant even move them to a folder i never go into. grrrr

[Rocco Augusto]

I really appreciated your thoughts, but the one thing I find different in my experience is the battery life. I'm not able to get more than 2 days out of this phone. I was really hoping that by leaving the 6700 and coming back to a SmartPhone, I could pick up at least another day. I haven't dared to turn on blue tooth yet, but I do use push mail form my Exchange server. On both my other phones it was via SMS Sync, and I am wondering if the constant "checking in" with the Exchange server is eating up the battery with this one? Rocco, are you using push mail?

I am using push email, except i dont really get much email over the weekend. when i wrote this yesterday i was done to about 20% battery life. i like to drain my phones almost all the way before i charge them the first time.

after the first charge though, i started playing around with the music features and i notice the battery doesn't hold up as well as before. :)

i didnt get around to uploading music on the device beforehand because windows vista takes 3-4 times as long to move files from my laptop to the phone. im actually annoyed at how slow it is :evil:

Another area I found lacking was the keypad. While I would give 5 out of 5 stars for style, I find the actual implementation a little lacking. I wouldn't go as far to say I dislike it, but compared to the similar design of my wife's RAZR, it doesn't really compare in feel or feedback.

yeah, the keypad is rather large. my girlfriend has pretty small hands and she complains when she plays with my phone because she either has to use both hands to dial or she feels like shes gonna strain a muscle in her thumb trying to reach the keys with one hand :lol:

this phone isnt very "small hand" friendly

[Rocco Augusto]

Do you know if the new battery will be available for those of us that couldn't wait for this release and have the imate version? I barely make it though the day and many days don't.

im sure there will be. the battery that is included is just an extended battery. most accessory places should sell the extended cover and battery packs soon enough. :)

[Rocco Augusto]

The organization of camera pictures into date folders can be turnded on/off in the registry. I did this with my iMate SP5 as I was tired of waiting for the thumbnails.

To turn it on -
RegKey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\Camera\Captparam
Action: Alter Value: EnableDateFolder from default value to 1

This should work on the 3125 as well. I hope this helps.

awesome, thanks for the key. personally i think this is something you should be able to toggle on and off in the camera options menu :twisted:

[mpaquette]

Does anyone recall a registry setting to tone down how often the 'keep alive' feature calls home?

Check out this article (http://msexchangeteam.com/archive/2006/04/03/424028.aspx), it has everything you ever wanted to know about MS direct push.

[Brent372]

I don't remember his name, but the same guy that made Virtual Earth Mobile also makes a toggle BlueTooth application.
Just one click and BT is on or off.
Check the Virtual Earth Mobile blog on Microsoft's website and cross refernce back to the author's other entries.

[Hyer]

Has anyone figured out a way to make the blue tooth and "I'm on" lights blink less frequently/never. I believe this is one of the big power drains.

[Jerry Raia]

Well here are some of my initial impressions. First of all, I have missed not having clam shell Smartphone. I really like the external display. You have several styles of clocks to choose from both digital and analog. I already changed the background image to the same as my avatar here. I like the internal display too. Just a bit smaller than my 2125 but unless I hold them together I can barely see the difference.

I don’t like the buttons on the sides of the top of the phone! It makes changing the volume while in a call awkward, requiring hand gymnastics to reach them. In the manual one of these buttons is supposed to start the comm manager. It does not! It starts the voice tag application. The only way to get to the comm manager, which I use often, is through the start menu. I use a speed dial to make this easier but I miss how you could hold down the power button on the 2125 to get there.

I really like the key pad. My only small gripe is sometimes I hit the navigational keys when I’m trying to just hit the action button. I am totally denying the existence of the media buttons on the front. To me they are just a nice trim decoration.

I haven’t used the camera much but I do like having an image to look at if I want to turn it on myself via the external display.

Overall I like it!

[jfreiman]

Well, I was all excited about getting the 3125 phone I rushed around town the day it was released to buy one.
After all that I ended up returning it a week later. I couldn't get used to the side buttons. EVERY TIME I opened the phone the volume button would be pressed and that just annoyed me.
Also, the phone is just wide enough were texting with one hand wasn't convienient (and I have long fingers) -- resulting in my having to hold the phone with both hands.
Another thing I didn't like was the 'cheap' internal display -- It's truely not as good as the 2125.
What did I like? I liked the way it fit in my pocket, the response time of the texting was great and the way people reacted when they saw it. ;-)
After all that, I decided that the phone wasn't for me and I'd wait for a slimmer sexier version of the 2125 or a device that was geared more as a MUSIC/video player than the current devices.

[Rocco Augusto]

I don’t like the buttons on the sides of the top of the phone! It makes changing the volume while in a call awkward, requiring hand gymnastics to reach them. In the manual one of these buttons is supposed to start the comm manager. It does not! It starts the voice tag application. The only way to get to the comm manager, which I use often, is through the start menu. I use a speed dial to make this easier but I miss how you could hold down the power button on the 2125 to get there.

i accidently found while trying to activate my speakerphone that if you hold the "home" key down it will take you to the quick list and you can select option "2" for the comm manager. not as easy as it use to be, but i can get use to it :)

[Jerry Raia]

AH good find! Why didn't I think of that! :lol:

[servoisgod]

AH good find! Why didn't I think of that! :lol:

Yess indeed, very cool!

:)

Aaron

[Kris Kumar]

I can't believe that I got this phone in mail more than a week ago and all I have done till now is figured out how to put the microSD card, which BTW took forever.

I am planning that I might be staying up late tonight to play with it. [After I am done mowing the lawn :-( ]

[Jerry Raia]

I can't believe that I got this phone in mail more than a week ago and all I have done till now is figured out how to put the microSD card, which BTW took forever.

Tell me about it. Could they have made it anymore difficult?

[Kris Kumar]

BTW it turns out that you cannot turn on the 3125 if the battery cover is not in place. That is another 10 minutes trying to figure out why the unit wouldn't turn on; lucky for me that I saw the metal contact pins on either side, that seemed to indicate that the pins check for the cover.

[Xevious Mann]

Has anyone tried to change the device name the phone gives to active sync? I can't stand "Xevious_WM". On my mpx220 (listen for Jerry's teeth grinding) it was under "Phone Settings". Now that menu is gone.

[Jerry Raia]

The grinding has stopped. :)

This should work if you have a registry editor

change this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE>Ident
Select 'Values'
Select 'Name' (sometimes theres 2, just edit any)
and change the Value Data to the new name for your phone (no spaces)

Next time you plug in yourr phone, ActiveSync should connect as normal, but the name will have changed.