HTC Cingular 3125 - I Am Not Impressed
Written: Feb 09 '08 (Updated Feb 09 '08)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Small Form Factor; Windows Mobile; Good Sound Quality
Cons: Dismal Battery Life; POOR Side Buttons; Status Lights too Bright; Scratches Easily; EDGE is Slow
The Bottom Line: The HTC Cingular 3125 is a good looking phone with good voice quality. Beyond that, it is haunted by a poor battery and lacking of features.
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| soupcraze's Full Review: HTC 3125 Smartphone |
I miss my old Palm Treo 700wx. I miss Sprint.
So far I have been using a HTC Cingular 3125 on AT&T wireless since August 2007. My friend placed me on a corporate account, and I have been using a HTC Cingular 3125. The phone goes by a few different names. It's technical name is the HTC Star Trek. The phone (now discontinued) on AT&T's network is the Cingular 3125. The HTC Cingular 3125 differs from other HTC phones that I have been more familiar with, namely the variants (Full-Size PDA smartphones) on the Sprint network.
This is not my first clamshell Windows Mobile phone. I previously used a Samsung SPH-i600 with Sprint PCS. I have also used a variety of Widows Pocket PC/Mobile devices before using it. Therefore, I knew what to expect in terms of capabilities, but did not know what to expect in terms of the actual phone performance. After a few months of use, here is what I found.
-PRICE-
*When the phone was available on the AT&T and Cingular (Now a part of AT&T Wireless) networks, it was a cheaper smartphone. I knew someone using the 8125, which was a higher-end phone offered by HTC for the network. Today, the phone is readily available on eBay. Therefore, I am going to talk about the price in terms of purchasing it second-hand on eBay.
I searched completed auction listings, and saw a wide variety of different prices being paid. I have seen people paying from slightly under $100 all the way up to $200! Generally, I have seen quite a few auctions end in the midrange from ~$140 to ~$160.
Based on what the phone is capable of, I would probably pass. I feel that the phone's greatest benefits are its small form factor and ability to sync with Outlook. Besides that, this variant of Windows Mobile is not compatible with a digitized screen. I feel that those who are looking for more productivity would find disappointment in this device. I did like the fact that I was able to sync the contacts I had in my Treo to the HTC Cingular 3125 through Outlook, but beyond that it didn't offer many advantages. I feel that quite a few of today's Windows Mobile smartphones with digitized screens have become so small, that they are no longer much of a nuisance to carry. Therefore, I feel that the benefits of the form factor are thus negated.
In conclusion, if you are in the market for a used phone. I would look elsewhere. You are getting a compact phone, but its abilities are quite limited. I will go into them further in the review. But if I had $150 with me now and had to purchase a Windows-powered device, I would not buy the HTC Cingular 3125.
-PERFORMANCE-
*Under the Hood - The HTC Cingular 3125 is powered by a Texas Instruments OMAP850 processor pushing at 195MHz. It has 64MB of RAM and 128MB of flash memory. 195MHz is considerably slower than many other smartphones that I was used to, such as the Treo 700wx running on an Intel PXA370 at 312MHz. The HTC Cingular 3125, however, can not carry out the same extensive functions as the more advanced Windows Mobile smartphones. Therefore, based on most of my needs, the 195MHz has been more than enough. I am able to run the web browser and go through my messages with no problems. Also, running the default games works well. When trying to use the camera and camcorder function, I have noticed a considerable amount of lag. Also, after not resetting the phone for over a day or so, I also notice that at that point the phone begins to lag.
The phone comes with 64MB of RAM. This is a fairly generous amount of space. My Treo 700wx had the same amount of space, and it also had a larger variety of usable programs (Due to the stylus operation). Therefore, since I have not added many programs to the phone, I have a considerable amount of space left. Therefore, if you feel the need to add programs or take many pictures and videos, you won't be disappointed.
The HTC Cingular 3125 uses MicroSD. The slot is conveniently (Sarcasm) located behind the SIM card. Therefore in order to access it, you will need to remove the battery cover which conveniently turns the phone off automatically, then remove the SIM card, and then finally gain access to the MicroSD compartment. I do not own any MicroSD cards, and therefore have not used this function. But I would find it a nuisance to do so, especially if I were to use multiple cards loaded with MP3 files or what not.
The battery life is among the worst I have had in my phones. With minimal talk, my phone battery is drained by the end of the day. I have to charge the phone every night, even with almost no usage. I have also seen my phone go down to one bar if I have been talking heavily (Maybe ~60 minutes) of talk-time throughout the day usually by early evening. This makes the phone difficult to use if you are a heavy-talker. I would recommend purchasing a car charger if you drive. This will dramatically improve the efficiency of the phone. I would also recommend purchasing a spare battery for the device to get most out of it.
*On the Outside - The HTC Cingular 3125 is a sleek looking phone. It reminds me a bit of the Motorola RAZR. The phone is all-black with a grated metallic-type finish. There is a camera on the front as well as three buttons used to control Windows Media Player. I believe that the phone is geared as being a multimedia device intended for MP3 music files.
On the inside of the phone, there is a generously sized LCD screen. While it is small since the phone is a clamshell after all, I have no problems reading anything on the screen. The keypad is also very neat looking with a grayish metallic color. I use T9 word recognition when messaging, and the buttons are very generous in size, allowing for no problems when attempting to write quickly.
While the phone is good-looking, there are a couple of things that I absolutely hate about the phone. It appears that the outside is made up of a light metal. This makes up a majority of the front, and the battery cover is made up of this. While this feels considerably better than cheap plastic, it scratches very easily. I have been taking good care of the phone, but have noticed numerous scratches on the battery-cover that almost look like key marks. There are also multiple scratches, showing how easily the paint wears off. I have so far not noticed any scratches on the front, which is good. But nonetheless, I would be careful with it so you will not scratch it. If you carry it in your pocket, make sure your keys are not in there!
Probably the greatest thing I hate about the form factor of the phone is the side buttons. If you look at the sides of the phone, HTC definitely tried to streamline them as well as possible. Therefore, the buttons are hard to find unless you see the little bumps that help you find the buttons. I have had the phone for months, yet still always end up pressing the wrong buttons! Since the buttons do not protrude out of the sides, I do not know where I am pressing. There were numerous occasions where I attempted to increase handset volume, and I only ended up setting it to the minimum because I could not see which button I was pressing! Also, the bumps are so small that I would often accidentally hit a button when I did not mean to.
The side buttons are much easier to press when you are using a Bluetooth headset, and then can hold the phone in your hand instead of up to your face. But when you are holding it to your ear, I would recommend asking the person to hold and adjust the volume when holding the phone in plain sight.
I also hate that the buttons are located on the top half of the clamshell. While I did not mind this in my older clamshell phones with LARGE protruding buttons, having such buttons on the side and on the top allows for plenty of accidents. I have activated my camera on plenty of occasions when talking on the phone when holding the handset to my ear. I have also hit the volume buttons when I did not intend to.
I wish HTC could have mapped these buttons out better. Such "streamlined" buttons, if they wished to keep them this way, would have worked much better on the bottom-half of the phone.
There are also other things that I hate, but that are more manageable. The phone has two status LED lights on the front. There is a green and blue light. The green light signifies the service, and the blue signifies the Bluetooth. They don't appear annoying unless you sleep right next to your phone. I find the LED's to be way too bright. Therefore, I always lay the phone down on the front so the lights do not shine into my room.
*Phone - I absolutely hate AT&T wireless. The service quality is considerably poorer than Sprint. I have heard people use low-end phones on the network, and have not been able to hear them. Anyway, for now, I have been quite impressed with the overall call quality on the HTC Cingular 3125 considering that it's not on the greatest network available. I have been able to hear people quite well. If the phone has not been reset for over a day, I have noticed that the phone would cut out. I also have many instances where I call someone, but when I talk, they can not hear me. I just keep hearing, "Hello. Hello. Hello?" on the other line. After calling back immediately, the problem is fixed. For most part though, the HTC Cingular 3125 performs quite well as a phone. It does make most of a pretty crappy network, and makes it quite usable.
*Software - The HTC Cingular 3125 runs on Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone Edition. It is not a stylus-operated system, since it does not use a digitized screen. This is the second such clamshell phone that I have owned with this type of configuration. The HTC Cingular 3125 also lacks a QWERTY keyboard and other features that make a non-digitized WM phone more usable for professionals. Thus, I would not actually recommend this device for business professionals that need strong mobile power.
The phone does pretty well though for those that simply want to benefit from the WM5 interface along with primarily Microsoft Outlook as well as more third party applications. I use Outlook religiously in sorting contacts and setting appointments. It synchronizes seamlessly with the phone via Microsoft Activesync. Therefore, this is quite good for those that want to be well-organized with the help of applications like Outlook. The lack of a keyboard and digitized screen makes the phone less compatible with many hot programs that are quite useful on a Windows Mobile/Pocket PC device that uses stylus operation.
The HTC Cingular 3125 also is a web-enabled phone (Obviously). It runs Microsoft Pocket Explorer. The Pocket Explorer is really not that bad of a program. Once you get the hang of it, surfing WAP and actual HTML sites isn't so bad. I noticed that the program is buggy though. If I have not reset the phone in a while and I try to load a web page, it will come up blank. Even if I try to reload the page or go to another address, the problem will not be fixed. I need to reset the phone, which is a painstakingly long process, to get the internet working properly. Speaking of internet, EDGE is very sluggish. So do not expect an awesome internet experience from this phone. For surfing WAP or simple sites it's OK, but beyond that, you will get a headache.
Beyond using Outlook to help organize my life, I have not really added many third party applications. While you can add third party applications, the phone will not compare to a more heavy-duty Windows Mobile device with a QWERTY keyboard and stylus operation. Thus, if you are looking to use Outlook seamlessly with your phone, get it. If you are road warrior and need third party power, look elsewhere.
*Other Features - Like you would expect these days, the HTC Cingular 3125 has a megapixel camera. The quality is not all too great, so don't expect much. The phone also takes videos which is neat, but then again, the quality is not good.
The phone has Bluetooth which works quite well. This is especially important in Chicago where using handsets is illegal, and everyone must use headsets. The Bluetooth also eats battery though, unfortunately.
The phone also has a loud ringer. I even double the phone as a back-up alarm clock (When at home). The alarm's maximum volume gets very loud. This is much better than what I had on my old Treo.
-CONCLUSION-
*The HTC Cingular 3125 is an interesting device. It packs Microsoft Windows Mobile 5 Smartphone edition into a sleek small package. This small form factor should be very appealing to those looking for a small smartphone. I do love the seamless synchronization with Microsoft Outlook for my contacts and appointments. This alone makes life much easier.
But beyond Microsoft Outlook and the basic qualities of the operating system, there is much to be left desired. By creating such a small package, the phone lacks a digitized screen or QWERTY program which really knocks down the phone's productivity capabilities. Therefore, any true business professional will have nothing to gain from it, compared to other phones. Also, many smartphones, such as the HTC Touch, now have a much smaller form factor and are still far more capable than the HTC Cingular 3125.
Beyond the lack of capabilities, the phone does have some bad aspects about it. Most importantly, the battery life is horrible. The phone must be recharged daily. There were many days where I could not even survive a single day on a single charge. Therefore, plan to have a backup battery or car charger if you talk on the phone a lot.
The buttons are also poorly designed so be careful where you press. Also, make sure you don't have keys anywhere near the phone which could easily scratch it.
Ultimately, the HTC Cingular 3125 provides good voice quality on a pretty crappy network in a sleek compact package. In order to make such a small phone, compromises were made. The ergonomics for one could be better. But more importantly, the lack of a QWERTY keyboard or digitized screen make this unattractive to business professionals. The very poor battery life only makes this worse. Therefore, if you solely want a sleek phone to use with Outlook, get it. Otherwise, you can find better smartphones for about the same price or just a little more on eBay, and they will do more for you. Also, if you look into brand new phones, there are also more capable phones with smaller form factors now.
Recommended:
No
Amount Paid (US$): N/A
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soupcraze
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Member: Soup Enthusiast
Location: Chicago, Illinois
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About Me:
I enjoy many of life's passions... Music, medicine, people, and life itself.
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