Although the Cingular 2125 is aimed at business and the general public, the lack of a keyboard could appeal to consumers—who want smartphone features but generally prefer more traditional cell phone designs than those found in a Treo, BlackBerry or recent Pocket PC Phones, for example.

The new smartphone takes the place of the Audiovox SMT 5600, which the carrier took on when it bought AT&T Wireless last year. It is a version of a device code-named 'Faraday' from Taiwanese original design manufacturer High Tech Computer.

Cingular Wireless VP of business data services Jeff Bradley says, "The Cingular 2125 Smartphone gives our customers a cost-effective, feature-packed solution that meets their needs, whether they're a larger company engaged in global business communications or an individual wanting a superior, high-speed e-mail and Web browsing experience.

Unique to the Cingular 2125 is a hump of an antenna on top. This enables the phone to support a quad-band (850/900/1800/1900 MHz) GSM/GPRS radio for use in most international markets.

There's also EDGE (Enhanced Data for Global Evolution), a 2.5G network technology, for faster than GPRS data transfers. Cingular says its EDGE network is available in 13,000 cities and towns and along nearly 40,000 miles of major highways to exchange information at average speeds of 135 kilobits per second (kbps).

Nonetheless, while EDGE performs about three times as fast as conventional wired dial-up connections, it is around a third to a fourth or more slower than today's 3G networks. Verizon and Sprint’s EV-DO (Evolution-Data Optimized ) networks plus Cingular’s own fledgling HSDPA (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access) technology all deliver transfer rates averaging 400-700 Kbps.

Smartphone, Not Pocket PC
Unlike most early Windows Mobile 5.0 handsets, the Cingular 2125 is not a Pocket PC Phone. Rather, it falls into the Smartphone category. That means, the device looks and acts more like a traditional mobile phone than PDA: no touch screen, for example.

What the compact 3.71-ounce 4.32 x 1.84 x 0.75-inch Cingular 2125 does offer is Windows Media Player 10 and a 1.3 megapixel camera with video recorder. The device supports multiple audio formats including MP3, AMR, AAC, WAV and WMA, as well as MPEG-4 video streaming.

There's also Bluetooth for connecting to wireless headsets and printers, for example, as well as a rather large 2.2-inch 240 x 320 pixel (QVGA) display—a Windows Mobile 5.0 Smartphone advance.

Inside, the Cingular 2125 boasts 64 MB of RAM, 64 MB of ROM, a miniSD slot for storage expansion and a TI OMAP 200 MHz processor. Cingular's specifications state it should last for up to four hours of talk and six hours of standby time on a single battery charge. Cingular 2125 users also benefit from Windows Mobile persistent memory storage, as it retains information even when the device's battery is depleted.

The Cingular 2125 supports a number of corporate and personal e-mail applications, including Microsoft Office Outlook Mobile and Microsoft Exchange Server, GoodLink from Good Technology, Cingular Xpress Mail and MSN Hotmail. Wireless messaging applications include MSN Messenger and Cingular's multimedia messaging service (MMS).

As a Windows Mobile 5.0 device, the Cingular 2125 will be upgradeable for the Messaging and Security Feature Pack featuring direct push e-mail technology when launched by Microsoft - and then provided by Cingular to its customers - later in the first half of 2006. That will put it in the same league as Research In Motion’s BlackBerry handhelds.

The Cingular 2125 sells for $199 with a two-year contract and qualified voice plan. Unlimited EDGE data service (necessary for Web access, messaging, e-mail, etc.) called Cingular MEdia Net goes for $19.99 per month.