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Cingular plans to supplant its 8125 Pocket PC Phone sometime in the near future with a new model built by the same original design manufacturer (ODM), HTC. It is well known that the presumed replacement, the Cingular 8525, is based on the Taiwanese vendor's Hermes design. This means the smartphone should look a lot like lot like its predecessor but with some important differences.

The first leaked photos of the 8525, from HowardForums, correspond to computer renderings that emerged a while back.

Unlike European editions of the Hermes Pocket PC Phone, it appears Cingular's won't feature a second front facing camera. So self portraits and video calling will be out of the question. Its single camera is a 2.0 megapixel type, which resides on the back.

There's also a 400 MHz processor that doubles the speed of the CPU in the 8125. Additional known features of the 8525 include a QVGA touch-screen, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and microSD slot.

As with the current model, the upcoming smartphone is a landscape-orientated slider without a now-you-see-it-now-you-don't QWERTY thumb-keyboard under its display.

HTC added three buttons to the new model for Cingular: OK, Start Menu, and Push To Talk.

And unlike the 8125, the 8525 will be able to take advantage of Cingular's high-speed HSDPA network, exchanging data at speeds of between 400 and 700 kilobits per second Kbps.


from Brighthand

Cingular is reportedly testing the 8525 on its network right now. The carrier launched HSDPA service in 16 cities with additional availability in surrounding 54 communities last December. Since then the operator has been working on expanding the service to other areas. Where HSDPA isn't available, subscribers automatically connect to the operator's much-more widely available 70- 135 Kbps EDGE network.

Although the 8525 hasn't been announced yet, all signs point towards something official happening in the near future. We'll keep you posted.