TomTheGeek

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Monday, February 27, 2006

Cingular 8125 Initial Review

I couldn't stand to wait and bought a 8125 on the 24th of Feburary. I've had the device for a couple days and it's very impressive. It's in a completely different class than my Audiovox 5600 Smartphone. According to benchmarks it's a pretty slow pocketPC but it's a lot snappier than the 5600 so I don't notice at all. I have yet to play a xvid movie on it encoded in its native resolution but the screen is phenomenal, very clear and much much bigger.

Edge data speed is great, much faster than regular GPRS. Using a stylus is taking some getting used to but you can do most things with the keyboard if you want. The speakers are louder and sound a lot better. The camera is pretty much standard though I love how it gives you a full screen viewfinder making it feel like a real camera. The keyboard is easy to type on and I love the backlighting.

I like how the miniSD slot is on the top but I'n not actually sure it matters, I install all my programs to the card so I can't really remove it unless I copy everything over to the other cards. Quite possible really but I havn't gotten around to it yet.

Because it's a pocketPC device it has opened up a new world of applications. A lot of the cool programs I couldn't run on my smartphone will work with the 8125. Battery life has been good so far, we'll see how that goes.

My biggest dissapointment so far has been that it's not a regular audio jack on the bottom, it's a regular headset jack so I can't plug headphones directly into it. They really should ditch the headset jack, if you have this phone you should be using a bluetooth headset anyways.

In all it's a much more capable device but because it has the keyboard people are actually less impressed by it than my phone. When I would tell people all the stuff I could do with my tiny phone they would be floored, now they pretty much expect it because it looks like a tiny laptop to them which it pretty much is.

Update March 14

I've had the device for a couple of weeks now and I am still very impressed with the 8125. I used the Cingular ROM and while it worked okay it doesn't have A2DP capabilities. Since I installed a Scosche A2DP adapter in my car, I was jonesing for a little A2DP action in my 8125. There is a Qtek test ROM over at the xda-developers.com FTP site that has push email and the A2DP bluetooth stack so I flashed that ROM to it and it's been working really slick. I no longer have to bother with a cable to listen to MP3's from my phone through my car stereo. Try doing that with an iPod! (iTrips don't count, they are an extra dongle and only get FM quality, A2DP is near CD quality) I haven't had a chance to try the push email yet but they are switching to exchange where I work so I should be able to use it eventually.

15 Comments:

  • Are you still the Qtek A2DP ROM. If so is everything working OK. I have the 2.17 ROM without A2DP and things are great. I want A2DP but am not sure if the Qtek ROM is working OK.

    TIA
    Shankar.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:07 PM CDT  

  • Yes, I am still using the Qtek rom and it's working great. If your already using a Qtek rom I don't think you'll have any problems with the A2DP rom.

    By Blogger TomTheGeek, at 9:41 AM CDT  

  • There is a modified version of 208 ROM that has A2DP enabled. I am using it with my Cingular 8125 and Motorola HT820 Stereo Bluetooth headphones and it works pretty damn good. Here is the forum where I got the ROM: http://forum.xda-developers.com/viewtopic.php?t=45295&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:30 PM CDT  

  • cool!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:18 PM CDT  

  • Tom,

    I tried a couple of rom's from the xda forum, in particular:

    Cingular_RUU_2080701_101_11310_WWE-RINGRS-OCLOCK and Cingular_RUU_WIZARD_217_AKU2_WWE

    Could you post the EXACT name of the ROM you are using with your 8125 that is supporting A2DP?

    Thanks,

    James
    jwmsjr@nc.rr.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:31 PM CDT  

  • This is the ROM that I used: RUU_Prodigy_2080701_101_11310_Qtek_WWE_Test.exe.

    It's at ftp://xda:xda@xda-developers.com/Uploads/HTC_Wizard/Roms/Qtek/.

    By Blogger TomTheGeek, at 10:46 PM CDT  

  • Simple question.
    Is the 8125 a Smartphone or PocketPC?
    Such as being able to install PocketPC mapping software, etc.
    I read very confusing details.

    thanks!
    Please email. erric_usa@hotmail.com

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 1:05 PM CDT  

  • I have a cingular 8125 I unlocked it and got the new rom from HTC that supports A2dp. I still cannot get my Jabra bluetooth headset to stream mp3's. anyone have any solutions???

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6:21 PM CDT  

  • I have the 8125 and the very cool jabra 620s, but while it works great for taking calls, I can't get it to play my mp3 via the headset. Am I missing something? Is there any wireless headset out there that will do this? Any info would be great.

    Thanks,

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 4:59 PM CDT  

  • You need VJVolubilis made by Vijay555 to stream audio to a bluetooth headset. Check out the Audio Gateway Control section.

    By Blogger TomTheGeek, at 5:12 PM CDT  

  • how did you get the 8125 to send the music to the HT820 headset? i already installed the new rom update. i just cant get it to work.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:12 AM CDT  

  • In order to send stereo audio to a HT820 headset (or any A2DP device) first you have to load a ROM that supports A2DP. None of the official Cingular ROMs have A2DP, you'll have to find a modified ROM that has it or add it yourself.

    After your A2DP device has been paired with your phone, tap and hold on the device under "Bluetooth Devices", then select "Set as Wireless Stereo". If you don't have that option then you don't have a ROM with A2DP.

    By Blogger TomTheGeek, at 10:24 AM CDT  

  • I instaled A2DP but when i connect to play MP3 the sound cuts off quite often. Anyone have this problem

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:39 PM CDT  

  • Has anyone used the Ten Technology Naviplay Headphones with the 8125? Or see any reason why they wouldn't work with the 8125 or the 8525?

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:34 PM CST  

  • i also have an 8125 but how do i go about installing what i need to use the motorola bluetooth headsets. i have registered with xda but for some reason I still cant access the files. please email me at liz_degro@hotmail.com i will greatly appreciate it.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 3:57 PM CST  

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