Cingular's 2125 hits the web

It was on, then off, but now it's back — Cingular's 2125 (aka the HTC Faraday) quad-band GSM Smartphone is officially a go. You can get yours for $200 with rebate (and 2 year contract), but just remember, while it does have a 1.3 megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and EDGE data, it does not have WiFi as do some of its overseas counterparts. No word yet on the 2125's older sibling, the 8125 (aka the HTC Wizard)— we'll keep ya posted.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

[snarkey @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Feh.

No qwerty. No stylus. For $200/2yr I have to input through the keypad? No WiFi. No expansion card slot. It has a 3.5mm jack, but with 64mbSDRAM/64mbFlashROM what am I going to listen to?

Why even make a WinMo phone with such anemic specs?

Save yer money for the 700w, kids.

[ben @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

I'm sure it has MiniSD card slot
and i think it's 2.5mm jack not 3.5

[Chris Crook @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

I have the SMT 5600 which I love. You might have missed the fact that it is a Smartphone, not a pocketPC phone. Every feature you just listed are pretty much reserved for PocketPC phone devices. This does play music very well - it has a miniSD card slot which you can slap a 2gb miniSD card into (I personally have a 512mb which is more than enough)

[Damo @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Phonescoop (see link below) says it does have a miniSD slot and a 2.5mm headphone jack.

http://www.phonescoop.com/phones/phone.php?p=800

[McCarron @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Current rumor on HowardForums is that the 8125 slated for release next week, 12/20, for Cingular B2B customers only, then on 1/9/06 for retail.

[Kyle Kinkade @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

MAN THIS SUCKS i just got the 5600 from a cingular store yesterday! then i wake up the next freakin morning to find out that this baby came out? oh man, that's so lame. I think i can still return this to the cingular store today and see if they have the new one available. They better let me, cause i want to use Visual Studio 2005 with WinMo 5!

[xbit @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

This phone gives me the hump. ;)

[Thought @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

No WiFi is a deal buster for me on this one...when will Cingular realize they are sorely lagging Verizon and Sprint in their rollout of 3G, and so in the meantime, need to compensate for that with some WiFi capable devices?

Perhaps Cingular likes seeing Verizon close the subscriber gap on them every quarter.

[Colin Fraizer @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

What Bluetooth profiles does it support? Does it do speaker-independent speech reco? Where can one find more details about this cursed phone?

[majortom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

So I got a smt5600 a bit over a month ago(so no return) and am now a existing customer under a 2 year contract. If I want to get this phone, anyone know what the cost would be?

[Rob @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Is there a place where the documentation for this phone is available online?

[Jvijil @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

too much

[royboy81 @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Good luck getting one if you already have service. I swear I don't know why I stay with these assclowns...

[Barrett @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

So, I can't find any spec sheets or pictures to confirm, but I am very curious whether or not there is a miniSD slot or not? The comments above conflict and Cingular's description omits it (which I figure they would include as a feature if it had it).

Can any provide a link or evidence that it actually has a miniSD slot?

[Orneta @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

The phone has a mini sd slot under the batery like the SMT-5600

[majortom @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

This site show Slot miniSD Yes
http://www.geekzone.co.nz/smartdevices.asp?phonemarketid=229

[nein @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

So no touch screen? How do you input text? T9?!? I'm really thinking about getting this but using T9 to enter text seems retarded.

[chopps @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

is this coming to Sprint?

[Barrett @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Hmm, I saw a picture of the 5600 and the miniSD slot is under the battery. I guess that explains why I couldn't see a slot for a card in most pictures.

[Starkenator @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

I would also like to know which bluetooth profiles are supported.

Here are some photos of the 2125.

https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/forms/blobs/retrieve.cgi?attachment_id=577341&native_or_pdf=pdf

[Ed @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

WTF? Seems that So Cal doesn't get the $100 rebate online...

[Magneto Man @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

The Specs:

- Microsoft� Windows Mobile� 5.0 Smartphone Edition
- Windows Media�Player 10 for playing music and video
- Bluetooth� connectivity for connecting wireless accessories
- 1.3 MP camera and video phone
- GPRS/EDGE High-Speed Data Access
- 850/900/1800/1900 MHz - Quad-band for international compatibility
- Large 2.2" TFT color display
- 64 MB SDRAM/64 MB Flash ROM
- Office� Mobile - Outlook�/Word�/Excel�/Explorer�
- TI OMAP 850 200MHz processor
- Pocket MSN� (Hotmail�/MSN Messenger)
- Multimedia messaging - send text, pictures and sound
- Downloadable polyphonic/full-audio ringtones, graphics and games
- Stereo audio jack for listening to music

[Magneto Man @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

...and yes... it will take a MiniSD storage card... 1Gig no problem... 2Gig cards exist now, but I've not heard if the 2125 works with them or not....

[Glenn @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

After 2 calls to Cingular, 2 visits to Cingular stores, I am questioning whether or not the phone, or even myself exists. A dime to whomever can legally procure one... Bunch of teases.

[Teddy Smith @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

After the phone showed in my zipcode (70802) I visited two Cingular stores and they had no clue what I was talking about. So I broke down and ordered one online. I got a confirmation email that said I will recieve the phone in 1 - 2 days. Yay! I'm looking forward to pairing this with my Ipaq hx4700 for edge data (already use a Nokia 3650 for GPRS data and have the unlimited $19.99 data plan). Also looking forward to syncing my 500+ Outlook contacts.

[Palm Convert @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

I just switched to Cingular from Sprint less than 2 weeks ago. I purchased the SMT 5600 for $149.00. After finding out about the 2125 I was a little upset that I missed out. I called the store and they ordered the 2125 for me and they are going to swap it out for me. I get the rebate and everything. So glad to be with Cingular, Sprint's customer service was horrible, for residential and on the business side.

[joe milford @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

who makes this phone?
cingular does not make the actual phone and it looks just like the smt5600 .. but when you go to audiovox site .. there is no such model.. i would like to see the manual on this phone ....

[kid dynomite @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

#27,

Phone is manufactured by HTC which made the SMT-5600 for Audiovox.
Cingular is doing a co-branding (Think Home Depot credit card, which is really a line of credit from Citibank on a HD logoed credit card) situation on the phone.
The Imate SP5 and SP5m are also made by HTC...so is the current Treo 650 and most of the PDA phones that are on the marketplace today...

[Jonathan @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

#27,

The phone is made by HTC - make a huge number of Windows Smartphone/Mobile devices that are rebranded by carriers like Cingular/Orange/T-Mobile. The manual *should* be available on the FCC website.

[Teddy Smith @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Ok day one and my order status at Cingular.com still says "in progess" which means it hasn't shipped yet. Great, I have a bad feeling this is going to take longer then "1 - 2 Days".

[Ash @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Are there any wifi smartphones in the market today that operate on the GSM network? I am looking to get a Linux and Microsoft devices.

[Teddy Smith @ Dec 19th 2005 12:56AM]

Ok I'll never talk bad about Cingular again (well probably). The phone arrived via Fedex Next Day on day two as promised. I haven't opened the package yet (still at work) but I'm very happy it arrived so fast especially after Cingular retail salesmen claimed this phone didn't exist just two days ago.

[Kelbin @ Dec 26th 2005 7:16PM]

I've had this phone for five days, so I'm still in the honeymoon period with it. However, I must say that it is a very good implementation of a smart phone. I have unlimited data, but I'm not finding a lot of useful things to do on the data side. OK, I can get the weather and to my corporate email (which is very handy). But I don't see a lot of sites that have useful software for windows mobile 2005, and I have yet to find a software site that knows that the Cingular 2125 exists. Bottom line, if you want a Pocket PC, you are going to be very dissapointed. If you want a smartphone, this one of the best I've ever seen. Don't worry about the lack of WiFi - ask yourself how often would you actually use WiFi in the next two years anyway. For the size of screen, EDGE is acceptable, and you don't need to go looking for a hot spot. Getting this phone was a pain because the stores didn't have it and the phone support people were clueless as to its existance. You can get it from the web site (perhpas your best bet for now). I was a former AT&T customer, so I had to do the phone route (time consuming, but I got it done).

[Mike Pope @ Dec 27th 2005 1:45PM]

Anyone have any ideas why the phone is no longer available on Cingular's website? Arg... I knew I should have ordered one as soon as they came out!

[Tom Druby @ Dec 27th 2005 7:41PM]

I thought this was too good to be true. I too, should have ordered one when it was on the site. Cannot find this phone anywhere on cingular's site now.



oh well.....

[Fuego @ Dec 28th 2005 5:50PM]

Interestingly enough, the Cingular 2125 was on Cingular's website before the holiday, and now is MIA - could it be not ready for prime time?

[Howard Shure @ Dec 29th 2005 12:00PM]

I have the 2125 and connected via bluetooth to a friend who has a razr. After successfully connecting, he tried to send me an MP3 file, but his phone kept saying service not supported. He could send it to another friend who had the ROKR, but not to me. Does this phone not support the profile for file transfer via BT?

[Mike Pope @ Dec 29th 2005 4:30PM]

I just got off the phone with Cingular. According to my business's rep, the phone is backordered and should be available again in a "week or two."



At least we know now rather then being in the dark.

[Mike POpe @ Jan 6th 2006 2:53PM]

Ok, so if you are a premier user, you can now buy the 2125. It looks like they are giving first grabs to Premier Users only...



Go here to check if you are eligable...



https://business.cingular.com/business/authenticate/link_expired.jsp;dsessionid=V02NNXNZ2ERMPB4R0ENCFFA