Ever since the
RAZR popularized the concept of thinness as a selling point for mobile phones, the industry has been flooded with dozens of copy-cat devices attempting to cash in on the trend for anorexic handsets. Until now, Windows Mobile devices have largely skipped past this fad, with the majority of said phones either being chunky candybars or wide QWERTY phones. The first of no doubt many WinMob phones to take a good stab at combining RAZR thin beauty with Windows Mobile's business practicality is the
HTC Star Trek (or
Cingular's 3125 if you prefer the numerical name). As well as looking substantially more attractive than most of its peers, the 3125 does the most important core features of a cellphone very well: for example, the 3125's long lasting battery life will go down well with potential buyers, though Cingular may have gone slightly overboard with their higher capacity cell that add a
lot of junk to the phone's trunk. The relatively low price ($149.99), vibrant internal and external displays, and great reception combined with the unparalleled design for a device of its type all point to the 3125 being a good phone. Unfortunately, as is so often the case, a number of niggles mean that the Star Trek isn't quite a
great phone. An array of outdated features like Bluetooth 1.1, USB 1.1, an average camera, and the lack of Wi-Fi, 3G UMTS, and an IR port will disappoint certain buyers. There are also a couple of notable, but relatively minor design no-nos, like the microSD slot being located underneath the SIM card, and a single proprietary data, power, and audio port awkwardly located on the side of the phone.
PC Magazine said that if you "think of the handset as a cutting-edge smartphone ... you'll probably be disappointed", with
The Unwired saying that the 3125 is "a lifestyle and fashion-device which can also attract regular mobile phone users" and
Laptop Magazine calling it "just smart enough": what we think they're trying to say is that the 3125 is a phone that will satisfy business types with an eye for design, but has a far too limited feature set to keep power users happy.
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The Unwired
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Mobility Site
posted Sep 19th 2006 12:12PM
RAZR the model which has born most of all discussions!:)
I just got this phone. It has all of the features of the 2125 (my previous device) in a much more user friendly flip-phone format. So far it is great. The proprietary port on the side is a huge nuisance, but I only use a bluetooth headset and bluetooth headphones, so doesn't really matter except for charging/syncing. The sound quality is great, it has more memory and the battery life is better (than the 2125), not to mention the media access buttons on the front are a great feature. Best of all for me, I don't have to worry about locking my keys, and having the phone bark at me when I sit down wrong and the case presses against the keys. Top that off with the rebate- free $149 price tag, you've got the best WM5 bang for your buck.
The one item all reviewers continue to miss is the lack of a good voice-dialing software.
The market this phone is pitched to are tyipcally going to have LOTs of contacts and each contact probably has more than one number.
Training a phone for number.. CRAZY
I got my 3125 five days ago. Sure, I wish it were just a little more advanced, but the phone is miles ahead of the MPx220 and the 2125 (at least I can hit the numbers on the 3125 keypad!
I wish it had the standard battery, I charge mine at my desk and rarely am away from a location where I can charge the phone. The bump in the back is annoying.
Overall, I think this is the best Smartphone on the market, hands down. Handset makers just need to sit down with people who lieve, east and breath these phones to understand that small changes could go a long way.
JIM
P.S. The MPx220 had the best voice dialing software I ever used! No training.. it worked, every time.
I am interested in this phone; however the $149 price has me a bit confused. My employer has a corp. relationship with Cingular in which we are supposed to get "great deals" on phones and discounted service.
This is what our corp. website says about this phone's pricing
Base Price - $679.99
Company Discount - $136.00
Web Discount - $394.00
Your Price - $149.99
Cingular's main site lists the retail price of $299.99 with a $150 discount with a 2yr contract.
Makes me wonder what kind of voodoo goes into pricing these phones.
I've only been with Cingular for 6 months or so, and have had my ups and downs with their customer care (more downs than ups).
#4 Chris.
I just got the 3125 through my corp site as an upgrade. It showed listed at $150 but once i added it to my cart, the price changed to $0 , as in Nada.
Just got the phone today. I like the design, very modern. Still figuring out the menu layout, so far so good.
Despite getting this phone Cingular's selection of phones still sucks to an extreme degree.
Why aren't they offering phones like the Nokia E50 or N73??
Damn,
you guys got it for free? I had to pay $150 even through my corporate discount, which is usually the best. Maybe I did it too soon.
This phone rocks, but I can't get minimo on it.
Anyone find good free software to put in it?
i'm just waiting for the day motorola makes a non-buggy MPx...:(. The functionality of that phone was amazing, but the reliability was absolutely horrendous (I had to send it back to Motorola 4 times in a year for repairs!)