Keeping up with Pirillo, new Smartphone in my hand

by on December 21, 2005

Damn you Chris Pirillo!

He was over last night with the ever lovely Ponzi and the ever cool and hip Liz Lawley and her family.

Anyway, as soon as he walked in he said “look at what I got today.” What?

He handed me a new Audiovox 2125 SmartPhone. Came out from Cingular yesterday.

It’s the new version of my old Audiovox phone.

First thing we did was pull a Web page up on both phones and compare them. Wow, the screen is a QVGA. Is it nice! Way sharper. Way way way way sharper. And more text too!

Oh, and now I can use the new DopplerRadio mobile podcasting software. Gonna go load that right now.

Joshua Allen, Microsoft’s first blogger is in my office (seriously, he was the first one to post a blog here at Microsoft, when I was hired at Microsoft there were already about 100 bloggers here). I just did the “keep up with Pirillo” shtick with him. “The screen is really nice,” he said, after being forced to hold it. Heheh. Another one sold!

Chris, look at what you’ve started! Oh, and if you want one in the Redmond store you better hurry. They got 150 yesterday and they are going fast (I saw five people buy them when I was there).

Update: MSMobiles has a good review on this phone.

First call was to Maryam. It’s a lot clearer. I’ll report more on it as I use it more.

  • Nice, but too small for my tastes to read/compose e-mail or browse the web. For that, I like my Jasjar.
  • Ben: that's actually what I like about this. I used to have a Blackberry and got carpal tunnel cause I typed too much on that with my thumbs. I want a device that doesn't encourage me to type on it. I also want a device that looks like a phone. And puts voice as the most important feature. But then I carry my Tablet PC everywhere I go. Reading email on this, though, is a dream.
  • Harmon
    Scoble - point your "Ponzi" link to her site. You can imagine my disappointment when I clicked on "Ponzi" and got "Pirillo"! At least as far as I know, the merger has not been completed...

    Enjoy your posts!
    Harmon
  • Harmon: I fixed that. Can you get to it? Her site looks like it's down: http://ponzarelli.com/
  • Daniel Barton
    Actually the phone is marketed as "Cingular 2125" and doesn't carry the Audiovox name. It's actually a HTC Faraday under the covers with Cingular's name on it. Cingular employees are confused by it since it's the first phone at Cingular that has only their name on it.

    You can read a review of the phone here:

    http://msmobiles.com/news.php/4691.html

    Regards, Daniel


    PS: My 2125 is on order, I hope it's at my house when I get home tonight. ;-)
  • Ian
    That phone is actually made by HTC, known as the HTC Faraday. Audiovox rebranded the older one just like Cingular is rebranding this one. I am guessing you don't read Engadget ;-)
  • Ian
    Nevermind, Mr. Barton beat me to it.
  • Cingular is probably buying it from UT Starcom, though (aka the company formerly known as Audiovox). But that's just a guess.
  • I still think my PPC-6700 is better. It's bigger, but it has a bigger screen (better for video) - the same functionality of the Smartphone, and the option to slide out the awesome keyboard.

    But most of all, it's got a better network. Cingular's puny 35Kbps GPRS or even their "high-speed" EDGE network are nothing compared to the 500Kbps network I get everywhere (or 120Kbps fallback I get in the boonies) with Sprint.
  • Brandon: better network is something I'm interested in. Bigger phone, not. Lots of people here have big PocketPC phones. I don't like 'em.
  • Argh, I was just at Cingular in downtown Seattle yesterday and they claimed there weren't getting Windows Mobile 5.0 phones until February 06. Brandon - I'm getting about 600Kbps on my Cingular BroadbandConnect account.
  • Jake: they obviously don't know. They are in stock now.
  • I just use my phone for email, no one ever calls me. :( So I need a keyboard.
  • Christopher Coulter
    Well wow, a great market for Seattle-area MFST employees, but well nil for rest of world. I mean, with Nokia E and N series (N 71 wow), Motorola E815 and i870, Samsung T809, LG VX-8100...and so on and so forth.
  • murph
    It is, amongst other things, the Orange SPV C600 on this side of the Atlantic - and in the absence of this http://www.utstar.com/pcd/view_phone_details.as... on Orange (the idiots decided not to offer it in the UK despite everyone else doing so) - and assuming we don't change operator (to one that does) - I'm looking forward to getting the C600 in the new year!
  • If all I need is a phone, then Windows Mobile is a waste of resources.

    If I need more than a phone, then things like this phone or the earlier SMT models are useless.

    The PPC-6601 spanks this phone like a bratty child, and works MUCH better with my Mac than any of the wee Smartphones. God love Apple's OS Bluetooth integration and Mark/Space.
  • John: thankfully not many people are like you.

    Chris: I saw the Nokia's over in Europe (remember, I was hanging out with their model blogger). I don't agree with you, but most people will just buy a Nokia, so you probably are right. The fonts on mine are far more readable, the features, especially corporate email, are superior.
  • Harmon
    Scoble - Ponzi's link is working fine now, thanks!
  • Yeah Robert, heaven forbid they want a good Windows Mobile phone with a decent keyboard, a big beautiful screen, great battery life, and enough room for receive circuitry that works underground in an 80-year old Granite & Steel building.

    Woohoo, small phones with wee batteries, tiny screens, and crappy receive circuitry RULE!!!
  • Christopher Coulter
    Who wants to carry around a PDA as a phone tho? Differing strokes, for differing folks. Some want a voice phone, others want a Blackberry, other's want a phone as phone with some smartish features. That's all subjective. No right answer.

    My point was when you look at the wide-open playing field of phones, from Symbian on down, the MFST Windows Mobile phones have but an adoption rate of extreme edge markets, mainly in the Seattle area, kinda like Tablet PCs. ;)
  • Still very leery of any phone with MS Software on it. I remember the first Motorola smartphones required daily resets. Just not into rebooting my phone to get it working. Have a good friend with the older Audiovox model and it was pretty cool except still would hang occasionally. Even once a week is too much.

    Sticking with my Moto 815. No rebooting/resetting needed and puts voice first. And Verizon has coverage from my house. Have you seen the latest Consumer Reports review of cell carriers?
  • Brett: so far this phone is a lot better than my old one. Much better voice quality. Much better reception (works in places my old phone didn't). 4x better screen. Better buttons and controls too. Hasn't crashed yet, but your experience might vary. I'll talk with Ford Davidson and see if we can't get you one, cause having it a couple of weeks will sure make a believer out of you.
  • Daniel Barton
    Unfortunately the 2125 I ordered from Cingular is back-ordered. Cingular has a hot phone here and it's already harder to get than an XBOX 360!

    Regards, Daniel
  • murph
    Christopher - I'm not sure you're right there, I got my C500 in the expectation that it would be a toy rather than a decent phone and I was very surprised by just how good a phone it is and its good enough at the PDA type stuff that I don't carry a PDA around.

    However the limitations of /not/ having a PDA are such that if a slightly larger lump gets me one device to carry round that includes a WiFi speaking PDA then that would be worthwhile for me - but not for either of my bosses for whom the C500 has been ideal for the past year.

    One size doesn't fit all.
  • Daniel: that's what happens when they get Scobleized! And, it's not just Microsofties buying them this time around either. This is one hell of a phone. I haven't found something wrong with it yet.
  • Daniel Barton
    Sorry Scoble, but this phone was hot before you got your hands on it. I ordered mine a week ago. I've been waiting for it ever since Microsoft demoed it to me at a tradeshow back in October.

    The real problem is that very few Cingular stores are stocking them. Most want to sell out their existing inventory before they add the new models, so the only place you could get it was online or by calling Cingular.

    Of course now that you let the cat out of the bag everyone else will want one too. I just wish they'd wait until mine arrives! :-)

    Regards, Daniel
  • Roger Wilson
    Don't know if anyone else has noticed but the Cingular web site no longer lists the Audiovox/Cingular 2125. I saw it on line 12/22, but as of today it isn't listed. :-(
  • Daniel Barton
    Also HTC has launched their USA web site:

    http://www.htcamerica.net

    It includes the latest software image for the 2125.

    Regards, Daniel
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