Cingular 8125 Review

• Windows Mobile 5.0 with Word, Excel, PowerPoint software installed (read / write capability)
• Internet via wifi / or Cingular Edge / GPRS
  
• QWERTY keyboard (returned the T-mobile SDA without it)
• Wifi enabled (bluetooth, too)
  
• Cell phone as modem for my laptop (does this really work? wouldn't it be too sloooow?)
  
• Push e-mail (not quite as good as my old crackberry, but I probably have to tweak a few things)
  
• Music and video player (I also bought a 2GB miniSD card)
  
• Camera with flash and camcorder
• All the phone bells and whistles (speaker phone, voice dialing)

I've only had it for a day, but after they installed the new sim card I have had a blast trying out the features.  I had read a lot about the phone before it arrived, but there is quite a learning curve.  However, there is no question that I already know more about the phone than any of the Cingular folks trying to "help" me today.  They were really nice, but they were convinced I had a "defective device" when they couldn't get it working and almost had me return the phone. 

I am still a bit concerned about the billing for the phone and data service package.  It is certainly not cheap as configured (est. $90 / month for the phone and data)  However, with Cingular's comparatively large network, my goal is to use this as the "family" phone in both NYC and PA, so I will be canceling all other services (including Vonage which has not been a perfect solution as a "home" phone replacement, by the way).  Therefore, it should be cheaper than our current combined plans - I think :)  We've all heard / experienced cell phone bill horror stories (surprise roaming fees, text messaging overages, etc), so I have my fingers crossed that the data plan I have is truly "unlimited".  Now, I have to start thinking more about "mobile learning" possibilities.