And finally, the keyboard slides out from the left, as in Figure D.

FIGURE D


The Cingular 8525's slide-out keyboard. Roll over picture for a larger image.

On the right side are the Power button, the Comm Manager button (which is programmable), and the Camera button (also programmable), all seen below in Figure E.

FIGURE E


The right side of the 8525. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The bottom of the 8525 has quite a bit going on. The USB port for charging, syncing, and plugging in the headphones is located here, as is the Reset button, the Ir port, and the lock for the battery cover. On the right side of the bottom is the Stylus well, and an attachment for a lanyard is on the left, as you can see Figure F.

FIGURE F


The bottom of the Cingular 8525. Roll over picture for a larger image.

As you can see in Figure G, the top, amazingly, has nothing.

FIGURE G


The top of the 8525 is bare. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The back is where you'll find the 2MP camera, its flash, the self-portrait mirror, the system speaker, the battery cover, and the external antenna plug. Figure H shows all these features.

FIGURE H


The back of the Cingular 8525. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The front, of course, is where the action takes place, and where you'll find the most features. You have your basic 5-way Navigator, the two phone buttons, the two hardware-soft key buttons, the Start Menu button, and an OK button. Up top, on either side of the phone speaker, are the Messaging and IE buttons, shown in Figure I.

FIGURE I


All the action is on the front of the 8525. Roll over picture for a larger image.

The software
Seeing as how the Cingular 8525 is much more than just a phone, a full-fledged computer in fact, it comes with a full suite of pre-installed software.

For the mobile office warrior, there are Pocket versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and Outlook, as well as Clearview PDF. The media freak will enjoy Windows Media Player, and the mobile Web hound will find Pocket Internet Explorer. Several other applications, such as Telenav GPS, MobiTV, and Cingular's XPress Mail are included as well.

Comparison
Let's see how the 8525 compares to some other devices on the market. Physically, its dimensions are virtually identical to its predecessor the 8125 and the Verizon XV6700. As you can see in Figure J, all three are themselves significantly smaller than the Palm LifeDrive.

FIGURE J


The LifeDrive is a giant next to these phone devices. Roll over picture for a larger image.

All three of these Pocket PC phones feature a slide-out keyboard, the same 2.8-inch QVGA screen, 128MB of ROM, 64MB of RAM, an expansion slot, and all three run Windows Mobile 5. In fact, it would not surprise me one bit to learn they are all built on the same basic framework. Underneath the hood is where you'll find the difference, though.