Taking a cue from Darius Wey at Pocket PC Thoughts, I'm including results from Spb Software House's Benchmark tests to show how the 8525 measures up to other devices. I have to thank Darius for providing me with the Benchmark files from the Dell Axims and the E-TEN Glofiish M700. The following figures detail the results of those Benchmark tests. Starting in Figure K is the overall Benchmark Index, which reflects the overall performance of the hardware. All test values are normalized to the Compaq iPAQ 3650 index values.

FIGURE K

The Benchmark Index test. Click picture for a larger image.

Figure L shows the results of the Platform Benchmark, and reflects the performance of the operating system on the device.

FIGURE L

The Platform Benchmark results. Click picture for a larger image.

Figure M details the CPU Benchmark test, which measures the performance of the processor, testing both integer and floating-point operations.

FIGURE M

CPU Benchmark. Click picture for a larger image.

Figure N shows the Graphics Benchmark. This reflects the performance of the video system.

FIGURE N

The Graphics Benchmark. Click picture for a larger image.

The File System Benchmark in Figure O measures the performance of the internal file system. These results are not affected by a storage card or the amount of memory, only the speed at which files are manipulated.

FIGURE O

The File System Benchmark. Click picture for a larger image.

The Storage Card test in Figure P is just like the File System test, except it measures the storage card system.

FIGURE P

The Storage Card Benchmark. Click picture for a larger image.

Figure Q details the results of the Internet Explorer Benchmark, measuring the time required to open IE and load a 260kb HTML page.

FIGURE Q

The IE Benchmark test. Click picture for a larger image.

And finally, the Battery Benchmark. The results in Figure R show the battery life from a "Normal" usage and a "High" usage test.

FIGURE R

The Battery Life Benchmark results. Click picture for a larger image.

The Battery Benchmark only shows results from the Cingular 8525 itself, because its expected performance is the most important. I was amazed at how long of a life the battery had.

The "Normal" test sets the backlight to maximum and periodically opens Pocket Word, loads a document, then closes Pocket Word to simulate normal usage. The test is run until the battery is dead.

The "Maximum" test measures battery life by setting the backlight to maximum and continuously plays a video in Windows Media Player until the battery is completely dead.

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The Cingular 8525 is nothing short of a first-class handheld. The battery life is simply amazing, as shown in the results above. And I get a stronger signal with Cingular's GSM network than I ever did with Verizon. Although I was quite satisfied with their service, I've experienced nowhere near the number of dropped calls on Cingular.

The 8525 is a superb update to the 8125. It doubles the processor speed, increases the camera resolution, adds the Jog dial popular with Blackberry users, keeps the slide-out keyboard, and adds Push to Talk. The memory remains the same as the 8125, though. I would have thought an upgrade in that area likely as well.