If you’re looking for another reason to buy the Cingular 8525 announced today, the carrier is hoping you’ll go for their TeleNav GPS service, which debuts simultaneously with the 8525. Using a Bluetooth GPS receiver and the subscription-based TeleNav service, your 8525 gives you precise instructions using up-to-date maps from the Cingular database.
Currently the Cingular TeleNav service costs $9.99 a month for unlimited routes or $5.99 for 10 routes.
Press Release [Cingular]
It’s a funny old day for Cingular – they get to ride the crest of the publicity wave with two announcements, one intentional and one not. The former is of course the official launch of the 8525 smartphone, while the latter concerns this leaked rebate form detailing just what deals will be available in the run-up to the new year.
As you can see, not only will the Treo 680 be on-sale before 2006 is out, so will the Treo 750 which runs Windows Mobile 5.0 instead of the Palm OS. The Samsung i320, here named Blackjack, will also be a potential addition to your Christmas stocking.
Like water-jigging silk-shirt-wearing Dance-Lord Michael Flatley, the Cingular 8525 finally breaks cover and sashays into the marketplace. With the grace that only a fairly chubby Windows Mobile 5.0 smartphone with slide-out keyboard and 3G HSDPA wireless data connectivity can possess, it twirls and preens, offering itself to our greedy eyes for a mere $399 and the promise of a two year contract.
Yep, that’s a hand, and in it is a Cingular SYNC, so I guess this must be a hands-on, mustn’t it. The glad-rag wearing gadabouts over at Engadget Mobile have managed to persuade some poor Cingular rep to let them stroke, fondle and generally interfere with the Samsung-made handset, which currently leads the pack of the carrier’s Mobile Music service. Check out the further photo after the cut, as well as a possible problem.
Cellphone manufacturers would like you to think that their handsets are more than adequate replacements for your iPod – after all, they not only play music but you can make calls, too! Yet up until now the carriers have been pretty draconian with how you use their data network, potentially the music-phone’s primary distinguishing factor. Buying and downloading a song without needing to turn on your PC is the dream; expensive, poor-quality and over-DRM’ed has been the reality. Can Cingular change all that?
God bless leaked presentations. Thanks to what we can only assume is a careless marketing bod, a Cingular smartphone presentation reveals that the Treo 680 is provisionally due for release on November 5th, with a list price of $424.99 that drops sharply towards the $200 mark depending on how willing you are to sell your cellphone-soul. Details after the cut, people.
It’s a great day for TeleNav and Cingular. The two companies just announced the roll out of the TeleNav GPS navigation service. It’s real-time, turn-by-turn voice and on-screen navigation system cost an additional $9.99 per month for unlimited trips while the $5.99 plan only gets you 10 trips. The service does require Cingular data plan. This isn’t a bad deal since a decent GPS device ranges from $300 to $800+.
Speaking of GPS enabled devices; Cingular also launched the brand new iPAQ hw6920 smartphone, featuring EDGE, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Its got a nice 3-inch screen while the 1-megapixel camera should have been left out all together – shame on you HP. The hw6920 is on the more expensive end priced at $599. Ouch.
After the launch of the Palm Treo 680 (Oi, you at the back, stop chanting “poor man’s 750v”!) one of the big unanswered questions was which of the big US carriers would actually start selling it. Well, the question is answered thanks to a leaked internal document that Engadget got their hands on, and wow-what-a-surprise-who-would’ve-guessed-that you’ll be signing up with Cingular if you want some Palm OS QWERTY goodness.
Treo 680 Headed to Cingular [Engadget]
All those articles proclaiming the death of the PDA are looking to be correct – the choice of Smartphones that connect via cellphone networks just gets bigger and bigger. Soon to join the party is HTC’s Excalibur, which will be launched by T-Mobile USA on October 10th as the Dash.
Apple’s iPhone is one of the most anticipated phones this year, and now we have more rumors to fuse it into your head. The new rumor is Cingular will be the first service carrier to use iPhone. Apple has given Cingular exclusive rights on iPhone distribution for at least six months after its announcement of the phone. I just hope the phone also goes on sale as an unlocked phone, so I can get one myself when it launches.
Cingular Exclusive on Apple iPhone? [via gizmodo]
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