Tech Throwback: The HTC 8125

I like to take a look at where I’ve been to evaluate where Im going. Technology is cyclical after all… wait no its not. That said I still like all the feels that come rushing back like a flood of nostalgia every time I get my hand on the tech I grew up with. Im going to go back periodically and take a looking at the stuff that used to blow our hair back and get our minds rolling. Some of these device blew up and changed the world, some where ahead of their time and some just fell flat and became colossal failures. Today I’m powering up the HTC 8125 first commercial pocket PC and phone

The HTC 8125  is an Internet-enabled Windows Mobile Pocket PC PDA designed and marketed by High Tech Computer Corporation of Taiwan. It has a touchscreen with a left-side slide-out QWERTY keyboard. The 8125’s functions include those of a camera phone and a portable media player in addition to text messaging and multimedia messaging. It also offers Internet services including e-mail (including Microsoft’s DirectPush push e-mail solution, as well as BlackBerry services with applications provided by BlackBerry-partnered carriers), instant messaging, web browsing, and local Wi-Fi connectivity. It is a quad-band GSM phone with GPRS, and EDGE, and a single/dual band UMTS phone with HSDPA. It is a part of the first line of PDAs directly marketed and sold by HTC.

Reintroducing

Cingular’s 8125 has the right idea when it comes to hardware and software specs. But this hybrid PDA/cell phone’s design and usability disappoint.

The thing that blew my mind 13 years ago is the 8125 is its built-in Wi-Fi. The device’s side panel includes a shortcut button that launches an on-screen Communication Manager menu. From here, you can enable or disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, PC Sync, and even the phone. I also liked how easy it was to set up the 8125 to access IMAP, POP3, and Microsoft Exchange e-mail accounts.

When the keyboard is stowed away, the 8125 is chunky–and its thickness made it awkward to use for phone calls. In my hands-on trials, I could easily adjust call volume, thanks in large part to the tactile volume control on the side panel, but at times I couldn’t hear the person on the other end. Several people I called told me that I sounded far away

The Final Thought

This was the first Smartphone on the market, It was the first smartphone I owned. It was slow and unresponsive, but I had internet at a dial up speed anywhere I went. The sight and thought of its potential blew people mind and opened conversations. Once this phone was release mankind was off to the races. Thank you HTC for picking up where the newton fell and setting up the future.