AT&T Tilt 8925
March 14th, 2008 | by Mike Kobrin
Full Review - Calling, Battery and Conclusion
Calling Call quality is adequate, with clear sound and a reasonably consistent signal in New York City, which isn't one of AT&T's strong spots in our experience. The on-screen dialing pad that pops up when you hit the phone button could be a bit bigger, and response time isn't instantaneous, but this wasn't an issue since we mostly called via the contacts menu. Extras The Tilt's 3-megapixel still camera takes decent pictures, as long as there's enough light to eliminate the need for a flash. The autofocus works well and with enough speed in most conditions, and the 2.8-inch screen makes a roomy viewfinder. But the lag between shutter press and image capture makes it tough to shoot even slow-moving subjects. We like that it has plenty of on-board effects, shooting modes, and editing options. Battery One major drawback of a device with this many hardware-enabled features is battery drain. (The other, of course, is bulk.) We wiped out the battery nearly every day with normal use of email, text messaging, and calling. When we went on a trip and used the GPS and Bluetooth headset features along with some Web surfing, texting, and a few camera shots, the phone's battery was nearly empty after only half a day. This makes sense based on HTC's battery life ratings of 264 minutes of talk time for UMTS-based networks and 420 minutes for GSM networks. Luckily you can charge the phone via USB, so most in-car charging adapters will be able to juice it up while you're on the go. Conclusion Despite our minor kvetching about occasional typing difficulties, camera performance, and battery life, we really like this phone. Windows Mobile Pro 6 is an excellent platform, and HTC included every feature we could think of. Pricing is fairly competitive, too, at $299.99 USD with 2-year contract and after the $100 mail-in rebate. If you're the least bit tech savvy and want a PDA/phone with literally all the trimmings, the Tilt should be on your short list.
The full-duplex speakerphone feature works great, though the speaker's location on the bottom of the phone means the sound is muffled when the phone is sitting on a desk. AT&T's Push To Talk feature requires a subscription, and you can't use it unless you've got friends or colleagues who subscribe. But it's safe to say the sound quality is equal to that of the speakerphone.
Video capture suffers from so much motion blur as to make it virtually unusable. We tested in a well-lit classic car club in Manhattan, and all we saw were blooming and streaks unless we held the phone extremely still and objects moved very slowly or not at all. That the Tilt has video features at all, including MMS video messaging, does trump the iPhone, however.
The GPS is one of the Tilt's highlights. The very capable receiver works with various GPS apps like Windows Live Search, TeleNav, and Google Maps. We had no trouble locating ourselves and getting very good turn-by-turn directions in New York City, though it took a little longer than we'd like to reacquire the signal after going through a tunnel. You can also connect an external GPS antenna for a stronger signal.
Pros:
• Broad feature set
• Large QWERTY keyboard
• Responsive touch screen
• Screen tilts for laptop-like viewing
Cons:
• Features drain battery quickly
• Long startup time
• Still/video camera is slow
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by Jak Sanders on November 10, 2008:
“I support four of the 8525/8925 devices. They are awesome devices. They just do not work well enough or reliably enough for business. All of our phones malfunctioned and ATT replaced each at least once. Two were replaced three times each. White screen...” More...