Cingular 8525 HSDPA Phone Edition officially announced

My coworker has been bugging me at least once a week about the release of the Cingular 8525 after I directed him to my review of the HTC TyTN. I can finally tell him that Cingular has officially announced the device with availability scheduled for November 16th. This US version of the HTC Hermes platform boasts an HSDPA/UMTS radio that makes it the first Phone Edition device in the US running on a GSM network with a wireless broadband experience. Download speeds should run between 400 to 700 Kbps most of the time with some faster speeds occasionally occuring. The device drops to EDGE in areas where HSDPA is not yet rolled out on the network. The great thing about this device is that you can also use it in foreign countries on their 3G networks.

Other specs on the device included 802.11 b/g and Bluetooth 2.0 radios, Windows Mobile 5.0 with Direct Push support, slide out QWERTY keyboard, microSD card slot and a 2 megapixel camera. There will also be the Cingular 8500 without the camera for those business customers who cannot have cameras on their devices. You should be able to pick one up next week for US$399.99 with activation and a two-year contract. This kind of device really has me considering Cingular as a provider since T-Mobile is lagging so far behind in rolling out their 3G network and devices.