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One of AT&T's most popular and powerful smartphones is the Cingular 8525, recently re-branded the AT&T 8525. Recent reports indicate this Pocket PC Phone may soon be replaced by a model called the AT&T 8925, which is supposedly based on original design manufacturer HTC's Kaiser design.

While the AT&T 8925 should look a lot like its predecessor—tablet design, full slider keyboard, 2.8-inch 240 x 320 pixel resolution touch display—there will be a number of improvements.

For example, when you slide the keyboard out from underneath the screen, you'll be able to tilt the screen up laptop style (see top image). It'll also ship with Microsoft's latest mobile platform, Windows Mobile 6. So instead of being labeled a Pocket PC Phone like the AT&T 8525, it'll be called a Windows Mobile Professional device. (See links below for more what the new operating system brings to the table.)

Additional features in the loaded AT&T 8925—a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE phone with UMTS/HSDPA 3G networking support—include GPS, a 2.8 megapixel camera, 400MHZ CPU, a Windows Mobile 6-friendly 128MB of RAM, 256MB of ROM, a microSD slot, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, USB 2.0, and high-capacity 1500mAH battery.

Rumor has it the AT&T 8925 may be released as soon as next month

AT&T 8525 Platform Upgrade
As for its predecessor, the AT&T 8525, a promised ROM upgrade to deliver Windows Mobile 6 to the smartphone, up from its current platform, version of 5 of the operating system, could hit the streets at any moment.

However, if you’re daring enough to give it a try, what may or may not be the official version of this upgrade is already available, thanks to the folks over at XDA-developers forums.


                  AT&T 8525

You see, this upgrade, branded AT&T, is posted up on that Web site. However, it could be a modified version of the Windows Mobile 6 update already available to users of the European edition of the HTC TyTn, which is basically the same Pocket PC Phone as the AT&T 8525—both devices are built upon HTC's Hermes design.

Even with out Windows Mobile 6, AT&T has already updated the 8525 considerably through a firmware update; available as a download to Cingular 8525 users and pre-installed on the AT&T-branded edition. Most significantly, this upgrade added support for the carrier's Push to Talk (PTT) service and its latest multimedia offerings.