The AT&T Tilt Smart Phone

Slider phones have become increasingly popular; but until now, they've been limited to handheld devices that are best used in two hands. That changes with AT&T's newest Windows Mobile device, which you can either hold in your hands or rest comfortably on a surface.

The aptly named AT&T Tilt (also known as the HTC 8925) has a hinged display designed to accommodate various viewing scenarios. When open, the roomy adjustable screen gives the phone the look of a a tiny laptop, complementing the phone's use for computing or entertainment. (The phone costs $400 when purchased along with a two-year contract from AT&T; unlimited data plans are priced at $45 a month.)

Good design isn't the only thing the Tilt has going for it. It's also AT&T's first Windows Mobile 6 device. And it's a quad-band GSM world phone compatible with EDGE/GPRS and with high-speed 3G UMTS and HSDPA broadband networks. This makes it a great phone for travelers, especially if they can take advantage of high-speed networks.

Specs

The device has slimmed down ever so slightly from its predecessor, the Cingular 8525: It still measures 4.4 inches long by 2.3 inches wide, but the product's maker, HTC, scaled down its depth by nearly 0.2 inch and its weight by 0.2 ounce (to exactly 6 ounces). It also has double the ROM (256MB) and double the memory (128MB). The display remains the same--a generous 2.8 inches, with 320 by 240 resolution and 64,000 colors. The processor is still 400 MHz, too, but now the unit uses a Qualcomm MSM7200 instead of a Samsung CPU.

The new phone is rated by AT&T to support up to 4 hours of talk time and up to 8 days of standby time. Our battery tests are pending, and we'll update this review with a full rating once those tests are completed.

Let's Tilt

Though HTC is a popular manufacturer of other Windows Mobile devices, the Tilt's subtle and not-so-subtle design improvements--including the tilting screen--help distinguish it from the rest of the pack. The AT&T Tilt's spring-loaded screen feels slightly sturdier than the screen on the T-Mobile Wing, another HTC slider phone of similar size. The tilting hinge appears to be relatively strong