Cingular has hit the U.S. market with what it says is the first 3G PDA using UMTS and HSDPA networks. It’s the 8525 Pocket PC, a broadband device whose connection speeds approach 1 MBps, which is ideal for streaming video and other bandwidth-hogging transmissions.

Users can talk on the phone while surfing or checking email (which is direct push, of course), which approaches the home broadband experience. The slide-out QWERTY keyboard has rather large keys, which will no doubt be a hit with the bigger-thumbed crowd. The 8525 Pocket PC has two cameras, one exclusively for video calls.

The OS is Windows Mobile 5.0, but the global roaming ability is the main selling point. It even switches to EDGE when you leave a 3G coverage area. And it can connect to a laptop to provide wireless Internet.