IntroductionYou've seen it on TV and in the movies, and you've seen it in the hands of celebrities like Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton. T-Mobile's Sidekick 3 is the favorite gadget of many on-the-go hipster, and with good reason. Built for E-Mail and instant messaging as much as for phone calls, the SK3 is a 21st Century communicator with fun design touches meant to appeal to the young - or young at heart - user. Is the Sidekick 3 a worthy upgrade to the SK II? Yes. Is it the perfect blend of cell phone, mobile Internet client, and multimedia PDA? Almost.
Design
The Sidekick 3 takes up where the SK II left off, adding features while trimming the overall size somewhat. Originally conceived and designed by Danger - a company that Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak helped to get off the ground - and now manufactured by Sharp, the SK 3 is a "hiptop" communicator that's smaller than a laptop but larger than your average cell phone. Indeed, at 5.1 x 2.3 x 0.9 inches in size and weighing close to seven ounces, the SK 3 is no lightweight. But the device's design, featuring perhaps the best QWERTY thumbboard on the market today, has already made it a hit for T-Mobile.
A 2.75" color screen dominates the front of the device. The Sidekick is meant to be held horizontally e(xcept when holding it up to one's ear during a call), and the screen displays in a landscape orientation. Flanking the screen on the left are the Menu and Jump buttons along with a directional pad. On the right of the screen you'll find the Ok and Cancel buttons, smaller buttons for Call and Hangup, and the trackball, which is new to this third version of the device. More on the trackball later, but suffice it to say it's one of the design highlights of the SK 3.
The signature feature of the Sidekick line has always been its swiveling screen. On the SK 3, pushing up on the bottom left corner of the screen flips the screen up and around 180 degrees to reveal the QWERTY board underneath. This leaves the device in a perfect position for thumb-typing, held on the sides by both hands with thumbs free to man the trackball, jump buttons, and keyboard. While owners of the Sidekick II suffered through many a cracked screen and broken swivel mechanism, design and construction improvements seem to have given rendered the SK 3 a bit sturdier. Also, the screen is now backed by a spring hinge designed to deflect some of the impact of direct hits to the display's back when it's swiveled "open" during use.
Heavy text and instant message users have always been the Sidekick's primary demographic, and they'll be happy to know that the already comfy QWERTY board has been improved since the SK 2. The keys are now constructed from hard plastic with a glossy finish, and between their domed "slanted lemon" shape and spacious layout, they form one of the best keyboards currently available on a handheld device. Typing emails, IMs, notes, and almost anything else is about as easy on the SK 3 as doing so could possibly be with two thumbs. My one complaint about the keyboard is that the delete key is a little hard to get to in its spot all the way over on the right edge of the board. Then again I do have rather large thumbs.
One big complaint about using the Sidekick 3: When calling a number not already in your Contacts list, you must swivel the display open to dial from the keyboard underneath. Once the call is being connected the display can be closed without disconnecting, and a trackball-accessible virtual keypad is displayed for navigating menus during a call (think voicemail, telephone banking, and so on). This made me wonder why Danger and T-Mobile didn't just build a "trackball dialing" option into the Phone software? Swiveling the screen open to dial and closing it back up before placing the phone to my ear quickly grew to be a pain.
The front of the Sidekick 3 is finished in silver and black glossy plastic with a single T-Mobile logo and two Sidekick logos printed so that one is always right-side up and the other upside-down no matter which way the screen is swivelled. The back panel is done up in a hard grey plastic with ridges that stop the device from accidentally spinning when placed on a flat surface. Also on the back, a silver plastic circle frames the sensor for the 1.3 Megapixel camera and accompanying light, and a sole grey button releases the cover for access to the battery, SIM, and MiniSD card slots underneath.
Along the top edge of the device are two soft keys used for various functions including shutter release on the camera. The bottom edge features a +/- rocker switch for volume control, power on/off key, and a 2.5 mm headphone jack. While the left (D-Pad) edge is button free, the right edge houses the USB port, AC adapter jack, and a connector for the included nylon tether.
When held "the long way," the device resembles an overly large candybar style phone with an earpiece built into the top of the front panel (near the D-Pad) and a microphone on the bottom (below the trackball). The SK 3 can be used in this manner for voice calls, though using either the included wired headset or a wireless Bluetooth earpiece is more comfortable for lengthy conversations.
The Sidekick 3 was definitely designed to be fun, and the overall design reflects that spirit. Despite its size, the phone is hip and flashy looking. The flashiness is highlighted by the trackball, which lights up in 10 different colors and is user-programmable to work as an alert signal for incoming calls, voicemails, emails, and so on. Additionally, the other front-panel buttons are backlight, with the Call/Hangup keys being green and red, respectively. An ambient light sensor turns backlighting on and off as needed. The QWERTY keys are not backlit.
If you're in the market for a Sidekick, then you're either looking for an all-in-one Phone/Email/IM/Web Browsing device or you've just heard it's the latest thing all the kids are talking about. People checking out the SK 3 for the latter reason may be disappointed by how large and heavy it is; this certainly isn't a phone most people are going to want to keep in their jeans pocket on a daily basis. But if you know what you're getting - let alone if you're considering upgrading from a SK 2 - you may be pleasantly surprised. This third iteration of the Sidekick is 20 percent smaller (though a tad heavier) than its predecessor, the thumbboard is better, and the trackball is an undeniable gem both for its function (it makes navigation a breeze) and form (it lights up- in colors!).
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