Side Kick 3 Go get it

[sdteam 0]

For years the Sidekick (or Hiptop for users not on T-Mobile) has been the it phone of the socialites from rich Hollywood stars to the local high school basketball star. The Sidekick put always-on push email, web browsing, instant messaging and yes, clunky voice calling in the hands of people who needed to be connected but didn't have corporate needs or corporate budgets.
The Sidekick 3 offers all of the same functionality and ease of use that the first two models are known for, only now Danger and T-Mobile have packed it in a sleeker, faster package. The handset is finally small enough to fit comfortably in a pocket or be held in the hand during a call. With the addition of Bluetooth, it's no longer necessary to even hold the Sidekick during a call.

The Sidekick has also been updated with a 1.3 Megapixel camera and music player. Between these updates and the upgrade to faster EDGE data, the Sidekick 3 is now on-par with most other mid-range handsets it competes against. If you prefer texting, email and IM over phone calls the Sidekick 3 is still one of the best choices for people who don't run a Blackberry server. But now it's a good phone for people who want all that and talk on the phone too. By the measurements alone, the Sidekick 3 doesn't seem that much smaller than the previous version. But looking at the devices side-by-side, it's obvious the new version is much smaller. It is narrower, which makes it more comfortable to hold as a phone than the previous version. It is also slightly thinner at the edges and more sleekly shaped, which helps it to slide into pockets better.

The Sidekick is almost always used horizontally, even if you're not using the keyboard. The screen is always oriented that way, and so that is how the device was designed to feel best in your hand. The sides where the navigation buttons and controls are, have been slimmed down and further tapered. This makes gripping the Sidekick easier.

The edges at the top and bottom (or what become the sides when holding the Sidekick to talk on it) no longer sport rubber bumper and now have a curved channel running down them. Your index fingers sit comfortably in this channel when holding the Sidekick normally, and they also make it easier to grip when holding it as a phone. However when holding it as a phone, the hard edges of these channels can become uncomfortable, especially on the thumb.

Other than the trackball, the navigation keys are now flush with the front surface of the phone, as is the screen. Although the buttons look like they are fixed and work by conduction, all the buttons do, in fact, press in.

We're not sure if it's because the screen is now flush with the phone or because of some other reason, but it no longer swings open as smoothly as on past models. It also only opens when pressed from the top right, flipping it up from the bottom left corner does not work anymore.

The other big change to the navigation buttons is the replacement of the 2-way scroll wheel with a multi-directional trackball. In addition to enhancing navigation, the trackball takes over light duties from the D-pad. The trackball is very easy to use, and you adapt to it very quickly. It makes most tasks quicker, from navigation to editing. So far it is under-used in games- we wish that the Sidekick 3 would have shipped with a Missle Command or Centipede remake instead of the usual Rock-n-Rocket Asteroids clone.

Keyboard

It is a shame to say, but the Sidekick II is still the king of QWERTY keyboards; not even the 3 can compete. The 3 features the exact same key layout, which is still one of the best around, but the keys themselves have changed. Gone are the large rubber-coated keys, replaced by hard shiny plastic keys. The keys have a slightly convex surface and are very slippery, which affected the accuracy of our typing, but not nearly as much as keys on the Q. Still, we can type with nearly 100% accuracy on the Sidekick II and only right about about 90-95% of the time when using the 3.

In addition to retaining an excellent keyboard layout, the 3 retains excellent usability. Holding the Sidekick with both hands wrapped around the sides, the keyboard is at an excellent depth for thumb typing and each key is large enough to hit without fear of mashing surrounding keys. The Sidekick keyboard is also one of the few with a full row of numeric keys, which makes things like entering phone numbers much easier.

i love this phone but it has issues with new zeland hahahahaha

[note=truefusion]http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/]
Edited March 17, 2007 by truefusion (see edit history)

[ArmenianPilot 0]

i love this phone but it has issues with new zeland hahahahaha
[note=truefusion]http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/]

They all say it's a nice phone, but personally, I don't like it that much.

[tonydatiger 0]

Its pretty amazing. I've been posting about it here in a couple topics. I'm telling you people, if the Hiptop comes to your country, get it! Once you go Hiptop you never go back. Its now available in Australia and its been available in such countries as Canada, UK, Germany, and many others.