T-MOBILE SIDEKICK 2008

Customization over Quality?




The Sidekick 2008 is a fashion item and an expression of identify, not a geeky toy. Its choice of customizable, interchangeable skins is its best feature. The designs are panted directly onto the Sidekick's body, an effect that looks classier, feels smoother, and is much more durable than a sticker.


At 4.7 by 2.3 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and 53 ounces, this Sidekick is a slimmer version of the Sidekick LX. The 2008 version retains the signatures swiveling screen, now a bright 240-by-400-pixel color panel. The trackball, on the right, pulses in multiple colors, and the backlit keyboard is an absolute joy, with firm, nicely spaced keys.

The Sidekick is a terrifict gadget for texting, picture messaging, and IM. The IM client supports AIM, Microsoft Live, and Yahoo! Messenger. E-mail performance is a mixed bag. The Sidekick does push messages from its own TMail account and can check up to three accounts, but it stores only a paltry 6MB of e-mail and 100 text messages. Web browsing is mediocre, but the elegant music player supports a good selection of formats. The photos from its 2-megapixel camera were lackluster, and video was shaky.

As a quad-band EDGE world phone, the Sidekick 2008 has decent all quality, but reception was so-so. If you're set on Sidekick, this is the one to get. But consider whether presonalized skins make up for the tiny mailboxes.-Sascha Segan

PC Magazine November 2008