There is a keyboard built into the Sidekick II. Incidentally, incoming calls and alerts are accompanied by some of the most garish flashing lights I’ve ever seen that illuminate the navigation button. The top and bottom edges offer a few more buttons sitting along rubberised strips, including the power toggle, two of which have application specific functions and volume control which at the quiet end send you to vibrate and then finally silent mode. On the screen’s left are two more buttons and a navigation pad.
The wheel is used for moving through menus in the various built in applications, and does its job very well indeed. On its right sit two large buttons and a wheel flanked by Call and End buttons. The screen is a not too wonderful but serviceable 60 x 40mm, 240 x 160 pixel, 65k colour TFT, and it faces outermost. In most of its incarnations the Sidekick II is designed to be used in wide format, held between two hands.
#Sidekick tmobil software#
Let’s look at the other side of the coin, and see what is good about it.įirst off the hardware and software are very well married, and the hardware is a brilliant piece of design. Now all this sounds a bit negative, but it does make clear some of the reasons I don’t like the Sidekick II. There is 16MB of internal memory and no way for you to augment this using flash memory as, for all its bulky size, there is no housing for a flash memory slot. But they can’t have it with the Sidekick II, which has no facilities for music playback built in.Įven if it did have, you’d have trouble getting enough music in the thing to keep you happy. Why, you are thinking, is the earbud provided mono and not stereo? The Sidekick II is aimed at a younger market, the kind that likes its music. You could opt for the mono earbud which comes in the box if you like, though.
#Sidekick tmobil Bluetooth#
Sure, voice calls are technically possible, but the Sidekick II feels like a brick to hold to your ear, and as it lacks Bluetooth you can’t use a wireless headset instead. Making voice calls isn’t at the top of the list. The fact that it looks like a game console is related to the various uses for which the Sidekick II is designed, mostly messaging and entertainment. It measures 129 x 66 x 23mm, and weighs 198g. Size-wise you are going to need a spacious pocket to accommodate this device. When you see one as you walk by a T-Mobile store (the company has the Sidekick II exclusively), you will be struck by two things: it looks a whole lot more like a games console than a phone, and it is big. Then again, I guess being undecided is actually having an opinion, and the reality is that my view is more complex than simply ‘I don’t know’, because there are elements I really like about the Sidekick II, and elements I don’t. This is not something we reviewers like to admit to very feely. Both times I’ve played with this kit I have been unable to decide whether I like it or not.
I’ve only had the model I am reviewing for a couple of weeks, but a while ago, and long before the UK launch, the American company behind it, Danger, loaned me a unit for a few months. I’ve spent several months with the Sidekick II one way or another.
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