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Best sidekick phone8/9/2023 ![]() You can customize both the Lock screen and the Jump key with shortcuts, so you can quickly access whatever apps and programs you need. Its surface area isn’t large enough to use comfortably as the main method of navigation, and its response time seemed a bit slow. I had a hard time getting the hang of the optical mouse, however. It took me just a second to get a grip on where these various hardware buttons are located: The Home button is in the upper-left corner and the Jump key sits below it, while Menu and Back are on the right side in the upper and lower corners, respectively. If you remember the older Sidekicks, you might recall the Jump Key, which takes you to a list of your favorite programs you can customize the list to taste (see “New Sidekick OS” below). The Sidekick shakes up the standard Android hardware keys by adding a Jump Key rather than a Search key (in addition to Home, Back, and Menu, of course). In addition to the keyboard and the touch display, the phone sports a handful of hardware keys and an optical mouse. It isn’t the most high-res display, but video and pictures looked sharp and animations moved smoothly. The 3.5-inch, WVGA, 800-by-480-pixel display was pretty responsive and showcased the user interface nicely. My colleague with larger hands disagreed, however, and said that he liked the keyboard. I was able to bang out a long message pretty quickly with few errors, but I also felt as if my fingers were stretching a bit to reach the keys. On the downside, the keys are a bit undersized and a little too spaced out for my small hands. The keys are raised, have a satisfying click to them, and feel nice against your fingers. Thankfully, the Sidekick 4G’s keyboard is pretty good. Most important thing first: The Sidekick wouldn’t be a Sidekick without an excellent physical keyboard. Everything we know and love about the Sidekick is still there, but I wish Samsung had baked in enhancements in a few areas other than just design and data speeds. Did Samsung succeed in reviving the Sidekick brand? For the most part, I think it did. As a former Sidekick LX user (and honestly, I kind of miss good physical keyboards), I was excited to check out Samsung’s spin on this legendary phone. The T-Mobile Sidekick has returned ($80 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile available April 20, 2011), and this time it has 4G speeds. It certainly won't be everyone's cup of tea, but the hipper, slightly flashier UI seems appropriate for the Sidekick.It’s baaack. It uses the Samsung TouchWiz user interface but the company has done even more tweaking on top of TouchWiz, including changes to the lock screen, menu shortcuts, and wallpaper. Running Android 2.2, the experience on the Sidekick 4G isn't typical of other Android phones. What about the move to Android? Overall, we think it was a good move and probably the right move. It retains the five-row keyboard with a dedicated number keys, and though the buttons might look small at first glance, the layout is so spacious that it was really easy to use. Of course, one of the greatest things about the previous Sidekicks is the excellent keyboard, and we're happy to report that this tradition continues with the Sidekick 4G. We'll need more time with the device to really determine whether the hinge is sturdy or not. It requires a decent push, and we were worried that we might break the hinge. ![]() That said, we were a little apprehensive when trying to push the screen back down. The screen also doesn't rock back and forth when closed, which is something we've seen with other slider phones. Sliding the phone open was generally easy, and the screen securely locks into place at a slight angle, so it's easier to see when you're using the keyboard. Instead, the Sidekick 4G has a slider design with a spring-loaded hinge. One aspect of the old Sidekick you won't find here is the swiveling screen. You do get the four navigation buttons along each corner of the phone, and the jump key allows you to multitask easily. The 3.5-inch WVGA display looks sharp and bright, and the addition of the touch screen makes interacting with the phone much easier, since you don't have to scroll around the menus using the trackball. It doesn't feel quite as substantial as the later Sidekicks, such as the Sidekick LX 2009, but it still feels solid. ![]() In the hand, the smartphone feels lightweight. Samsung has done a nice job of combining the old with the new, so it still feels like you're using a Sidekick while also getting something fresh. We got a chance to get hands-on with one here at CTIA 2011, and we like what we're seeing from the revamped T-Mobile Sidekick. ![]()
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