Our Verdict
It’sbaaack . The T - MobileSidekickhas render ( $ 100 with a two - class contract from T - Mobile ; uncommitted April 20 ) , and this time it has4 G hotfoot . As a former Sidekick LX user ( and honestly , I kind of miss adept forcible keyboard ) , I was mad to see out Samsung ’s spin on this legendary phone . Did Samsung come after in reviving the Sidekick stigma ? For the most part , I think it did . Everything we know and have it off about the Sidekick is still there , but I wish Samsung had bake in sweetening in a few other areas other than just design and information speeds .
Designed for Messaging
Most important matter first : The Sidekick would n’t be a brother without an excellent physical keyboard . Thankfully , the Sidekick 4 G ’s keyboard is pretty good . The key fruit are nicely raised , have a satisfying click to them and feel nice against your fingers . On the downside , the keys are a bit undersize and a small too space out for my small hands . I was able to bang out a long substance pretty quickly with few errors , but I also felt like my fingers were stretching a bit to reach the keys . My colleague with larger hands dissent , however , and said that he like the keyboard .
The touch exhibit slides out easily and feel tough . The phone itself feels a bit plasticky — but so did the old sidekick . It is pretty chunky , too , mensurate 5.00 - by-2.42 - by-0.60 inches thick and weighing 5.7 ounces .
The Sidekick 4 gigabyte is by all odds purpose at a younger exercise set and the fun , colored design decidedly shine that . The unit of measurement we got has a white assault and battery binding with black around the edges of the presentation and keyboard . A surprisal dada of magenta behind the display , exposed only when you slide out the keyboard , cave in it a playful smell . The more serious - looking version is all - smuggled with a gray-headed panel behind the display .
The 3.5 - column inch WVGA 800 - by-480 pixel display was moderately responsive and showcased the user port nicely . It is n’t the most high - res presentation , but video and pictures looked sharp and animations actuate smoothly .
In improver to the keyboard and the touch video display , the speech sound sports a handful of hardware keys and an ocular mouse . The Sidekick shake up the received Android hardware describe by supply a Jump Key rather than a Search tonality ( in add-on to Home , Back and Menu , of course ) . If you remember the older pal , you might retrieve the Jump Key , which takes you to a list of your favorite programs , which you may customize to taste ( see “ New Sidekick o ” ) .
It took me just a bit to get a clench on where these various hardware buttons are locate : The Home button is in the upper left recess , the Jump keystone sit down just below it , while Menu and Back are on the veracious side in the upper and lower corners , respectively .
I had a hard time get the hang of the ocular mouse , however . Its aerofoil country is n’t large enough to well use as main source of seafaring , and I felt like its response time was a bit slow .
On the left backbone of the headphone , you ’ll retrieve the volume rocker , the 3.5 - mm headphone mariner and the power button . On the rightfulness , you ’ll recover the camera shutter paint and the micro - USB port . Unfortunately , the microSD expansion slot is place just below the barrage , which you ’ll have to remove to get to it .
New Sidekick OS
The Sidekick runs Android 2.2 with an updated version of the old Sidekick OS . esthetically , it is n’t the prettiest operating system and if you have speculative eyesight , you might have trouble reading some of the typography ( I guess they assume young people have double-dyed eyes ) .
Samsung included some nice customization features in the OS . For example , you’re able to beak from a couple of different report for homescreen and menus . you’re able to also customize the LED apprisal light . Under configurations , you’re able to attribute a different people of colour to flash when you get a new schoolbook or e - mail , or when you miss a call .
Both the Lock CRT screen and the Jump cay can be customise with crosscut , so you may quickly access whatever apps and programs you need . All of this is easy done via the configurations menu .
Messaging and Social Networking
The Sidekick 4 thou comes loaded with two message features , Group Text and Cloud Text . Group Text lets you create , name , manage and enter in reply - all group text messages . Cloud Text let you message your friends or groups from multiple platforms — including PCs . unluckily we could n’t test Cloud Text , as it wo n’t be hot until the Sidekick is commercially available ( April 20 ) .
Group Text was passably easy to set - up , however . you may create groups of your contacts and allow them to respond - all within the chemical group regardless of what carrier they are on . This mapping came in handy when I was trying to organize who was bringing what for a dinner party party . I can opine of a million other utilization casing for Group Text .
The Sidekick also has a ready to hand Universal Composer app when you want to update multiple social internet at once . This idea is n’t exactly cut - edge ( we ’ve seen it on most Android devices ) , but we always come up it useful . you’re able to also upgrade your position using Google Voice Actions with the app .
Multimedia
The Sidekick comes loaded with T - Mobile ’s Media Room as well as Samsung ’s Media Hub . Media Room is an all - in - one media app that incorporate capacity from YouTube , Amazon , T - Mobile TV andSlacker Radio . It is a passably smashing app because you’re able to seek across multiple platform for the message you require . For exemplar , a lookup for the circle “ Lightning Bolt ” demonstrate creative person results from Slacker , YouTube videos and link to downloads via Amazon MP3 .
Oddly , Media Room does not seem to incorporate Media Hub ’s content . If you want to search for full length movies , you ’ll have to utilise the freestanding Media Hub app .
Mediocre camera
On paper , I was n’t exactly wowed by the Sidekick ’s camera : A 3 - megapixel camera with no flash ? It sounds like a specification from one of the old Sidekicks . And I was mostly correct : The 3 - megapixel tv camera train comme il faut outdoor crack , but they were nothing spectacular . My indoor moving picture had a sullen cast on them and looked a mo on the fuzzy side . There ’s nothing special about the camera port either ; it has the same interface you ’ll find in stock Android 2.2 .
The consecrated tv camera shutter button can be used to aid focus on an object or person . Rather than advertise it all the means down , as you would to take a picture , you push it halfway to focus .
Considering how bare - bones the back - facing camera is , it was kind of surprising to see that the Sidekick also has a front - face camera for picture chatting . I was able to get it up and running and used the Qik app to easily connect to a T - Mobile myTouch 4 G also running Qik .
Performance
The Sidekick 4 G supports T - Mobile ’s newHSPA 21 net engineering , meaning that the French telephone is subject of accomplish the 21 mbps of ( theoretical ) throughput amphetamine that the T - Mobile net is construct to drive home . This does not signify that the Sidekick 4 G can actually hit 21 - mbps download speeds , but rather that it contains a receiving set and chipset capable of flying speeds than earlier T - Mobile 4 universal gravitational constant phones achieved . Wetested T - Mobile ’s 4 gravitational constant networkusing the SamsungGalaxy S 4Gin a few metropolis , including San Francisco , and were proud of with the solid 4G - similar speeds . The Galaxy average 3.38 Mbit per second for downloads and 1.13 mbps for uploads . It could n’t hold a candle to Verizon ’s blazing speed on itsLTE connection(18.30 mbps and 7.39 mbps ) , but it outperformed both AT&T ’s HSPA+ connection and Sprint ’s WiMAX connection .
So I have to give T - Mobile the benefit of the uncertainty when I cover the rather dismal speeds I accomplish with the Sidekick 4G. The South Park neighborhood in San Francisco , where PCWorld is locate , has never been a very strong domain for T - Mobile . Using the FCC - okay Ookla Speedtest app , the Sidekick 4 G average out 0.91 mbps download speeds and 1.26 mbps upload speed .
The Sidekick is power by the same 1GHz Hummingbird processor you ’ll encounter in Samsung ’s Galaxy blood of phone , like the Vibrant or Galaxy 4 G , also on T - Mobile . The browser app palm scrolling and load pages fluidly and native video fiddle back swimmingly .
In terms of call quality , the Sidekick sounded fairly good . Callers sounded loud and clear over T - Mobile ’s mesh with no atmospheric static or hiss . Like many T - Mobile telephone set , the Sidekick can also make calls over Wi - Fi , which is useful when reception is pitiful .
Bottom line
The Sidekick wo n’t attract to everybody : it ’s no dual - gist , magnanimous screen , enterprise - heavy super telephone set . But then again , that ’s not really what the Sidekick brand is all about . It ’s not really meant to be used in the boardroom . The Sidekick was designed for social networkers , first - clock time smartphone owners and people who really appreciate a effective QWERTY keyboard . I think the Sidekick succeeds at what it sets out to do and more . For $ 100 , you get a 4 grand phone with some fantastic messaging capabilities and a fun but utilitarian design .
[ Ginny Mies is an associate editor for PCWorld . ]
