Sidekick 3 review roundup

By the time the Bluetoothin', memory expandin' Sidekick 3 drops on T-Mobile come next month, it's our duty here at Engadget to make sure our readers practically know more about the phone than your average Danger employee. The next phase in that plan involves a barrage of reviews, presented here for your perusal. Complaints centered around the device's weak-but-common 1.3 megapixel camera, while the redesigned glossy keyboard earned mixed ratings. The critical reaction has been generally positive, with some reviewers suggesting that the third iteration of the Hiptop is the first one strong enough to serve as a dedicated phone.

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[Your name (required) @ Jun 21st 2006 5:47PM]

If you are a current sk user, then it drops on the 28th of June. For pre-order anyway.

[Bard @ Jun 21st 2006 5:51PM]

If you ask me, it still seems like one of those devices that tries to be EVERYTHING to EVERYONE except what it should be: a Phone.

Besides, with devices on T-mobile's roster such as the MDA, and even with devices formerly on it such as the Motorola a630 (wich did MORE than the sidekick II but withouth the hideously slow "internet" access) that ran for 1/2 the price, what keeps the Sidekick going other than "bling" endorsement from hip hop artists and other c-list celebs?

It just seems like a cash cow for the uneducated lower class who see it on a hip hop vid, and think this thing is the thing to get. The stats I've seen are average, but weak for the price you know they're going to be asking. From what I have seen, you can buy 3 to 5 other devices that do what the sidekick 3 does equally well if not better for the same price or cheaper.

My .02/us

[Victor Sherwood @ Jun 21st 2006 6:12PM]

I really like the mobility and usage, but I'm still stuck on the Motorolla Q as long as someone finds a way to invent more functionality to it.

[Matthew @ Jun 21st 2006 6:20PM]

This is the Sidekick 3?
Am I the only one who thinks the specs are all-round weak?
The screen resolution is laughable, bluetooth implementation is 5 years old, and 1.3 MP? Are you for real?
Calling this thing a PDA is a real disgrace to the industry. The box should read "for ages 12 and under".

[Zombie Flanders @ Jun 21st 2006 6:46PM]

Sasha, be sure not to steal this one too, OK?

[Ian Jardine @ Jun 21st 2006 7:39PM]

And no WiFi. I need WiFi.

[V Hizzle @ Jun 21st 2006 7:40PM]

I am sorry but I do think that the sidekick is for one demographic only. I would say that would be under 21. I am in business and I have NEVER seen a business person in a professional field tote a sidekick around. Yes, its stats are average. Give me a real PDA like an MDA, TREO or even Q~

[Ja Prod @ Jun 21st 2006 7:54PM]

I'm a sidekick2 user and made a switch to the MDA then went back to the sidekick2. Reason for that was the MDA wasnt what I thought it would be. It was slow,reception sucks, touch screen becomes toooo much of a hassel... and it goes on and on. So I went back to the sidekick2. All you guys can hate all you want, but some people here loves using the sidekick. You guys can go use your razor or whatever you guys use. the sidekick3 is coo with me.

[relly @ Sep 22nd 2006 10:13PM]

I had a MDA and returned it for the sidekick 3 and I no the MDA has more applications then sidekick 3 but its seems like they were doing to much, the phone doesnt function smoothly, the touch screen is annoying as hell, i will admit it does have a much better screen but i couldnt stand that shit, the sudekick 3 is my new best friend.its a much more user friendly phone, fits right in your hands and it flips, wat more can i say but it flips

[tr @ Jun 21st 2006 8:38PM]

it always seems like the people who dislike the sk always talk about the specs, the numbers, etc., and never talk about usage. sure, it may not have some features as some other offerings, but the sk is more about the usability. it does what you want it to do, without the hassle found in other devices. the interface is excellent, very intuitive, much more than, say, my girlfriends treo 700w, which i'm not knockin' at all. the treo is a great smartphone. but i'll take my sk2 (and sk3) over it any day.

[Your name (required) @ Jun 22nd 2006 12:15AM]

I agree with you tr. Everyone who seems to knock the sk always talk about the specs and never about the look and feel. Granted it looks stupid as a phone but when in the typing position, it is amazingly quick at getting things done. I can type on the sk almost as fast as a keyboard. It just flies. It also just feels right in your hand. Kind of like the first time a playstation controller is held. It is so comfortable to use. The interface is pretty tops too. I'm been a sk user for a number of years now (well before hollywood) and will continue to use it because it does what I want it to do very well (text, email, IM, and ssh).

[Neal Saferstein @ Jun 22nd 2006 12:44AM]

I wish the hype met reality with these products.

Neal Saferstein

[J1000 @ Jun 22nd 2006 12:56AM]

I have a Sidekick 2. Honestly, the only thing I really don't like about it is paying $20 a month for data, and that's as cheap as you'll get it anywhere else. In the past the web browser service was reeeaally spotty, but they recently fixed that. There's also a glitch where my Yahoo! mail arrives in my Inbox later than it should, but it's no big deal.

It does what you want it to do, it has a design that makes sense (I'll never understand QWERTY keyboards crammed into a vertical candybar phone like the Blackberries), and I'm of the opinion it's NOT a bad phone at all. In fact the speakerphone is really nice, and certain tasks (like looking up numbers or dialing with letters) is easier than on a normal cell phone. I'm not the type of person to use a bluetooth headset though.

P.S. Since when do people care about the quality of the camera in the phone? Don't you realize regardless of the megapixel rating the camera is going to suck anyway? I guess people are trying to take artistic photos with their cell phones now. Sheesh.

[WakkaWakka @ Jun 22nd 2006 5:37AM]

Too bad that this won't see the light of day in the UK for months.

How depressing :/

[Dave Smith @ Jun 22nd 2006 6:45AM]

Anyone know if you can tether the SK3 to a laptop? I want to use my next phone to access the net on my laptops as well, but no info on any of these reviews about it.

[john connor @ Jun 22nd 2006 11:14AM]

I second Dave Smith. I'm about to go to college and having my own unfiltered access to the web would be a very big plus. Any word?

[big bubba @ Jun 22nd 2006 11:32AM]

can't be used as a modem for laptop.

for all it's flaws, I really like my sk2. As others have mentioned, I use it for email, text, yim, web, ssh

The UI is great and very intuitive. I use it as my work phone as well and have it set to go silent at midnight and go back to normal ring profile at 8am

as for plans from t-mob it is the cheapest I have found. 40/month for voice 600min with nights and weekends plus $20 for unlimited data. Data is considdered yim, text messages, web, etc.

there is no per message charges or cap like on other plans.

[Jamie @ Jun 22nd 2006 1:14PM]

I've been using a sidekick for about 6 months now, and they're virtually unknown in the UK, probably because the camera is so feeble. Most new phones have at around 2 megapixels these days, and the sidekick 2 compares very badly to that. Despite that, it's brilliant for my emails, and adequate for posting straight to flickr, something the Blackberry is unlikely to ever do.

[VitaminG @ Jun 22nd 2006 1:45PM]

I have gone from SK1-to color, to treo 600, to sk2, to MDA and back to SK 2. Why? Because regardless of all the banter about the Treo's programmability and the MDA's nice feature set, neither of those two phones came anywhere near the ease of use I've grown accustomed to in my sidekick. It just does what it's supposed to do. Granted, I don't like paying T-Mo or Danger for software, ringtones, etc... I also don't like the limited apps available. But let's be frank here, this thing is as close to a little computer as we're going to see for a while. UMPC's are nowhere near economically feasible for their size and lose-ability as WELL as their damageability. The sidekicks have "always-on" internet, and aside from game apps, bluetooth, wifi, and music/video, there is not much I can not do on my kick. I can read office documents with no problem, and I can write documents with no problem in my mail application. If I need to, I'll mail those docs to another email account, upload them on a desk/laptop, cut and paste them into Word, and be done.

People seem to forget that a product's life is contingent upon the demand for that product. Most people I know don't WANT to forage around in WM5's clunky, spotty, bugged-out excuse for an operating system. I don't want to worry about my MDA not waking me up because something in WM5 relegates alerts useless. I don't want to have to reboot my Treo over and over to get my chat client to work. I want my device to work, and do it as efficiently and problem-free as possible. Now that Danger has added some new tweaks, (although I wish they had been better) I'll be content to upgrade to the new one, deal with the same good customer service and warranty program, and know my device will work when i need it to without the temperamental attitude of those sulky, shrewish "smart" phones.

[Arnold Babar @ Jun 22nd 2006 6:11PM]

Hi, my name's Carl and I've been using for almost a year now. Usability is the key. The most important features are at your fingertips. And the keyboard layout is quick. My only gripe was the size, but the sk3 will be slimmer. There's a flash demo at the sk3 homepage:

http://www.sidekick.com/

[Ninj @ Jun 22nd 2006 11:22PM]

Big laughs at anyone comparing the MDA to a sidekick (that'd be you, Bard).

I'm a business user and have been using a sidekick since the first day they came on the market. I've had the pleasure of using them through the ups and downs of all their iterations.

It's the most flexible communication platform on the market. The OS is rock solid, the push email a dream, and the web browser even better now there's javascript support.

I had to use a treo for a while, it was like a cruel joke in comparison, slow and buggy requiring restarts at least every day.

As a way early adopter, I got the best app for free - the SSH terminal emulator. I can hit my home or work server while I'm on the bus, run ad hoc queries any time of day or night whereever I am. That feature alone has led to direct sales to the 10 or so geeks I showed it to at a conference.

Can't wait to get my hands on the SKIII, will be able to ditch my ipod at last!

[david @ Jun 23rd 2006 2:07AM]

NINJ: what does this mean?

As a way early adopter, I got the best app for free - the SSH terminal emulator. I can hit my home or work server while I'm on the bus, run ad hoc queries any time of day or night whereever I am. That feature alone has led to direct sales to the 10 or so geeks I showed it to at a conference.

I love SK3...my ONLY gripe is the lack or real "push e-mail". Is this your solution? if so, please help us mortals.

thanks

[julian @ Jun 23rd 2006 12:03PM]

i had a sidekick 2 but it was stolen about 2 months ago and i never cancelled the extra $20 dolla plan for it...will i be able to get it on the 28th?

[Charles Stepp @ Jun 23rd 2006 7:36PM]

I used the original SK. I liked. I've been irritated with the entire consumer electronics industry since the Psion went away. The SK's alarms were the only thing that came close to my old Psion Series 5. The original SK's batter life was bad and got worse with time, but nobody uses replaceable AA batteries, so they ALL suck to me. And show me another device that came with a ssh/telnet client out of the box. I'll be looking to see if it will work as a wireless connection for my laptop. That will be the deal maker for me. My daughters loved my old SK even after the battery would not hold a charge but had to remain AC connected.

[Maria @ Jun 24th 2006 4:44PM]

How can I volunteer to test the new Sidekick III (3)?

[John Smythe @ Jun 26th 2006 12:42PM]

I was a beta tester for the SideKick I (never worked for T-Mo or Danger).

It was a (heavy) gem back then and phone reception sucked eggs, but if one of these issues (EDGE?) is solved I'll switch back from my blackberry in a jiffy, because everything else just worked really well.

The multi-tasking rocked (yes, here you CAN look up a number without losing your friend), the browser too (screw all that filtered content) and the keyboard was better than any of my blackberries (all referring to V.1 here).

Final note: how come people who have NEVER owned one feel they can comment on this device? It really works well.

Oh, don't get me started about the MDA. It looks real nice but I returned it because I've seen SNAILS run faster (I do get *a lot* of email)

[J Boyd @ Jun 26th 2006 8:14PM]

I Got 2 sidekicks in December. One for me, one for my husband. I sent mine back a week later as I really hated it. In February, I got the MDA. Having both to compare side by side gives me a unique perspective. I wanted a "phone" that I could customize easily, and use as a pda. My husband wants a phone for IM abilities. Both phones have great IM capabilities, and I prefer the sidekicks keyboard to the MDA's, but that is the ONLY thing I like better about the sidekickII. You cannot customize easily, unless you want to spend lots of money downloading crappy songs/games from Tmo. The reception on the sidekick sucks...my husband hardly ever gets calls INSIDE, and if he wants to make a call must go OUTSIDE. My MDA on the other hand can send/receive calls from just about anywhere, and I have it so customized that it is like taking my pc with me when I travel. My husband wants to get the MDA, after seeing how much more it has to offer than his sidekick, which he says is useless for anything else except IM'ing.

[joe @ Jul 18th 2006 4:03AM]

I've had the Treo, the Whackberry, SK2, Motorola a768, and Motorola Mpx 200... minus the SK2 - they are all under the SK3. Motorola's a768 is great for looking at PDF file... but sucked for messaging. The touchscreen was slow because of the tiny letters to pic at with your stylus, the handwriting option never understood more than 5 letters in a row. The Treo had nice applications, but didn't respond half the time. Needing to be restarted constantly. and the Blackberry- just plain sucked overall! But the Sidekick 2 got me my emails evertime, web browsing was decently dependable, phone works as it should! Camera sucked! Like every phone camera - they all suck... thats why you own a real camera... But for that quick shot or reminder of what she looked like last nite ... it gets the job done! The sk2 was not to customizing friendly other than having to pay for songs to be downloaded and games. But the phone works for my business needs. and I just got the SK3 today. Much lighter/slimmer! faster... plays MP3's... has expandable memory... and the bluetooth helps on my drives. The camera still sucks, but is decent enough to customize your screensaver on the phone. You still have to download your tunes to be used as ringtones. But the MP3's do play if you need a walkman( wont play in your Bluetooth of course ) but it does the necessary functions. TEXT, EMAILS, CALLS, BROWSING !!!

IF YOU NEED HIGH QUALITY PICS FOR SOME REASON... you probably should be able to afford a damn camera or your work will provide one. Quit bitchin about it!

[bridget @ Jan 19th 2007 8:35AM]

has anyone ever used this phone without the internet add-on? cause i am..and the effing contacts list disappears everytime you turn the phone off..and you cant retrieve it unless you have the internet on the phone! FOR SUCH AND EXPENSIVE PHONE IT SHOULD HAVE A WAY TO STORE THE CONTACTS ON THE PHONE!!! geez! someone reply!! :D

[Epnid @ Mar 10th 2007 6:47PM]

I'm currently on a Virgin Mobile plan (Yes, thats right, Virgin Mobile, after all I'm a kid, and it would be stupid to let kids run up a phone bill, so my dad got us prepaid)

Anyways, I've been looking at all the phone options, and out of all the carriers I started to notice that T-Mobile seemed to have the best variety of plans. So of course I started looking at the phones, and the plans that matched it.

The two plans that are sticking with me the most, are the My Favs, and the SK plans. How ever, I've noticed that most My Favs phones suck in design.. but thats just my opinion..

Anyways, I was wondering if anyone here had a My Favs account before and then switched to SK or the other way around, and what you disliked about each one. Or if you currently have one, could you list all the likes/Dislikes your finding out about them, or wish was different?

Sometime soon I want to get my own plan and phone, but i want to make the best decision, so any help would be appreciated! (And yes, I can talk to top 5 people, but I think I could text to more..)

Oh and does SK allow you to respond to web pages, like a forum or something, or is it limited to emails and txting cells?

THANKS! Epnid

[dave @ May 20th 2007 10:37PM]

hey i really want this phone but people keep saying theres issues with it while others love it. i think the ppl who hate it might have just gotten a bad one off the line or something so if someone has HAD AN SK3 FOR AROUND 2-5 MONTHS PLEASE SEND ME YOUR OPINION OF THIS PHONE, it would be greatly appreciated. [e-mail]