T-Mobile Sidekick LX officially announced all over again

Sound familiar? Indeed, this isn't the first time T-Mobile has offered a Sidekick LX -- but much like last year's simply-named Sidekick, the carrier is once again carrying forward branding while totally revamping the hardware. The 2009 edition of the Sidekick LX is thoroughly new and pretty much nails every item on every Sidekick fan's wishlist: GPS, 3G data, an absolutely glorious 3.2-inch full wide VGA display, and super-tight integration with Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. You've also got a 3.2 megapixel AF camera with LED flash, microSD expansion (T-Mobile throws a 1GB card in the box), video recording and playback (including YouTube access), stereo Bluetooth, quadband EDGE, and HSDPA 2100 for high-speed coverage when you're galavanting around Europe. The ace up T-Mobile's sleeve, though, might be Exchange ActiveSync support, which will be coming via the on-device software catalog shortly after launch. It's available for pre-sale to current T-Mobile customers starting today -- everyone else will have to wait until May 13 -- but either way, you'll be paying $199.99 after rebate on contract in your choice of "carbon" or "orchid" finishes. Check out all the snazzy photography below -- and follow the break for our quick first impressions of the phone.

Gallery: T-Mobile Sidekick LX officially announced all over again

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Gallery: T-Mobile Sidekick LX 2009 quick hands-on

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We had a chance to sit down with the new model for a few minutes recently, and we'll say it on no uncertain terms: this is by far the best Sidekick that Sharp (or Motorola, if you want to get technical about it) has ever made. It's the first model we've ever come across that actually feels professional and aspirational; it makes every other Sidekick seem like a toy by comparison in terms of physical design, materials, and build quality, and the addition of ActiveSync support makes this an entirely reasonable choice for young, white-collar types who cut their teeth on an older model. T-Mobile couldn't have picked a better time to be launching a device with tight Twitter integration, and it worked like a champ for us. We didn't have a ton of time to play with Microsoft Live Search and its GPS mapping capabilities, but maps loaded reasonably quickly, you've got live traffic data available to you, and naturally, you've got some pretty comprehensive search capabilities in there as well. The phone is physically large, but not impractically so -- owners of the original LX will feel right at home -- and the soft-touch plastic looks and feels great in either color. The 854 x 480 display is one of the best (if not the best) we've ever seen on a mobile device launched in the US, crisp to the point where individual pixels are utterly imperceptible to the naked eye (see the gallery shots to get a sense of what we mean). Put simply, from our brief time with it, we're struggling to come up with bad things to say -- and frankly, we're a little jealous of anyone plunking down the cash.

[Per @ Apr 17th 2009 12:04AM]

Wow, it's ugly.

[Jonathan @ Apr 17th 2009 1:15AM]

I disagree, I think it's really nice. This is the first time since the Sidekick 2 that I think a Sidekick is cool. I would not mind having this what so ever.

[psfour @ Apr 17th 2009 10:32AM]

NO, its very ugly

[iphonerulez @ Apr 17th 2009 11:08AM]

This is the newest Palm Pre killer. It also has a keyboard and does background processing. Everyone will throw away their Palm Pres to get this. Oh wait....Nobody has a Palm Pre, yet.

[Jay @ Apr 17th 2009 1:29PM]

where is the MOTO logo what"s up with the sharp thing

[asurroca @ Apr 17th 2009 4:58PM]

@Jay: IIRC Sharp makes the Sidekick hardware (Motorola only made one Sidekick model a while back) Danger (e.g. Microsoft) makes the software, and T-Mobile owns (or exclusive license?) the Sidekick brand-name...

[KeegdnaB @ Apr 17th 2009 12:06AM]

With the rise in consumer oriented Blackberries, Android, and [as much as I hate to admit] the iPhone, Sidekicks just don't have quite the ahem...kick they used to.

[michael @ Apr 17th 2009 12:32AM]

That's because Microsoft bought Danger.

[Corey P. @ Apr 17th 2009 3:48AM]

This phone was way into late development before Microsoft bought danger.
Good try.

[KilgoreTrout @ Apr 19th 2009 9:28PM]

We in Europe never had the possibility of getting any Sidekicks and I always digged the form factor.
Did we miss something?

[sacapuntas @ Apr 17th 2009 12:06AM]

Cool. Everyone who had their previous generation sidekick break will be interested in this. Scratch that. Everyone who has owned a sidekick will be interested in this....

[seriousam7 @ Apr 17th 2009 12:06AM]

Oh haha, I was like "Noooo, I can see the pixels" til I realized they were the ones on my laptop's screen, not the phone's. That screen does look crisp.

[eddie @ Apr 17th 2009 12:10AM]

even though the sidekick is mostly for teens you have to admit they have come a long way. most comfortable keyboard ever. amazing aim intergration and now 3g. i might think about picking this bad girl up. but god the sidekick 4 was the worst phone ever. it would always do that triangle thing and never have service.

[CleverEndeavor @ Apr 17th 2009 12:10AM]

VGA? hot damn!

[christian @ Apr 17th 2009 12:10AM]

the sidekick grows up?

[The Police @ Apr 17th 2009 12:10AM]

It's still missing a touchscreen. They could have thrown one in.

[oakie @ Apr 17th 2009 12:27AM]

because the directional pad AND trackball arent enough? it should have a bluetooth joystick, too.

[CaramelZappa @ Apr 17th 2009 2:12AM]

The sidekick ui is based entirely on easy navigation with the trackball and keyboard shortcuts. A touchscreen would be useless on a sidekick.

[EC @ Apr 17th 2009 10:08PM]

Actually on a "on-the-go" device of this size touch screen is not a very practical UI.

[tojfs7931 @ Apr 19th 2009 12:58PM]

The android has a touch screen.

[WixosTrix @ Apr 17th 2009 12:11AM]

where i live only like hoodrats have sidekicks. they used them in joint with MetroPCS phones, so they usually dont have call service, just data on them. i live in the bay area btw

[Alex @ Apr 17th 2009 12:15AM]

That sounds about right. Texting and push-to-talk are the hallmarks of hoodratism.

[Chas. Brown @ Apr 17th 2009 12:23PM]

Hey, I'm one of those hoodrats. Okay, well, I do live in Oakland and I do have a sidekick.

[KillaChaos @ Apr 18th 2009 11:11AM]

So you are going to judge a phone based on the people who used them?

That doesn't sound right. Maybe I should say only homosexuals use Macs so Macs must be gay as well. Does that make sense?

[mosteezy @ Apr 20th 2009 7:44PM]

your stupid as hell...ive had sidekicks, metro pcs, and am currently at an unlocked blackberry storm...I can assure you that i am no hoodrat or any sterotypical idea you have about people in the bayarea...by the way i to live in the BAY AREA!

[WixosTrix @ Apr 20th 2009 11:29PM]

geez guys calm down, i was just talking about where i live and the general ppl who have them in this area. don't get butt hurt, there are far worse things things going on than my 3 sentence rant on sidekicks.

i've lived in the bay area all my life, i have nothing against it. lighten up.

[Abuzar Baloach @ Apr 17th 2009 12:18AM]

Does this have push support? How is this any less of a smartphone vs BB, Android, etc?

[ai4281 @ Apr 17th 2009 12:33AM]

OS, I guess. A good thing about running a Smartphone OS (Winmo, Android, etc) is that you can install apps on it and customize it to a degree. I'm guessing Sidekick is still running a proprietary OS, so you wouldn't be able to install many apps unless they are java based dumbphone apps or apps provided by T-mobile.

The specs for this phone look good, but I'm wondering how much of it a user can actually utilize. GPS and 3G are great, but if you have to pay for something like Verizon Navigator (or w/e it's called) and use a mobile web browser, the value of those features are kind of lost...

I guess people who are used to Sidekicks may want to get this device, but other than that... wouldn't people want to buy a Smartphone instead, at that price point?

[Abuzar Baloach @ Apr 17th 2009 12:35AM]

I mean I have a G1 and I'd take it over this any day because its cheaper, has the touch screen and Android.

I suppose if they had better app support for the sidekick it would be considered a smartphone. Aren't BB and adroid apps based on Java as well?

[jake @ Apr 17th 2009 3:51AM]

@Abuzar Baloach

Not really. Android uses a java-like language, but it's apps have nothing to do with the mobile java apps that run on most phones today. If you have run typical mobile java apps and compare them to the apps on Android, you will notice the apps on Android tend to be a lot more powerful and have much more hardware specific functionality. Most "dumb" phones can run mobile java.

[Scythe @ Apr 17th 2009 8:42AM]

To clarify, Android runs in a JVM -- so it's a Java Application.

Mobile Java is basically running apps inside an Applet (much less powerful than an application).

[Goodman @ Apr 17th 2009 10:35AM]

It has push support... always has (for the email address they give you). And it's getting Exchange support.

And it had an App store long before Apple. Not standard Java apps, but third party apps designed specifically for the Sidekick. Works great. Over the air OS upgrades too.

[chefgon_ign @ Apr 17th 2009 11:14AM]

I'm not sure where you got the idea that Push Email is the definition of a Smartphone, I've never thought of it that way. To me a Smartphone is any phone that has an openly available SDK where anybody can develop apps and release them to other users. Whether or not the iPhone's app store counts is up for debate, since the apps require approval, but it's definitely a hell of a lot closer than the Sidekick's system of approval where they basically deny everything that isn't from a major developer.

[PeterF @ Apr 17th 2009 12:20AM]

They include the European UMTS band and not their own? Idiots.

[oakie @ Apr 17th 2009 12:31AM]

it supports the t-mo usa 3g band as well as europe band. idiot.

[Mobile Phone Diva @ Apr 17th 2009 1:03AM]

I found the specs on another site. The "3G" mentioned in the 2nd sentence of the Engadget article does indeed mean US T-Mobile 3G. I thought it meant that but wasn't sure, so I checked. It would have been a bad move to exclude the US 3G.

"Dual-band UMTS/HSDPA (AWS Band IV & Band I)"

[NOB @ Apr 17th 2009 12:23AM]

3G data plans are too expensive, especially with the recession. 70 bucks+fees? No thanks, I'll just make do with a 30 dollar plan.

[seriousam7 @ Apr 17th 2009 12:31AM]

Seriously, why do monthly plans for smartphones cost more than monthly plans for cable TV and internet combined?

[CaramelZappa @ Apr 17th 2009 3:04AM]

Oligopoly.

[maveric101 @ Apr 17th 2009 4:18AM]

seriousam7: probably partly due to the phone subsidies (in the US). though it's still too expensive. And anyone with a data plan should get free texting.

[egress63 @ Apr 17th 2009 12:34AM]

Those buttons dont look very solid for people with large fingers.

[seriousam7 @ Apr 17th 2009 12:38AM]

There's always finger-reduction surgery.

[Sameer Surampalli @ Apr 17th 2009 1:02AM]

Sucks to your ass-mar, fatty.

[Bryan Shelton @ Apr 17th 2009 12:42AM]

webkit browser? we'll see...

[alexbr91 @ Apr 18th 2009 2:42AM]

omg im so stupid im all lik "i wonder why they decided to go with microsoft live search" until lik 5 minutes later when i remembered that microsoft bought danger lol

[Snitch @ Apr 17th 2009 12:51AM]

Sidekicks are great if you're like between 6 and 10 year old, but i can't see a grown ass man with a freggin sidekick, i mean it just don't look right, also most all the people i seen with them look kind of dirty, no offence.

[Galen20K @ Apr 17th 2009 12:56AM]

Excellent, this looks like a Very Promising Step or should I say Kick, in the Right Direction.

That Screen is going to be Absolutely AMAZING!!!

[Jay @ Apr 17th 2009 1:05AM]

They still have that Bob game? Thats the game with the bouncing ball right? I remember having that on my Sidekick 2 trying to make time go by faster through Calculus. Ahhh high school.....

[Shank @ Apr 17th 2009 1:11AM]

im not gonna bash the sidekick, they were revolutionary back in their day,

[Aaron H. @ Apr 17th 2009 1:18AM]

I have G1...I'm about to get thissssssssssss!