phoneWreck

T-Mobiles "17th" version of the sidekick.

Ah, the original sidekick – one of the most revolutionary devices of it’s time bringing a full-qwerty keyboard to the texting masses.

Currently there is the LX and the standard. In the past we’ve seen the Tony Hawk edition, the older LX, the colour, the II, the 3, the II juicy, the d-wade 3, the Diane von Furstenberg 3, the iD, the slide and the original.

That’s alot of sidekicks! The bloodlines of this device trace back to 2003 -  before Dr.Wreck was barely a twinkle in Mister and Missus Wreck’s eye!

What we have here ladies and gentlemen is the Sidekick LX. A rehash of the original LX circa 2007. Over the years the T-Mobile Sidekick seems to have been a very successful handset for the carrier, appearing in the hands of many A-list celebrities. We’re hoping this teardown can get Dr.Wreck into some of those fantastic hollywood parties.

In popular media, the sidekick has more cameo’s then Will Farrell. Let’s see how it actually stacks up!

The Goods

Sharp has stuck with the classic design. The Sidekick was revolutionary in 2003, and many manufacturers have copied the form factor over the past 6 years.

This is a good thing – they haven’t revolutionized, more or less just modernized something tried and tested.

Moreover, the device isn’t overly heavy (we’ll get to the overall size later…) it feels solid and well built in our hands. Dr.Wreck has recently been taking measures to boost his testosterone levels – he didn’t manage to break this thing in half during a week of hard use. Consider that a good sign.

The mechanism that slides and rotates is pretty sweet too – once you figure out how to properly use it and not get your fingers in the way – unfortunately this takes awhile.

The screen is also mighty sharp at 854×480 and only 3.2”. That blows away what we’ve seen from the latest gen BlackBerry, and iPhone.

Kickbutt screen on the Sidekick

On T-mobiles 3G network it feels snappy – it’s just … what is there to do on this device?

The So-so

Dr.Wreck would call this a feature phone (not a smart phone) even though this baby retails for $449.99 without contract. This works out to $174.99 on a standard term. When compared to the 199.99 you’d shell out for the mytouch 3G this seems a tad much.  Especially considering the non-contract hardware only retail cost of that device is $499.99

Don’t get us wrong, if you want a texting, “browsing”, media and gaming device that’s simple and doesn’t have a whole whack of flexibility – this device is for you. We’d put it a similar category with the Motorola Krave or Glyde. The difference of course is that these devices have touch-screens and cost the same or less…. bummer.

That's a massive keyboard!! Check out those toe thumbs!

The keyboard would have to fall under this category as well. Similar to the palm pre, the buttons are actually a sticker that goes over the pop keys. There is minimal feedback when they are pressed and the spacing is big… almost too big. Typing on this thing will really have you fingers stretching all over the place. Thankfully, Dr.Wreck has toe-thumbs and didn’t find it overly strenous to type.

Based on the size and UI/controls layout, this device has to making of creating a fabulous gaming experience. Let’s hope some devs take advantage of this a create something fun to keep us entertained.

The Ugly

This device is massive, easily dwarfing the recent BlackBerry Bold in comparison (the biggest device we have). Sure, it’s thin and light but this thing isn’t much smaller than a PSP for gosh sakes!

The Bold is a BIG device... doesn't say much for the LX

One really weak point on this device is the calling function. To make a call you have to flip open the screen to dial. Once the screen is open you punch the numbers in and then put it to your ear. Wait, the screen is in the way. Ok, let’s just close it then. Just as you’re about to close it, it snaps back open again – so you try again – and again – and…. oh wait almost got it… again. By this time the person you called is on the line listening to you struggle with your phone. They’ll probably hear a string of curses by the time you even say “Hello?”. Of course, things like this take practice – just like juggling 4 torches – blindfolded – in a strong wind.

Flip to Dial

The last thing Dr. Wreck wanted to test on this phone before giving it the teardown was it’s ability to transfer/play music. The media player is so-so, it works fine. The biggest qualm we ended up having was in the speed of file transfer. Dr.Wreck is a busy person and enjoys his classical like any other. At most, he received 2.9MB/s when transferring a bunch of .mp3′s. Compare that to the BlackBerry Bold at almost 15MB/s – good gravy!

That’s it for the review folks! The results are in, stay tuned for the teardown!

Final Score: 6.25 out of 10 chances you get the screen closed in time to pick up your phone calls.

If you haven’t had a chance yet, check out the teardown!

CNET Score: 3.5/5

FreakGrades – User score: 7.4

FreakGrades – Expert score: 7.5