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CNET editors' rating:
3.5 stars
Very good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 103 reviews
- See all user reviews
Product summary
The good: Large color screen; 32MB of memory; nice keyboard; real-time e-mail and instant messaging; GPRS support; Web browser; support for over-the-air updates and downloads.
The bad: Somewhat bulky; lacks speakerphone; phone implementation could be better; no memory-expansion slot; no syncing with Outlook.
The bottom line: While it has flaws, the impressive new-generation Sidekick is a marked improvement over the original.
Specifications: Band / mode: GSM 1900; Talk time: Up to 210 min; Weight: 6.3 oz See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 05/01/2003
- Updated on: 05/27/2004
- Released on: 05/31/2003
 Not so dainty: The Sidekick is more capable but far bulkier than your average cell. |
 Let your fingers do the walking--but use your thumb for the jog dial. |
From a design perspective, the device's most innovative feature is its rotating screen, which swivels 180 degrees to reveal what is arguably one of the most tactile and roomy minikeyboard on the market. Four main controls, one of which is a transparent scrollwheel that flashes a different color based on the type of alert, are well placed around the screen and within easy reach of your thumbs. For this version, the already user-friendly interface has been slightly tweaked for the better, so no complaints there. The attractive, graphical menus also show more color.
 Flipping out: Flip up the screen to expose a roomy keyboard you can really flip over. |
 Just in case: The Sidekick comes with a protective jacket and a collection of cables. |
The Sidekick is far from the most ergonomically sound phone we've used. You can chat with the screen open or closed, but the usual procedure is to dial with the keypad, then swivel the screen shut as the call goes through. You then use the phone as you would a normal (albeit bulky) candy bar-style mobile. The microphone is between the Menu and Jump buttons, and the speaker is just above the scrollwheel. This layout is not ideal--especially since the screen bulges out from the center of the phone--but it works well enough.
The Danger Sidekick is loaded with functionality. This PDA comes with its own e-mail address, and you can add up to three POP3 accounts. However, since it's geared toward consumers rather than corporate users, you can't get your company e-mail just yet. The monochrome Sidekick lacked support for AOL Mail, but this version includes a quick link to a Web-based solution--nice.
One of our bigger complaints about the original Sidekick was that you could store only 1,000 contacts and 20 notes. This Sidekick is equipped with double the memory: 32MB of RAM and 4MB of flash-upgradable ROM (2,000 contacts and 50 notes). That should satisfy most users, but there's still no expansion slot, so you'll have to closely manage the e-mail attachments you receive. As with the original, you can open and read Word, PDF, and JPEG files, and you now can play MIDI and WAV attachments and cut and paste from messages.
The Sidekick ships with an improved Web browser and AOL Instant Messenger. Using the browser, you can navigate forward and backward through pages, while all AOL Instant Messenger conversations are saved if you get disconnected. You also get the standard phone features; a call log; two-way SMS messaging; a decent game (the Asteroids-like Rock & Rocket); and such organizer features as a contact list, a calendar, a to-do list, and notes. There's support for MIDI ring tones (12 songs and 7 chimes are included), and through a partnership with Sony Music, you can download HiFi music tracks as ring tones. You can import contacts from a SIM card and dial their numbers directly from your address book with the click of a button.
 Little clicker: The camera now takes larger 320x240-pixel shots. |
 Ports, huh! What are they good for? Absolutely nothin' (yet). |
One nice thing about the Sidekick is that its Internet access is always on--as long as you aren't using the phone. If you do make or receive a call while surfing, you'll be disconnected from the Internet. After the call, the Sidekick automatically logs back on to the Web, a process that can take up to 30 seconds. You also can use the Catalog feature to download more ring tones, games, and applications, and you can access data on your Sidekick from any computer via T-Mobile's Web site.
The unit ships with a headset, a charger, and a standard carrying case. A car adapter, a deluxe carrying case, and a camera attachment ($50) are optional. If you catch the right promotion, T-Mobile may throw in the camera attachment for free.
You'll also notice both USB and infrared ports on the side of the unit. At some point, these ports may offer additional functionality, but as of this writing, neither did. That leads us to a gripe: Currently, you cannot sync your desktop PIM (contacts and calendar information) with the device. Instead, you have to transfer your contacts from, say, Outlook to a password-protected, Danger-sponsored site either by importing or manually inputting them. Once the information is on the site, your Sidekick will automatically be updated.
Aside from the lack of Java support, surfing the Internet on the Danger Sidekick is a surprisingly good experience, thanks to the combination of a high-speed GPRS connection and some compression technology on Danger's Data Services Framework. Web pages load about as quickly as you'd expect with a standard dial-up connection, and articles are fit to the screen--you can view about 11 lines of text in a small font. We found the Web experience to be on a par with or even better than that offered by Handspring's Treo 300, which uses Sprint's 3G network.
The IM experience via AIM is even more impressive. The built-in keyboard makes it easy to type messages, and responses appear as quickly as they would with a dial-up connection on a desktop computer. You can have up to 10 chats simultaneously, and the Sidekick offers a full range of buddy-list management features, including the ability to assign ring tones and light tones to specific buddies. Hopefully, other IM services, such as MSN and Yahoo, will become available.
The color of e-mail: Images look better on the second-generation Sidekick's screen.
Though the images the camera attachment produces are nothing to write home about, Danger has managed to increase their size from a resolution of 120x90 pixels to 320x240. Conveniently, you can store up to 36 images in the device gallery on your Web-portal page, which also holds your contacts. The Sidekick automatically sends pictures to the device gallery once you take them.
Phone performance is a mixed bag. Using T-Mobile's GSM/GPRS service in New York, we had a generally good experience. The Sidekick doesn't have a speakerphone, but if you're in a quiet room and you jack up the volume, you can hear voicemail and callers through the speaker without holding the unit to your ear. Outside, we sometimes found it tough to hear callers, as traffic and other background noise impinged on our conversations. But with a headset, callers' voices sounded loud and clear, and they said that we sounded just fine as well.
Impressively, even while going to a color screen, Danger has managed to slightly increase the Sidekick's battery life. It's still less than stellar, particularly in the standby department; we were able to achieve only slightly more than two days, compared with T-Mobile's rated standby time of 60 hours. But the talk time has been upped from 3 to 3.5 hours. That said, you should be aware that using the data services a reasonable amount during the day will sap your talk-time minutes. You'll definitely want to recharge the unit at night, and it's a good idea to keep the charger close at hand. Luckily, it isn't too big, but you wouldn't want to keep it in your pocket.
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User reviews
- Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 103 reviews
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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