![]() Some awkwardness does arise, though, from the side-mounted headphone jack, which leaves headphone connectors jutting out sideways to get snagged in pockets, rather than pointing straight up.Īlthough the Sidekick offers a “real” Web browser that works with regular HTML pages as opposed to the crippled WAP pages older phones must use, its molasses-slow EDGE Internet access serves as a major deterrent to major use. Sound quality was up to par with the best standalone MP3 players we’ve tried, and even the included headphones, while definitely cheap, were passable. Having a trackball makes some tricky tasks, like rearranging songs in a playlist, much easier. Almost every function, from queuing new songs to browsing by album, has a keyboard shortcut, making navigation very quick after an initial learning period, and the keyboard also facilitates text-based searching for songs in a large library. While it’s not as slick as the benchmark Apple iPod, it offers some distinct advantages thanks to its stronger array of controls. Fortunately, the media player on the Sidekick is well thought out, and usable on a day to day basis. Media players are often an afterthought on many business-oriented smartphones, but on a model like the Sidekick that specifically targets a youth market, playing music isn’t a function to be taken lightly. We also ran into a handful of annoying glitches, like the themes we had purchased online not showing up in the theme selection menu until the phone had been on for some time, and have to re-choose them every time the phone rebooted. Ours frequently rebooted itself for no apparent reason, and the annoyance was compounded by having to enter passwords every time it came back. While the Sidekick glides through menus quickly and doesn’t bog down under heavy use, stability was not one of its strong points. Using the camera, for instance, requires you to navigate to your albums first, then click another button to open up the actual picture-taking mode, which is labeled rather ambiguously as “capture.” Good luck grabbing a shot of Bigfoot when you need to go through that routine just to pull up the viewfinder. For the most part, this makes using the phone quite intuitive, though we found some functions were only accessible in odd ways. Sliding the ball to the right navigates deeper into the menu system, and another outside button brings up a list of auxiliary options for any given menu. A main menu displays most functions of the phone in a circular array that can be flicked through quickly with the track ball. The Sidekick uses a proprietary operating system that’s one of the more intuitive ones we’ve seen, though it has its quirks. If you’re out of high school, plan to use the Sidekick for business at all, or just want something a little easier on the eyes, you’ll almost certainly find most of the installed options on the gaudy side. While T-Mobile offers additional themes through its download catalog (most of which are along the same vein,) we really would have liked to see some more basic, refined options included by default. ![]() Default theme included loud argyle patterns, “gritty” graffiti-themed designs, and colorful rainbow collages that looked like they belonged on Trapper Keepers. Menu graphics for the phone seemed to latch onto the Sidekick’s young image as well, a bit to our annoyance. In fact, T-Mobile also offers blank shells with directions for DIY customization – a rare luxury in a world where most manufacturers prefer to void warranties for even light modifications. If neither is to your liking, you’ll also find a bountiful aftermarket for shells online, and at $15 a pop, they’re cheap enough to experiment with a few. The stock phone comes in a yellow-tinged green color, but T-Mobile also includes a glossy black (read: fingerprint-blotched black) shell with every phone. Although the majority of its face and flip-out LCD get a rather dull matte black bezel, the back and sides have been designed as removable shells that can be swapped in seconds. The much bemoaned lack of video on previous models has also been remedied with a new video recording mode that allows users to capture short clips.įrom its inception, the Sidekick has captured a youthful, trendy image, and T-Mobile has continued to cultivate that with the latest incarnation, which boasts even more customizability than the last. Hardware specs include a 2.0-megapixel camera, EDGE Internet, an included 512MB microSD card, media player capabilities, stereo Bluetooth, and customizable shells that can be swapped out to change the phone to different colors. T-Mobile iPhone 15 deals: The carrier’s latest iPhone offers T-Mobile still has the fastest 5G, but its rivals are catching up The best prepaid cell phone plans in 2023: the 7 best ones
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