T-Mobile Sidekick 4G Android Phone, Matte Black

Powered by Android and manufactured by Samsung, the new T-Mobile Sidekick 4G pays tribute to its heritage with its stylish good looks and a killer keyboard while redefining messaging and upgrading to 4G speeds. One of T-Mobile's fastest smartphones running on America's Largest 4G Network, the new Sidekick 4G is capable of delivering theoretical peak download speeds of up to 21 Mbps.

The new Sidekick 4G redefines messaging with its five-row QWERTY keyboard and Sidekick Group & Cloud Text services. Sidekick's Group Text feature lets customers create, name, manage and participate in reply-all group text conversations, enabling them to lead their network in conversation and social planning. Group Text breathes new life into one of the most popular forms of messaging allowing Sidekick 4G customers to initiate and share the benefit of the application with SMS-capable devices from flip phones to smartphones.

In addition, Cloud Text provides the option to text with friends or groups across platforms, wherever from the comfort of their PC’s large screen and keyboard, or from their new Sidekick 4G. Preloaded with Facebook and Twitter applications, the new Sidekick 4G provides easy interaction with customers’ social networks by allowing them to update their status from the notification pane, browse their feeds from the home screen, and synch their social contacts to the phone’s address book for instant access to post on their friends' walls or comment on their status.

Beyond a communication hub, the new Sidekick 4G is now an entertainment hub. With speeds as fast as home broadband and the Sidekick Media Room, customers have one place to stream and enjoy music, videos, movies, YouTube, T-Mobile TV, Slacker Radio, and to search for content regardless of the source. Multitasking is easier than ever with the Sidekick 4G's jump key, a physical button that enables customers to quickly switch between active applications, even during a phone call, or assign keyboard shortcuts to their favorite functions or applications.

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Features

1.  Group Text lets you create, name, manage and participate in reply-all group text conversations
2.  Sturdy "pop-tilt" hinge reveals the previously acclaimed, five-row QWERTY keyboard
3.  3.5-inch (480 x 800) touch screen
4.  Andoid 2.2 Operatin System
5.  What's in the Box: Sidekick 4G smartphone, standard Lithium Ion battery, micro USB cable, AC adapter, Getting Started guide, 2GB Micro SD card, preinstalled SIM card, warranty card.

Customer Reviews

Um, I saw the negative reviews, and don't really care...
-By Sean Gumm

Because in my humble opinion, the phone is fun. I'm so sick of touch phones I couldn't bear my TMobile Mytouch 3g anymore. The thing was a pain, force close, slow, etc. I wanted a full keyboard again. People seem to love smaller, because admittedly, it's more accessible. However, just forego the body glove on this phone, and it still fits in your pants pocket. I tend to think bigger phones get taken better care of, because you're more aware of it. My phone doesn't force close. It's incredibly fast. I enjoy Media Hub app, which allows me to purchase or rent movies right to my phone. For the inability to see in broad daylight, turn the light up on your phone. I did and mine works fine.

Being able to text and surf the web at warp speeds has been very enjoyable. I've found the phone to have some things that seem bulky or what not, but all in all nothing is ever perfect. So I'm rating this 5 stars.

Awesome for sidekick fans
-By Leslie

I used to have the previous Danger sidekicks, the original sidekick and the sidekick id. I was thrilled when Tmobile debuted with the new sidekick. It's not at all like the old sidekicks, the only thing in common with them is the screen flipping up. It's very easy to manage and I love all the android apps. It is more bulky than other phones, but not so much that it's an issue. Plus, this sidekick is a touchscreen. also, as a side note it's manufactured by Samsung. I definitely recommend the phone. It's highly customizable.

Best Android phone for email and texting (at this time)
-By Jose A. Campo

Let's be honest ... there is no perfect phone out there (talking about Android capable phones) Or you opted for a very expensive and heavy HTC or Droid (with virtual keyboard) or you get one with physical keyboard.

I only have a couple of days with it, so I cannot give a full battery's review, but like it so far. This is a fantastic cellphone for email and texting and ok overall device for the rest, including browsing and taking pictures.

--What's great--

Dedicated keyboard:
If you don't text a lot or barely use the keyboard, stay away from this device. The phone screen is not extremely small but this cellphone does not really shine on that area. What you're getting is a dedicated 5 rows keyboard where typing is a real pleasure. After owning an HTC H2 (nice cellphone after rooting and running Froyo) and other HTC models, I should say ... nothing like real typing. Cellphone's screens are really responsive on these days but the problem with virtual keyboards is that you need to swap and change rows all the time so the whole typing experience changes. I was really looking for something like this and happy I found it. I thought about the HTC G2 but this keyboard is better and the hinges mechanism is stronger and way more solid. I also like the idea of having a small trackball for navigating and clicking hyperlinks; there is no trackball on the HTC G2.

Fast
It is really fast. In terms of the touch screen and Operating System, it is very responsive. You swap and change screens without major issue, I have not noticed any lag. The browsing's speed depends of many factors (area coverage, browser, etc) but this stuff is faster than my Wifi connection at home. I am getting 6Mbps; downloading or viewing multimedia content is really nice. It is not as smooth or crisp as my previous HTC HD2, but that's the trade off of having a smaller screen and better keyboard. For "on the go" browsing requirements, it's more than enough.

Layout and buttons
Like I said, fantastic keyboard. The hinges mechanism is stronger and better than similar phones. It has a dedicated camera button but the power button is on the opposite side and below, so it is kind of weird and maybe you can turn it off my mistake? Has not happened to me and you need to confirm when turning off anyway (standard on all phones) but the power button could be in a better place. Not a big deal, you get used to. You will also have the "back" button, which is an arrow, the menu button, the "home" button and there is another button which is kind of a "task bar" button. I did not have that on my Galaxy Tab but lets you switch between applications, it's kind of cool having a dedicated one just for that, instead of press and hold the "menu" button (I think is like that on most Android Phones)

Android experience
Won't talk too much about this (we all know it's running Android 2.2 out of the box) but the UI is nice. Has been customized a bit by Samsung but not bloated with tons of unproductive and expensive programs like ATT does on most of their Android models. You can do wifi calling and tethering and as fas as I know, it's completely free (wifi calls will consume your minutes though but you can call a USA number while traveling, let's say from Europe or South America. Just be sure roamaing is off. Tethering will also use your available data plan air time so please refer to your Tmobile representative and confirm)


--The not so good--

Screen
Well ... the screen is really responsive but not the biggest one. It's 3.5 I think but based on the overall phone's size, it could be bigger. There are two black bezels at both sizes of the screen that are "stealing" precious space. Unless they did this to save money and sell it cheaper (this cellphone actually has an attractive price) this is a waste of space!

No camera flash
I am not a big camera flash lover (I do photography as a hobby) so I don't really miss this. I prefer and use a dedicated camera to keep my memories, avoiding flashes if I can, but this is certainly a missing feature. It can be useful for some people and situations so keep that in mind. Indoor pictures are ok though, just be sure there is enough ambient light before taking the shoot. However and in order to be fair, there is a front camera for face to face chatting via web or Android programs. Most cellphones come with only one so that's positive.

Refreshing Interval for Social Network apps.
If you are an Android user, you probably know what I am talking about. If this is your 1st Android phone, this is basically the refreshing interval when your cellphone's widgets (Facebook, Twitter, email) will connect and download new stuff while device is idle seating on your desk. The Android software has been customized here so you can only set refreshes one time every day (or manually) It is good for saving battery but I don't like it. I want to be able to refresh whenever I want and I can miss important notifications that way. What's more weird is that even with that daily option only, my Facebook and email got new stuff frequently so I don't fully understand yet how or why that's happening. I mean, for sure the cellphone is doing a more frequent refresh but why the "one time per day" option only?

Plastic look
Granted, plastic phones do not look as professional or nice as steel ones, but hey! ... you want a cellphone to impress or because you need it for work and family? My wife's HTC looks nicer but it is heavy as well. The 4G Sidekick is not ugly but if your cellphone is a "self esteem booster" to you, get the HTC G2 maybe. Not saying this is a cheap one, but has a younger look than most mid range cellphones. I don't mind that, honestly, it's superb for texting and emails.

--Summary--
Great phone overall. Good Android experience (Froyo out of the box) with a nice Samsung customization on the UI. The screen is not the biggest one but this cellphone is great for "texting" with a very attractive price.

Posted in: T-Mobile