T-Mobile Sidekick

Design of T-Mobile Sidekick

With its screen closed, the unit is about the size of a large bar of soap.	More versatile--but slightly larger--than a deck of cards.

It's hard to say exactly what type of device the Sidekick is most akin to, but if we had to go with one, we'd say that it looks most like an advanced, two-way pager along the lines of Motorola's Timeport P935. Weighing 6.2 ounces and measuring 4.5 by 2.6 by 1.1 inches, the device is a bit bulky--it's larger than both Handspring's Treo 300 and RIM's 5810 model PDA/phone hybrid. However, the Sidekick weighs slightly less than T-Mobile's own Pocket PC Phone Edition and comes with a nice carrying case that attaches to the belt, although most male users will probably tote the Sidekick on their hip.

The ergonomic and full-featured keyboard includes a four-way navigation button.	Twist and shout: The Sidekick's swiveling screen.

From a design perspective, the device's most innovative and distinguishing feature is its rotating screen, which swivels 180 degrees to reveal arguably the most tactile, noncramped minikeyboard on the market. The 240x160-pixel, 4-bit screen displays 16 shades of gray and is sharp for a monochrome model. Still, we look forward to the day when the Sidekick goes color.

Though it's not pocketable, the Sidekick comes with a pouch.

All in all, T-Mobile has done a good job with the interface; within 15 minutes, we'd mastered the Sidekick's navigation. Four main buttons, one of which is a transparent scroll wheel that flashes a different color based on the type of alert, are well placed around the screen and within easy reach of your thumbs. The Jump button takes you back to the main icon-based menu system--you move through the icons using the scroll wheel or the keyboard's four-way navigation button--while the Menu key brings up the Menu system within a given application. Lastly, the prominent Back button acts like a mobile phone's Clear button. It also returns you to a previous screen and ends calls.

The Sidekick is far from the most ergonomically friendly phone we've used, but you can chat on it both with the screen swiveled open or closed. We found ourselves dialing with the keypad, then swiveling the screen shut as the call went through. We then used the phone as we would a normal candy bar-style mobile, albeit a bulky one; the mike is between the Menu and Jump buttons, and the speaker is just above the scroll wheel. This layout is not ideal--especially since the screen bulges out of the center of the phone--but it works well enough.