T-Mobile Sidekick 4G Still Great for Messaging

14.04.2011
It's baaack. The T-Mobile has returned ($100 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile; available April 20), and this time it has . As a former Sidekick LX user (and honestly, I kind of miss good physical keyboards), I was excited to check out Samsung's spin on this legendary phone. Did Samsung succeed in reviving the Sidekick brand? For the most part, I think it did. Everything we know and love about the Sidekick is still there, but I wish Samsung had baked in enhancements in a few other areas other than just design and data speeds.

Most important thing first: The Sidekick wouldn't be a Sidekick without an excellent physical keyboard. Thankfully, the Sidekick 4G's keyboard is pretty good. The keys are nicely raised, have a satisfying click to them and feel nice against your fingers. On the downside, the keys are a bit undersized and a little too spaced out for my small hands. I was able to bang out a long message pretty quickly with few errors, but I also felt like my fingers were stretching a bit to reach the keys. My colleague with larger hands disagreed, however, and said that he liked the keysboard.

The touch display slides out easily and feels sturdy. The phone itself feels a bit plasticky--but so did the older Sidekicks. It is pretty chunky, too, measuring 5.00-by-2.42-by-0.60 inches thick and weighing 5.7 ounces.

The Sidekick 4G is definitely aimed at a younger set and the fun, colorful design definitely reflects that. The unit we got has a white battery cover with black around the edges of the display and keyboard. A surprise pop of magenta behind the display, exposed only when you slide out the keyboard, gives it a playful look. The more serious-looking version is all-black with a gray panel behind the display.

The 3.5-inch WVGA 800-by-480 pixel display was pretty responsive and showcased the user interface nicely. It isn't the most high-res display, but video and pictures looked sharp and animations moved smoothly.