Customer Reviews

T-MOBILE SIDEKICK ID MYFAVES GSM CELL PHONE

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I just received a new Sidekick ID in the mail today.
Here are my initial thoughts on this phone after messing with it all day long.

The phone comes with a number of useful things such as a carrying case (made of black denim and very sturdy), wrist strap, and a headset. Set-up of the phone is very simple. Battery fits in easily and back cover is almost fool-proof to put on and take off. There are a lot of unfamiliar buttons on this phone so it took me awhile to find the power button, which is on the bottom right. The phone is a bit smaller then the Sidekick 3, feels awkward in one hand but fits perfectly in two. Phone is surrounded in a rubber material which provides easy grip and greats a better texture to pressing some of the main buttons.

After turn on, it takes you through a tutorial of the phone's features and how to do certain things. It then asks you to create a profile (name, nicname to create an email address, and some other minor information). Once you are done doing this, the phone is ready to use.

The screen flips open easily by the push of your thumb and snaps in place by a magnet. The screen itself isn't the greatest....it looks a little dull and text/images do not jump out at you. Quality is a little poor....and you will want to adjust the brightness to better see things.

Navigation is done a couple ways, with a square key on the left or the pearl trackball on the right. The trackball takes some getting used to and can navigate in all directions....once you get used to it you will realize that it's much easier to use then the standard four-way square button. The menu is simple. You have Downloads, IM, Email, Phone, Text Messaging, Contacts, Web Browser, Organizer, Photo Album, Games. You have to press one of the main keys to reach a menu that allows you to get to the settings.

Downloads allow you to browse through many things TMobile offers to download for the phone.
IM allows you to chat with any of these three instant messaging programs: AIM, MSN, and Yahoo. Each are very easy to figure out and use.
Email provides you immediate access to the email account you create with the Sidekick during initial set-up (nicname@tmail.com).
Phone puts it into the mode where you can use the keyboard to dial numbers and call out.
Text Messaging takes you to your message inbox (which only shows inbox, sent, outbox, saved, trash. You have to access a seperate menu just to create a new message, which I find annoying).
Organizer has a calendar for events, a notepad, and tasks feature.
Photo album allows you to save photos you receive. There is no camera on the phone so obviously, you can't save photos taken via the phone.
Games includes one game called Pumpjack.

The web browser cam be useful for simple sites, but download time is slow on the T-mobile Edge network, so expect long loading times. Plus, you will have to scroll quite a bit to view an entire page's content. The hassle of viewing pages in the browser makes it aggravating to use. I stopped using it after my second try.

The QWERTY keyboard is perfect for people who love to text. As someone who texts a lot, I really enjoy how handy the QWERTY keyboard is. Once you get the hang of it, you type words much more quickly on a QWERTY. The keys are a bit tiny, but spaced out enough to not have any problems. They work great for my small fingers but I am female with small hands so not sure how someone with bigger hands will fare with it. Keyboard has a dedicated numbers row at the top, and the keys used to dial numbers are shaded a different color.

Call quality is OKAY. The speaker of the phone it large, but during the calls I made, I found it hard to hear the other person half the time even with the volume all the way up. The speakerphone quality is poor. The other person could always hear me loud and clear, though. Due to the shape and size of the phone, it is very weird using it to call people. Doesn't feel right holding it up to your ear.

Pros to this phone:
Layout of the keys and keyboard
The pearl trackball making it easier to navigate
The rubber material around the phone for easy grip
QWERTY keyboard, perfect for texting, email and IM
Design of the phone is cool and trendy
Can customize the appearance of the phone many different ways
Very simple and easy to use

Cons of the phone:
NO camera, media player or Bluetooth.
Sound quality of calls, and speaker phone
Quality of screen
Some of the methods you have to take to achieve simple things on the phone
No slot for extended memory

Overall, I highly enjoyed using this phone for texting, email and IM but didn't care for making/receiving calls or any other feature on the phone. It's very limited on features, and really is only a cheap and suitable phone for younger kids who love to type messages and make few calls. You have to have the Sidekick Data Plan through T-Mobile to use the messaging, email and browsing features of the phone (which is about 25 bucks a month) and you can either pay per call or add a calling plan to the phone.....but you do not need a calling plan to use most of the phone's features.

I love this phone! I just recently upgraded to this phone from a sidekick 2. I love that it doesnt have a camera or mp3 abilities. The camera on the sidekick 2 & 3 isnt really good anyway. And I already have a mp3. Besides, phone with mp3's have a shorter battery life. This phone is easy to navigate too. It takes you from phone, to texts, to internet very quickly! I'm not a fan of the pearl trackball though. I prefer the trackwheel that the sk2 had, but I may be the only one who does. One of the great things about this phone is that you will be able to blog on myspace. I found out the hard way that I could not blog on the sk2. That was a big deal for me cause that meant I could blog from anywhere! Also, the reception is a lot better on the id than on the sk3! And the battery life is longer than the sk2. The battery is also removable, therefore, replaceable. Overall, this is a great phone. A little bulky, but I love big phones.

My son selected this phone for use as I switched him from another service to my T-mobile plan. His current phone is the Nokia 5200/5300 series music phone. He was not deterred because it does not have a camera, bluetooth, or mp3 player. He has all of these individual devices plus the Nokia has a camera, mp3 player & bluetooth. It only takes a switch of the sim card if he choose to change up between the two phones. I played around with it before releasing it to him. I like the look and feel of the device, may be a bit fragile for a heavy handed kid though. The screen is nice enough, clear. Call quality I have yet to test but I'll amend my review when I do. He mostly likes the text & instant message features and will probably do some web browsing. I purchased the sidekick unlimited service in order to head off costly per use of the messaging he likes so well. He can access his myspace page which is also a plus to him. Overall, I think the phone will serve its purpose for a teen-ager who craves a full keyboard, prefers texting & instant messaging, is not a heavy voice user. It's attractive for a boy, coming with the grey colored bumper. This can be outfitted with other colored bumpers purchased separately. I'm happy with the purchase and he really likes this phone. Would highly recommend it.

This phone broke very easily. I destroyed it in 2 weeks, my other sidekicks took a beating and kept on ticking.

Fragile.

-Richie Etwaru

i know its not just me being unlucky with htese phones becuase i went through 5 of them...and im not bad with my phones.

pro's: the trackball and its very easy to use.

con's: it froze and turns off all the time
everything always gets deleted if you dont purchase the internet with it.
no camera
puctures cant get sent to your phone with out the internet.
and sometimes texts just wont send