New Sidekick Review: The Sidekick 2008 - a Sidekick Comparison of the Sidekick 08 and Previous Sidekicks   8/2/2008 - 22,174 views, 8 Comments

Right now we’re going to post our preliminary impressions, just to get them out there for you; we’ll update this as we spend more time with our new Sidekick 08!

The first thing that you need to know, right up front, is that the Sidekick 08 is a lot smaller than previous generations of the Sidekick. It’s even smaller in some ways than the Sidekick Slide!

Now, some of you may like that the Sidekick 2008 is so much smaller than its predecessors, but the downside is that not only is the screen smaller, but the keyboard is noticeably smaller. This may make typing somewhat harder for those who are either used to the larger Sidekicks, or those who don’t have tiny hands. That said, it’s still the same kickin’ keyboard that the LX had - it’s just a bit smaller.

The screen’s smaller size is compounded by something that they have done to the email application which I find just unforgiveable: in an effort to apparently make it look more like a desktop email program (such as, say, Outlook - which makes sense given that Microsoft now owns Danger), they have fancied up the header area of each email with an image of the sender (if you have one, a generic graphic if you don’t), and a large band of text, so that most of the first screen of an email is taken up with the header! You now have to scroll down before you can even start reading an email! And, there is no apparent way to disable it!

Now for the good news: the Sidekick 08 has video! None of the other Sidekicks to date have had video!

Now for the bad news: You can only record 20 seconds of video at a time.

Here’s a sample of the video; we filmed this and emailed it to ourself while out at coffee:

Sidekick 08 video is saved as a .3gp file. 3gp is a simplified version of MPEG4, and can be played by Quicktime, and also on most mobile phones (so you can send a video from your Sidekick 08 to someone else’s phone and it should play with no problem).

Some more good news: You can finally transfer files by Bluetooth! None of the other Sidekicks to date have allowed this.

Some more bad news: You can only do it with pictures. But still, that’s a pretty good start!

And finally, for some more good news: The Sidekick 08 supports stereo Bluetooth, unlike the other Sidekick models!

And there’s no bad news about that.

Now, no article about the Sidekick 08 would be complete without a word about the shells. The shells are basically like micro-thin armour that you slip over the outside of your Sidekick 08 to change its appearance. There are several different shells that you can buy - they are easy to change out, and they are only $15.00 each! At the T-Mobile store you can choose from several solid metallic colours (such as teal, red, orange, and blue) and also some with patterns (there’s a very pretty purple with flowers, and also a cool “digi camo” style shell).

But that doesn’t even begin to provide you with all the shell options that are truly out there. Because if you go to http://sidekickshells.skinit.com - the provider of the Sidekick 08 shells - you can order from dozens and dozens of shells, including all kinds of patterns and images. Flags of the world, urban art, Reef-branded shells, you name it, it’s there.

You can even create your own custom Sidekick shell! You can add your own images, your own text - whatever you want!

And it’s so incredibly easy! Check out the shell that I created in under 5 minutes!:

And it doesn’t cost anything extra to make your own custom shell! How cool is that??

You can create your own custom Sidekick shell here.

Here, by the way, is what their official press release says:

The new Sidekick will ship with two shells: black and metallic green. A variety of pre-designed shell patterns and colors also are readily available for customers to purchase at T-Mobile retail stores or online. Of course, for true individualization, customers can design a completely unique shell unlike any other using a dedicated online Sidekick site via SkinIt at www.sidekickshells.com. Doing so is as simple as uploading a personal photo or graphic design, or selecting your own text, shapes, icons or logos. The final design is custom-printed onto the shell, then shipped. Once the design is complete, customers can share their work of art in a public gallery that will be hosted on www.sidekick.com.

T-Mobile Sidekick Features Include:
· Exterior shells that can be personalized
· Capability to record, play and share videos: record videos using the camera; receive video attachments from e-mail, picture messaging, or side load videos to the microSD card; play video using the built-in media player; share videos via e-mail, Bluetooth or picture messaging
· Horizontal swivel screen and full QWERTY keyboard (manufactured by Sharp)
· WQVGA screen with high-definition LCD technology
· Enhanced Web surfing: PC-like, full-size layout or standard Sidekick screen-size layout to scroll and read a page; use Mini Page to zoom out on an overview of an entire Web page; save images from Web pages to the microSD card
· Customizable IM experience: create and join group chats, set custom status messages, search for friends in a buddy list and see who is logged into IM to immediately start a conversation
· Easy download capability: install and use downloads without the need to restart the device; set a theme as the device’s default instantly
· Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP supports stereo Bluetooth and Bluetooth file transfer to other Bluetooth devices including Bluetooth photo printers
· 2.0 megapixel camera
· Included 512MB microSD memory card
· More storage: Up to 25 ringtones, add up to five slides to multimedia messages, and up to 60-second voice messages
· Quick Find to search across all applications
· T-Mobile myFaves® enabled
· Dimensions: 4.7� x 2.3� x 0.7�, 5.3 oz.
· 2.6-inch display, 400×240 pixels
· Quad-band world phone 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; GSM,GPRS,EDGE
· 1030mAh Lion battery