It’s no secret that I love my T-Mobile Sidekick (while the hardware manufacturer, Danger, calls it the “HipTop”, the only place to get it, T-Mobile, calls it the “Sidekick”). While legions are wondering whether their Blackberry service will go the way of the wind, or are dealing with getting their email to POP or iMap to their Treos, my Sidekick does everything I want it to do, and more.
First of all, it delivers my email to me wherever I am, in my pocket, without my having to ask it to. That’s because the T-Mobile Sidekick email server sends the email to the Sidekick automatically. It just arrives, without my having to tell it “check email”.
Same for instant messaging. If I want to be logged into AIM, I can carry a live AIM connection around in my pocket. Same for Yahoo Messenger. The AIM and Yahoo Messenger applications are included, free.
And guess what? There is no connection fee, no other added charge. All the Internet connecting, email-downloading, instant messaging you can eat is included in the $29.95 a month unlimited data fee. Wheee!
But here is what I want to talk about today. I’ve recently been looking at ways to try to get my life a lot more organized – all those “to do” things under control, my calendar in order. It’s been prompted both by need, and reading David Allen’s excellent Getting Things Done.
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In looking around, I realized that the ideal tool has been under my nose the entire time. My Sidekick.
I bring it with me everywhere I am anyways. But here’s what I had not been taking advantage of: when you enter an appointment, a “to do”, or a contact into the Sidekick, it automatically syncs it and mirrors it in your personal Sidekick account on T-Mobile’s central server.
Now, you can also sync Outlook with your Sidekick. And there is also an application to allow you to sync your Mac with your Sidekick.
And none of this requires you to put your Sidekick anywhere near your PC or your Mac. Because it’s all done by syncing your PC or Mac with the data already in your Sidekick account on the T-Mobile server, using software which is already on your PC and Mac!
Awesome!
See, it’s counter-intuitive. People are used to having to hook their PDA or cell phone up to their computer to sync it. Which is a hassle. You don’t have to do that here! Because the data is centrally maintained. And centrally maintained data is the key to a successful organization system! You just tell your PC or Mac “sync with the data in my Sidekick account”, it connects over the Internet, and you’re done!
So when I’m out and about, and suddenly remember “Ugh, I need to call Joe when I get back into the office”, I can enter it then and there in the “to do” section of my Sidekick, and it shows up on my “to do” list on my PC! And on my Mac at home!
Once I call Joe, I check the “to do” off wherever I am – on my PC, my Mac, or my Sidekick – and it is magically updated on the other two!
And if I can’t remember when my doctor’s appointment is, and I’m out and about, I can just check the calendar on my Sidekick, because it contains all of the same data as my calendar on my Mac, where I entered the appointment when I made it.
And guess what! Because my Mac has synced with my Sidekick account, my PC at work has mirrored that appointment too!
How cool is that??
Oh yes, the Sidekick is also a cell phone, but I don’t actually use it for that, although the phone interface is pretty cool.
Now, guess what. Don’t already have a Sidekick? In getting ready to write this article, I discovered that they are once again available for free through Amazon (this last happened nearly a year ago, when we wrote about it here – I had no idea that they were running the special again)! But only for a few more weeks, and while supplies last!
With a special sale price of $199.00 at Amazon, and rebates of $200.00, you can get the Sidekick right now for free (well, actually they pay you a dollar!), and sync your life!
Here is the link to Amazon’s deal. It is an Amazon associate link, although I don’t think the Internet Patrol gets anything given that you are getting it for free. But you can also just type Amazon’s address and search for the Sidekick if you prefer:
Get your free Sidekick here and start syncing your life.
P.S. [Page no longer available – we have linked to the archive.org version instead]
This article updated September, 21, 2007
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I just bought the newest sidekick (sk gekko or 2008) the day it came out so far I love it im gettin used 2 the texting but it is a little confusing as this is my first sidekick but I was jw is it possible 2 sync my phone to my computer nd get on the internet on my computer using the sidekick internet but like using my phones internet on my computer I dnt have the internet on my comp. I know sounds kinda dumb but I was jw bc I’ve heard of other phones being able 2 do it I just wondered if the sk 2008 could do it nd if it is able to how would you go about doing it jw thanks
How do I install media player to my sidekick 3
tried to sign up for the email list, got a “forbidden” page
I also connected the “Getting Things Done” book with my Sidekick. I love that I can connect with my Sidekick’s full data from any computer hooked to the net. If I ever get a personal assistant, they can get/update my calendar, get/update my contacts and such from their computer (at work or at home) and I can see it anytime on my Sidekick. No synching, it just updates in both places.
Then, thanks to the shareware “Missing Sync” I can sync with my Mac address book and calendar. I could automate that too, but it is very simple to do manually anyway.
I tried every PDA from a Newton, to several Windows CE devices, to Palm devices. All ended up in my desk drawer, forgotten, after a few weeks. But the Sidekick finally got me (somewhat) organized.
—
Gary Rosenzweig
http://www.CleverMedia.com
I have a SK too, but I’m beginning to get the google-tool-security-risk-vibe:
http://www.spamroll.com/blogarch/2006/02/google_tool_doe.php
Could it actually be dangerous (pun!) to have all that data on T-Mobile’s servers?