Samsung T-Mobile Sidekick 4G

performance, usability, portability, battery, price

reliability

46% of the reviews on Amazon.com give this product a positive rating.

Best keyboard on a phone, Trackball makes for easy navigation

Poky EDGE network for data, Still doesn't support Word documents

The Sidekick 2008 isn't a bad phone — not at all. In fact, I wrote this entire review on its perfect little keyboard (in the body of an e-mail message, of course, since the phone doesn't support Word documents). It's just disappointing that after all...

Stylish design ; Great QWERTY keyboard ; Fantastic value for the price

Smallish screen ; Social networking integration is flawed ; Slightly slower than Galaxy S handsets

Stellar keyboard ; UI skin is, against all odds, not annoying ; Rock-solid hinge

Thick ; Plasticky ; Odd control / port placement (not a big deal for old Sidekick users)

Android has grown up — and T-Mobile’s lineup of Android devices is finally mature enough to support this kind of tightly-focused hardware

Physical keyboard will keep thumb warriors happy. Tons of media options and chat features keep you entertained and connected. Speedy 1-GHz Hummingbird processor gets things moving: Games like Angry Birds Rio don’t stutter in the slightest. Battery life...

Screen-popping mechanism is a bit tricky. Button placement is downright poor. The mix of onscreen-touch and physical-button navigation is perplexing and redundant. It takes a lot of work to get a good photo –- if I wanted to mess with that many...

Excellent keyboard. Fast Internet. Well-built hardware. Unusual, great-looking UI design.

Awkwardly placed Power and Volume buttons. Some glitches in the setup app. Strong design flavor not for everyone.

Conclusions The T-Mobile Sidekick 4G isn't a Sidekick. The Sidekick was a device with a cool, simple OS and swiveling screen. That platform is dead. Instead, what we have here is a Sidekick-inspired Android phone with an awesome keyboard, a...

Superb keyboard ; Excellent messaging features

Design is a bit on the heavy and chunky side ; Camera is just average

The Sidekick might not have the specs to compete with some of the high-end super smartphones out there, but it is excellent for social networkers or first-time smartphone owners.

Best keyboard on a phone, Trackball makes for easy navigation

Poky EDGE network for data, Still doesn't support Word documents

If you're looking for a deal on a phone with good messaging and email features - perhaps for a younger user who might enjoy the colourful bumper options - the T-Mobile Sidekick iD could fit the bill.