Is this the T-Mobile Sidekick III / Hiptop 3? (Part II)
P.S. -Now with hot rear-shot action.
[Thanks, steffan]
P.S. -Now with hot rear-shot action.
[Thanks, steffan]
Other Weblogs Inc. Network blogs you might be interested in:
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Navin @ Feb 16th 2006 11:17PM
Please i need the phone thank you
Brian @ Feb 16th 2006 11:17PM
Lame design, Danger/Sharp! It's too huge. Still.
Matt @ Feb 17th 2006 12:31AM
i'm more interested in the operating system. Actually they can even keep the os that they had, but open it up, allow third party apps. sd card? usb? BLUE TOOTH PLEASE !!!!
Travis @ Feb 17th 2006 12:56AM
The closed OS model is much better.... Higher standards for Applications means quality applications for you (end consumer) Also it provides a way for small developers to earn a living. if you don't like the fact that you can't get free applications or ringtones (Without a developer key which requires a knowledge of Java) then get a diffferent phone. Seriously. Stop bitching about it.
The USB isn't at all nessicary for end use. On my old phone I used a USB cable to retrieve pictures without using a MMS message. The only use for the USB port would be to use my phone as a modem while on the go, but my SK2 has everything I need my laptop for while I'm on the go... Internet, Email, Messaging (Aim, IRC, Yahoo, MSN), RSS feeds (Engadget mobile is #1 in that list.)
And as for Bluetooth. personally... I don't trust it yet to use it at all on a cellphone, I never used Bluetooth on my T610 outside of my house.
Rick @ Feb 17th 2006 1:06AM
Sidekicks are great if you are chatting on AOL all the time, but if you aren't, they're just a huge phone. Now who wants that these days?
Justin @ Feb 17th 2006 1:22AM
#3, the "quality applications" part in there is pretty much a dream. I bet Danger would let anyone who paid them make an application so long as it didnt crash every time you used it. Also you sound like a dinosaur with your "All change is bad, Ill stick with my SK2 no matter what" comment. I just hope it gets wifi.
Travis @ Feb 17th 2006 1:43AM
Personally I know people with programs in the Catalog, and I have looked into what it takes to get something in the catalog. It is a very rigerous process and has very high standards to meet.
All change is bad? Useless stuff is bad and drains on my battery. Bluetooth is great don't get me wrong. Me personally I find it useless, I don't use a headset (They arent comfortable on my ear) and I dont use a DUN. Therefore it would just be a useless feature for me. If you use a bluetooth headset, it isn't useless for you.
Wifi is also useless... GPRS is fine, and the browser itself seems to have gotten faster since 2.3 and even faster recently. The only place I have found where I don't get G7 (GPRS signal) is in my school. But that's because it's a former Grumman building and is pratically bomb proof. And when I'm there I have my iBook on me so I'm not using my SK2
More importantly, why are people SO obsessed with having a MP3 player on their phone? Look at the ROKR and that miserable failure of a MP3 player. I have no problems carrying a 3rd gen 15gb iPod and my SK2 (Or a shuffle, depending on which one is closest and charged.)
Gridlock @ Feb 17th 2006 4:31AM
Travis, admit you work for Danger - go on...
WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, MP3 functionality, and homebrew apps are all bad and unnecessary on a 'high end' smartphone like this?
I've got a Nokia 9000 on my desk I can sell you.
Chris @ Feb 17th 2006 5:38AM
I just hope it has Wifi and a USB port that is usable!
echosierratwo @ Feb 17th 2006 6:38AM
WTF, I'll try.
Justin @ Feb 17th 2006 8:42AM
Travis, explain to me why you would just hate to have a stereo bluetooth headset/mp3 player/wifi sidekick. Have you ever even had an mp3 player phone? It is so convinient, you always have the phone with you but not always your ipod. I have a SE S710a and I can use it like a portable jukebox (albeit a low memory one) in emergency situations. I have NO idea why you said the wifi would be useless. Lets see...several large cities have been talking about, or on San Fran's case actually implementing, a free municipal wifi network. Wireless cellular data plans are around $60-$70 a month, and have slower speeds. You do the math. Also, have you ever heard of VoIP, or just plain Google Talk?
James Bond @ Feb 17th 2006 10:02AM
Having used 5 different sidekick 2s peppered through "real" smartphones, I have to say Travis is right on the software front. There is not a single other Smartphone OS that has programs as well integrated as the Sidekick. The information transfer between them is seamless and the use is absurdly intuitive.
My gripe is because its such a hassle to get an approved software it took over a year for a finance program to come out, and by then I moved on and discovered other productivity tools that STILL aren't on the sidekick because of this process. You have to take the good and take the bad, I suppose.
And to all those that keep saying "buy an ipod" I say to you, I carry around a my phone and my wallet and my pockets are full. I have three large things and no more pockets. If I carry a backpack with me, I leave it, if I try to jam a mp3 player around in one of the full pockets I feel stupid beyond all belief, and I will loose it (I have lost three mp3 players this way). Why put an MP3 player on a phone, because I would like to carry two things only and be able to do the mental check quickly (Phone, check, wallet, check, go).
It may sound stupid to you, but, to me carrying around a digital camera, mp3 player, PDA, phone, and wallet all seperately is absurd.
Kenny Pollock @ Feb 17th 2006 10:53AM
Travis, I own a Sidekick II myself and I disagree with a lot of the things you are saying.
I agree that the operating system is nice- it works better than any other smart phone I've used, and all the applications work very well together. That's not to say it's due for some improvements. The phonebook has room for screenames, yet in AIM you still see the screenames and not the names from the address book.
A better camera would be a welcome addition! My Sidekick takes such crappy pictures, and the flash is 100% useless in any lighting situations. I come across a lot of moments where I think "that's a camera-phone picture" and don't reach for my Sidekick because of the quality of the pictures.
The web browser is awesome! I think background image CSS support should be added because a lot of sites are switching to using web standards and a lot of images are set as backgrounds, which the Sidekick gets rid of.
Bluetooth is the future and Bluetooth is now. I too thought Bluetooth was a useless technology for me until a few months ago when I discovered some of the benefits. A Bluetooth headset isn't for everyone, but a lot of people like them. A lot of cars today come with a Bluetooth factory stereo which lowers your music and puts your call through the car. My computer has Bluetooth, which would be nice to sync contacts and such.
RE: Bluetooth & MP3: MP3 phones have never appealed to me, and yeah, the ROKR was a horrible failure... but it's becoming more and more practicle. I carry a 60 GB iPod video and a Sidekick II every day, and it's annoying. I would love to be able to load MP3s onto the Sidekick and listen to them when I'm in the mood. I would like to be able to assign those MP3s as ringtones (which will never happen because T-Mobile must be making loads of money from their ringtones), and I would like to be able to send friends with Bluetooth/MP3 enabled phones music. I saw a few friends sharing Bluetooth music in class from across the room, it seemed really cool.
If the new Sidekick III has an MP3 player, expandable memory will also be a welcome addition.
Sometimes I make calls and the call doesn't work due to no service or whatever the case may be, and even on silent or vibrate the call ended noise comes on... it's a bug.
LASTLY, this is my 3rd Sidekick, I've had other ones replaced to do damage and lost... and this problem is universal on every Sidekick I had. When making calls, there is sometimes static and when I plug it into the charger the static goes away. Wish the calls were of higher quality.
, work on it Danger!
JR @ Feb 17th 2006 11:27AM
#4/Rick: Don't you know that big is the new small? ;)
#5/Justin: I'm inclined to agree. It reminds me of the Nintendo Seal of Quality back in the day--the only "quality" they really cared about in most cases was the quality of the check from the would-be developers.
Travis @ Feb 17th 2006 12:53PM
@7/9: No, I don't (If you know of any openings there I will take it though.)
Yes, they are. I don't need WiFi on my phone, like i said I have G7 everywhere I go (Except my College, but no one gets a good signal there.) I live in a very well saturated market. Bluetooth offers ME nothing. USB I admit I do need, for debugging beta apps I test for people and uploading new app's to my phone. Aside from that, No It's pointless... The Danger Web Proxy doesn't allow you to use your phone as a modem, Danger will never get rid of the web proxy and that's that.
MP3 Functionality, I haven't seen a phone that does both well. I feel that when companies start mashing devices together, they are never strongl in all areas. Nothing can compare to my iPods, if they do include MP3 functionality I will carry my iPod still, it isn't a inconvenience for me to carry 2 devices with me so I'll stick to it.
Homebrew Apps, I have a few of them on my phone... Compare those homebrew app's to applications in the catalog, there's NO comparison. The catalog applications blow them away. Right now the homebrew applications I have are... An RSS Aggregator. It sucks, It's slow, Unresponsive and causes my phone to freeze. An IRC client, It's not too bad... It has room for improvement... The memory leak is great though. There is NO contest between 'Homebrew' App's on skdr and your Catalog. Danger has set the bar extremely high and I applaud them for it, I have a better experience with applications. I have a lot of catalog applications and I have not experienced any MAJOR problems with them (Crashing, Freezing my phone, Memory Leaks, etc.) I cannot say the same for Homebrew applications.
@9: Ok, the Data plan for my SK2 is 20 bucks and as I said since 2.3/96350 web browsing has only gotten faster for me. And umm, The phone part of my phone eliminates the need for VoIP.
@10: After Danger approves it, the carrier has to approve it... It's a lengthy process to get an Application into the catalog. An application can also sit on skdr for a while before being submitted for the catalog.
@11: The operating system is a little on the buggy buggy and does have room for improvement (As you have said) But that's partially to blame on Danger. They don't seem to have a real good beta system, Hopefully that changes soon.
A better camera would be good but personally for what I use my sk2 cam for it's perfect.
Background image CSS support shouldn't be added. Ever. God no! The sk2 Web Browser should NEVER become a full fledge web browser. On such a small screen I rely on the Web Proxy to strip out all the useless crap I don't need to see while I'm on the go, and format sites to show up extremely well on my phone. If you want to see people's backgrounds while you're surfing MySpace, get a computer. Really.
You DON'T need bluetooth to sync the contacts! Jesus christ people do you know anything about the device you pay for? Ok, let me explain it real quick. Your pictures, Contacts, Email, Notes, Calendar. All stored server side. Look on your desktop interface for IntelliSync, It's a 10 dollar app. You can sync everything with it, Wirelessly! *gasps* (If you have a Mac like me, it's ActiveSync: Hiptop)
@12: Developer's don't pay to get applications in the catalog, they get paid for applications in the catalog. There are a few developers that make a living solely developing for the sidekick, a few of them are requiem software, protoap, and more. Compare their games/applications to those made by Jamdat or similar.... Who's are better? Defiantly those that exclusively develop for the SK2. They are much more integrated, better designed, and of MUCH higher quality than those large companies who are just porting their games over.
agent lead @ Feb 17th 2006 1:14PM
you actually cant sync your email...
but yes to everything else...
Donald @ Feb 17th 2006 1:58PM
I would buy a SK if there were Wi-Fi and VoIP integrated. Skype, GizmoProject, or GoogleTalk. Especially if Google release GoogleTalk Out I would made international call for cheap. With Wi-Fi, I would talk eventhough my computer is off and the bandwith is much better.
I really hope SK3 will be like that.
Emory @ Feb 17th 2006 2:40PM
Until Danger stops forcing me to store personal information on servers at Danger or T-Mobile, I see no reason why I would ever want to have one of these devices anywhere near me.
Keith Fernandes @ Feb 17th 2006 3:05PM
To all those lamenting the current crop of mp3 phones -
the ROKR E1 is not the only mp3 phone out there.
It is true that the mp3/phone combo is (or rather was) in the first generation of the technology and there are growing pains. However, there are quite a few of phones that have mp3 players that execute the combo perfectly.
Look no further than the SE W800i. Nearly 15 hours of music playback (nearly 30 hours in flight mode), a solid 2 MP point and shoot camera and a well performing phone as well.
The second generation of mp3 phones look even more promising including the next ROKR (E2) as they add onboard memory, dedicated music buttons, bluetooth stereo music, etc.
Jason @ Feb 18th 2006 11:54PM
this thing is ugly as s**t. i like the sk II a lot better, even if it lacks all the new features. I'm patient with standard GPRS. the only thing that would make me get this is if Cingular releases the hiptop.
Anthony Mesias @ Feb 19th 2006 10:30PM
T-mobile is coming out with the t-mobile@home later on this year. it will allow you to use a wifi connection to make all your calls instead of the gsm network. this means if there is a wifi signal you can use, then you can use yoru cell phone. thats why t-mobile is not carrying any treo's since the treo600. palm refused to put wifi in their phones and that is the direction t-mobile is going in.
Dglass @ Feb 22nd 2006 11:48PM
Now that SK3 is coming why isnt there any after market parts for the SK2?
Andy @ Mar 3rd 2006 2:05PM
Because danger and tmobile want to make more money. so you have four choices:
1. Send your sidekick II to a t-mobile repair center
2. Get a new one
3. Buy a broken sidekick on ebay and fix it yourself
4. Forget about sidekick.
Juan @ Jun 28th 2006 11:56PM
Today I got to hold and experience the sidekick III at a t-mobile store while I make my payment. I randomly asked and an associate brought a tester. Actually worked and everything. I loved it. If you like your sidekick II or will trutly love the sidekick III. I'm an exsiting tmobile customer so I order mine today with express shipping and should be here Friday.
My suggestion: Get it! I waited for about 1 year for the SKII to go down on prices...guess what? It never went down in price. Till this day SK II is still $250 with rebate. This time I'm not waiting...
Saeed Ahmed @ Jan 16th 2007 5:26PM
i want buy sidekick III if you can sell please reply
regards
saeed
steph @ Jun 17th 2008 4:54AM
i was wondering
does anyone know how to master reset the hiptop slide.
or find out your privacy lock code?
i cant get into my phone
thanks.