Sidekick iD finally launches {Engadget Mobile}

Apr 17th 2007 9:35AM I've had a Sidekick since the SK1-Color launched. (I have a SK3 now) I'm not quite sure I understand the delusions that this is a 'tinker-toy' for kids. Possibly it's T-Mobiles marketing of the device??

Personally, I enjoy the fact that it has a full-fledge E-Mail client (complete with the ability to have multiple POP3, IMAP and IMAP-SSL connections-- which means you can get your g-mail on this thing too.) along with a fairly good web-browser. The camera pretty much sucks as most mobile phone cameras do. It supports AIM, MSN and Yahoo, which is nice since I'm a technophile who can't be 'disconnected'.

The addressbook of the Sidekick surpasses any contact manager I've found. Multiple phone numbers, addresses, even fields for homepages and multiple email addresses. It's a all-out contact manager. Hell it even has a section to put peoples birthdays in there.

The calendar's UI is also pretty damn good. The fact that the sidekick has a near-real keyboard layout (not a square layout like the MDX and not so tiny that you can only use 1 thumb to type) and the action/feedback of the keys is great. It just kicks butt!! Oh did I mention it has an SSH terminal? Does it get any geekier than that??

The Sidekick is as close to a wearable computer as you can get without having to build it yourself. I'd take a Sidekick over a Blackberry any day.

The only downside to the Sidekick is the closed architecture. You're bound to the iron fist of T-Mobile's restricted list of apps you're allowed to load on your phone. That's my only complaint.