Yeah. I named the Sidekick iD. Full name, Robin Arthur Tyler.

Two weeks ago I wrote about how Mark Oshiro, community manager at Buzznet, was kind enough to send me his old phone so that I could add it to a collection of old cell phones. Once received, the temptation was too great to just throw it into a box and let it collect dust. I really did try to resist, but the whole flash of its wide screen, rubber bumpers, and colorful trackball won me over. Plus, I couldn’t really add it to my collection if I hadn’t actually used it myself, right? My first two Nokias were second-hand phones, given to me by my big bro! So, I had to try it out for myself!

So, with a bit of guilt I plugged in my SIM card, worked around its charging port issue, and gave it a whirl. Here’s what I think of my first ever T-Mobile Sidekick.

Design:

I’ve seen the other Sidekicks—the Sidekick LX, the Sidekick ’08—and compared to them, I think I’d want one of those. However, with rumors flying about a new sidekick for 2009, I just might wait until that happens in real life. That said, the Sidekick is a pretty nifty thing. Let’s go ahead and re-mention the replaceable bumpers and multi-colored back-lit trackball. They’re fun and exciting! I could make my phone blue if I wanted to! Or yellow! Or red and yellow if I so desired!

So the phone is customizable based on its user’s taste. So I already have red bumpers on the phone. I plan to get a yellow battery cover to place the grey one on the back, and once that’s done, Robin Arthur Tyler will have a color representative of each of its namesakes.

The full QWERTY keyboard is well-laid out, with each button perfectly spaced for easy typing. Very seldom does the Sidekick iD miss my typing, even if I need to type the same letter twice (example, letter). My Dash suffered from an inability to register two keypresses at my super-texting speed. The Sidekick keeps up with me. It’s very responsive. Everyone says it, and now I believe:

This phone was made for texting

Also, the thing’s got buttons everywhere! There are two shoulder buttons, just like my Nintendo DS, and then the four main buttons on each corner, for various things like menus, shortcuts, OK and CANCEL, and then the talk/end buttons. Somehow they manage to fit this layout into a workable pattern, and more buttons means GAMING!!! While I have yet to download Megaman II, I can already see the potential. The earpiece is even an 8-way directional pad, perfect for playing games like Castlevania and the Oregon Trail! The volume buttons, located down by the bottom, are a problem for me in that I, while closing the Sidekick, sometimes brush up against them, triggering a sound profile change. But that’s the only complaint I have for the feel of the thing.

The best part about this and any Sidekick (except for the Sidekick Slide) is the way the screen opens up to reveal the keyboard. It flips out like a madman. You just tap one corner, and the darn thing flings itself like a spring-loaded electronic visual display—nearly jolting the entire phone out of your hands—locking as it reaches its 180° rotation. And it’s pretty awesome.

The worst part? Well, the main reason I’d want a newer Sidekick? The size. This thing is bulky. And for someone who carries around a bunch of equipment already, one more big thing is just too much.

You see, I’m the kind of guy who needs pockets of pockets. I got my keys, my bottle opener, more keys, my digital camera, sometimes my DS in case I plan on being bored while out. (yes, I’m still very much a child.) I got lots of change to carry around and use, I got a second battery for this Sidekick to compensate for its busted charging port. And that’s another thing, that Sidekick iDs across the world have a defect where the charging port just blows after a short time. Anyway, I carry all this stuff around on my person, and now there’s no more room for the Sidekick itself? Then again, complaints like this are probably the reason they make tiny cell phones.

Software:

The thing I love about the software is that it runs on an operating system called DangerOS! And the back of the phone, behind the battery, proudly exclaims, “Powered by Danger!” It makes me feel like a badass just running around with Robin.

The other thing I love about it is that anything I do makes an awesome noise. Flip open the screen, and the Sidekick is leaping from your hands, it’s making gear-grinding noises to indicate it’s opening. Close it, the two sounds that make the composite sound even play in reverse, and I feel like I’m carrying a real machine around in my pocket!

Pressing the four main buttons, or any combination, provides cool futuristic robot noises. It’s great aural feedback, especially if I press key and button combinations that are invalid, because awesome noises come out! I actually spent ten minutes just playing around with the sound effects. Open, close, Menu+Cancel, Jump+O. I fell in love.

The design is relatively intuitive. You can use either the earpiece or the trackball to scroll through the menus or the Jump screen. Pressing the trackball selects. AIM is built in—which sucks because today I got seven spam IMs sent directly to my phone—and texting is a snap. I mean, I’m ready to just agree with everyone:

This phone was made for texting

The phone application itself is kind of weird. I had made and/or received a couple of calls. The earpiece/speaker gives me a lot of hiss, and T-Mobile Customer Care’s automated part couldn’t understand the words that were coming out of my mouth. And when I was on the phone with my girlfriend, she was getting annoyed when I kept asking her to repeat everything—sometimes in triplicate. Clearly:

This phone was made for texting

The security on the phone is simple. A combination-lock comprising of three digits. The fact that the phone has an easy-to-use calendar, notepad, to-do list is awesome. Plus, they all sync with T-Mobile Desktop, which I can access and change no matter where I am, as long as I have online access.

Oh. Speaking of online, I hate that this phone doesn’t have Adobe Flash capabilities. I hate that I can’t log into NetFlix on this phone. I hate that I can’t watch YouTube videos on this phone. Obviously,

This phone was made for texting

But at least I can get on Facebook, Twitter, Buzznet, GMail, and DrexelOne, should I need to.

Oh, but I really hate how they lock everything out, so I can’t download photos from my Flickr or Robots & Racecars MP3s to the phone. Then again,

This phone was made for texting

right? I shouldn’t care about not getting to listen to music. Or that I can’t use my Bluetooth headset on this phone. Or that I can’t send a picture that I downloaded to my friends. Or that I can’t even download a picture. Right?

I still care. And on these points, the phone FAILS.

Overall:

Whenever I cover all the things I hate about this phone, it’s a wonder to me why I’m talking about getting the new, rumored Sidekick once it’s released. But if other Sidekicks have a larger SMS memory, allow me to send MMS messages, aren’t horribly crippled by T-Mobile, and have all the cool stuff I love from Robin Arthur Tyler, you can sign me up!

This Sidekick seemed like a nice intro into the Sidekick family for me. It was affordable when released, and now that it’s discontinued, I’m sure they’ll only be cheaper. It’s a great marketing ploy, because every day I think I’d like Sidekick more and more if I give it a chance. And other models have to be better than this. I have to thank Mark for this. Actually, T-Mobile has to thank Mark for this. He got them another Sidekick customer.

Also—and I think I should mention this—this phone, coupled with an unlimited messaging package, is just freaking sweet. Despite having to delete my text messages every hour, I really think this phone is an awesome piece of technology for Twitter. Updates all the time.

This phone was made for texting