The world is two weeks away from seeing the new T-Mobile Sidekick LX. This new Sidekick boasts the thinnest form factor and the biggest screen resolution, as well as a free Twitter application and 3G network capability.

Needless to say I am very excited about this. Not only will I be getting a new cell phone, but it’s going to be a fucking sweet car cell phone! (I’ve taken to quoting Grandma’s Boy whenever I say “fucking sweet” about something.) For the next fourteen days (though not every day), until the release of the new Sidekick LX, I will be writing about how excited I am about this phone and things I find important in a mobile device.

Today we start with—

form factor

Back when mobile phones were first unleashed in the world, they were big, clunky things. Back in the 80′s and 90′s, car phones were something you had because you were rich and/or needed to be within reach of communication at all times. These things were about the size of four pop tarts if you stacked them on top of each other. However, they weren’t as tasty.

Form back then wasn’t such a big deal. You generally had two styles: bar phone and bar phone with button cover.

Nowadays, you have sliders, clams, flippers, and the good old old bar design. And then you have the Sidekick. When it was first introduced, not many phones had screens that swiveled into place when touched. I never was interested in the Sidekick other than the fascinating way you would open it to access its full keyboard, and even today I have this fear that somehow I’ll accidentally break the swivel mechanism and then I’m out a Sidekick LX.

I think my favorite style of phone was the clamshell kind. Your phone can be half as big just by folding it, and its bulkiness never really bothered me. My favorite clamshell was this Panasonic cell phone because it was easy to use, had a flashy front-light to indicate ringing or text messaging, and of course, flipped!

But for some reason, most of my old mobile phones were bar-style. Just a block of phone that you slid into your pocket when you were done with it, hoping your movements didn’t have it accidentally dial your best friend or 911.

The Sidekick has an interesting swivel in that it’s performed automatically by a spring, and makes an awesome noise whenever you flip it. And that’s why I love its form factor. Not just a plain old bar phone, and not just a swivel phone that gives you access to the keypad and phone speaker. Its screen swivels and makes awesome metal clunking noises to reveal a full keyboard and makes you look important as you surf YouTube on T-Mobile’s 3G network!

In upcoming days I will cover more on my own personal mobile phone experience. Next up, keypad/keyboard design!