For instant communication gratification, the Sidekick comes preloaded with three of the major instant-messaging clients: AOL, Yahoo, and Windows Live Messenger. You can hold up to 10 simultaneous conversations, and you can switch between conversations quickly by pressing the Menu and D buttons. And if you happen to lose your network connection in the middle of a session, the Sidekick will save the chat until a connection is restored. IM gets a couple of new tricks with the update. For example, you can now create and join group chats and instantly see who's online from your address book or e-mail. The Sidekick LX also supports text and multimedia messaging.
The LX's phone features include quad-band world roaming, speed dial, call forwarding, three-way calling, a call log, a vibrate mode, and a speakerphone. The Sidekick's address book holds up to 2,000 contacts, with room in each entry for five numbers, an e-mail address, an IM account, a Web URL, a street address, and notes. You can also add contacts to a Favorites list (separate from MyFaves). For caller-ID purposes, you can pair an entry with a photo, a group ID, or one of 22 ringtones. The LX is also a myFaves-compatible phone, giving you unlimited calling to five contacts, regardless of carrier. Plans for myFaves start at $39.99 a month.
Other wireless options on the LX include Bluetooth and EDGE. Supported Bluetooth profiles include those for use with wireless headsets, hands-free car kits, or you can wirelessly send a vCard to another Bluetooth device. We suspect you'll be happy to hear that the A2DP profile has been added with the update, so you can now pair the Sidekick with stereo Bluetooth headsets. You can also send photos, videos, and music via Bluetooth. As for data connection, you're left to rely on T-Mobile's EDGE network with speeds of around 100Kbps to 130Kbps. EDGE is OK, but we would have also liked to see the inclusion of Wi-Fi to have another option for Web browsing.
The one distinctively new feature on the Sidekick LX is the MySpace Mobile application. Located under the Communities page, you can now log on and interact with the social networking site almost in the same manner as you do on your computer. The user interface has been customized for mobile phones, but you still have the ability to edit your profile, upload photos, and so forth. MySpace fiends can even stay signed on and get real-time updates on new messages and comments, friend requests, and see which friends are currently online. Given that the LX will mostly likely attract younger users, the MySpace integration was a smart move on T-Mobile and Danger's part.
The Sidekick LX has a built-in media player, and we're glad to see increased support for various file formats. You can now play MP3, WAV, WMA, and AAC, among others, as well as 3GP and MPEG 4-SP video files. You can search for songs by artist, album, genre, or composer, as well as organize tracks into playlists. To get media onto the Sidekick, you can use the included USB cable and then drag and drop files from your PC to the Sidekick (which should show up as an external drive on your PC). The LX has 64MB of internal memory, so we'd recommend storing your music files on a microSD card, and the LX's expansion slot can accept cards up to 4GB.
The T-Mobile Sidekick LX comes with the same 1.3-megapixel camera and with the new update, now supports video recording and playback. You can take snapshots in three sizes--1,280x1,024, 640x480, or 320x240--and adjust the quality from low to high. Other than that, your editing options are limited; you can activate the flash, change the JPEG quality, or rotate the image, but that's about it. The new video capabilities are an overdue but welcome addition. You can also use the flash in video mode, but be aware that you're limited to a 20-second recording limit. Once done shooting photos and videos, you can create an album right on your device or share your images with others via multimedia message or e-mail. Picture quality was subpar. Though we could make out the images in the picture fairly clearly, colors were washed out and dull. Video quality was also pixilated and there was a hazy effect to the overall picture.
Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) T-Mobile Sidekick LX in San Francisco using T-Mobile service, and call quality was average. We could hear a slight but annoying background buzz as we talked to friends, but they reported clear audio and said we sounded good. Though we ran into the same ambient noise, we had no problems interacting with our bank's automated voice response system. The speakerphone yielded similarly mixed results. We had difficulty hearing our callers even in a quiet room with the volume at its highest level. On the other hand, our callers didn't have too many complaints other than hearing a slight echo. The one upside is that we successfully paired the LX with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset as well as the Motorola S9 Active Bluetooth Headphones.
General performance was snappy, but surfing the Web seemed pokey on T-Mobile's EDGE network (what can we say--we've been spoiled by 3G). Listening to MP3s on the Sidekick's speakers left much to be desired. The sound was weak and tinny, and any outside noise drowned out the volume, even at its highest level. However, quality improved when we plugged in a nice pair of headphones--thank goodness for the 3.5mm headphone jack.
The T-Mobile Sidekick LX's internal 1540mAh lithium ion battery is rated for six hours of talk time and up to four days of standby time. We are currently in the process of running our battery drain tests and will update this section as soon as we have final results. According to FCC radiation tests, the Sidekick LX has a digital SAR rating of 0.89 watt per kilogram.
What You'll Pay
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