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CNET editors' rating:
stars
Good
Detailed editors' rating - Average user rating: 3.0 stars out of 46 reviews
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Product summary
The good: The T-Mobile Sidekick Slide features a slide-up screen and a more compact frame than previous models. The handheld continues to offer excellent messaging features as well as Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and a music player. It also works with MySpace Mobile.
The bad: The Slide's QWERTY keyboard is a bit stiff, and the camera doesn't record video. You need a microSD card to play music, and the expansion slot is located inconveniently behind the battery. Also, call quality could have been better.
The bottom line: With its slide-up screen, the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide offers a nice design alternative to the other Sidekick models. It's fine for first-time users but diehard Sidekick fans may prefer the more robust T-Mobile Sidekick LX.
Specifications: Band / mode: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (Quadband) ; Talk time: Up to 354 min ; Combined with: With digital camera / digital player ; See full specs
CNET editors' review
- Reviewed on: 11/07/2007
- Updated on: 11/30/2007
- Released on: 11/07/2007
Editors' note: After the initial release of the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide, T-Mobile and Motorola determined that some units had battery contact issues that caused the device to power off after opening and closing the phone. Motorola has since found a solution for the problem and will implement them to existing and new models. If you have an affected unit, or for more information, please check our Crave blog post for all the details.
The T-Mobile Sidekick Slide is one of two new Sidekicks (the other being the T-Mobile Sidekick LX) to makes its debut just in time for the holiday season. Unlike previous models, including the Sidekick 3, the Slide is the first Sidekick to be manufactured by Motorola and features a more compact design and slide-up screen. For the most part, the handheld offers many of the same features as the Sidekick LX, including excellent messaging functions, integrated Bluetooth, a 1.3-megapixel camera, and support for MySpace Mobile. However, we found the Slide's QWERTY keyboard harder to use, and the limited multimedia capabilities is disappointing. All that said, we think the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide is better suited for first-time buyers or newbies, especially with its cheaper $199.99 price tag (with a two-year contract), while diehard Sidekick fans might want to upgrade to the Sidekick LX.
Design
The T-Mobile Sidekick Slide represents a couple of design firsts for the messaging device. Unlike previous Sidekick models, the Slide is made by Motorola and not by Sharp/Danger, but that doesn't mean the company completely redesigned the device. In fact, the Slide keeps the same overall design and navigation controls of previous Sidekicks, so it will be a familiar experience for any previous or current Sidekick owners.
The other major difference between the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide and other Sidekicks is the slide-up screen. Instead of a swivel mechanism, you just push up the bottom of the display to expose the full QWERTY keyboard. The sliding motion is smooth, and the front cover locks into place with a satisfying click. While reviewing the Slide, I had a few people mention that they preferred the slider design over the swivel screen because it felt more secure, which I can understand. Though I haven't heard any stories of screens snapping off on the LX or older Sidekicks, the cover can feel rickety and loose in its open state. That said, I personally prefer Sidekick LX's look and overall design. Clearly, this is a matter of personal style, but it's nice to have an option.
The screen itself measures 2.5 inches diagonally with a 65,000-color output and 320x240 pixel resolution, so images and text looked bright and sharp. At 4.6 inches wide by 2.6 inches high by 0.6 inch deep and 5.3 ounces, the Slide is smaller and lighter than the T-Mobile Sidekick LX, Sidekick 3, and Sidekick iD. It sports a hip and fresh black-and-metallic-purple color scheme and has a nice, solid construction. The backside also features a soft-touch finish, making the handheld easier to grip. We found the Sidekick Slide very comfortable and natural to hold while typing messages, but the bulky shape makes it awkward to use as a phone. It will also make for a tight fit in a pants pocket.
The full QWERTY keyboard features circular buttons that are backlit very well and have a decent amount of spacing between them. However, it's not as roomy as the one found on the Sidekick LX, and I thought the buttons were a bit slippery and stiff to press. To the left of the display, you have the launch buttons for the Menu and MyFaves pages and a directional keypad. The latter is slightly different than previous Sidekicks as it's a large rectangular rather than a smaller square. To the right, there is a Cancel button, Talk and End keys, an OK button, and the trackball navigator.
The right spine houses a mini USB port and, much to our disappointment, a 2.5-millimeter headset jack rather than a 3.5-millimeter jack like the Sidekick LX. This means you'll need an adapter to use regular headphones with the device. Along the bottom edge of the handheld, you'll find the volume rocker and a power button, while there are two function buttons on top that perform different tasks depending on which application you are using. We found this last set of controls a bit hard to press since they're tiny and set flush with the phone's surface. Finally, the camera lens is on the back, and the microSD slot is located behind the battery cover. Having the expansion slot in this location is bad enough, but the Slide makes it extra difficult by having it butt up right against the bottom surface so it's difficult and awkward to insert the microSD card.
The T-Mobile Sidekick Slide comes packaged with an AC adapter, a USB cable, a belt holster, a wired headset, and reference material. For more add-ons for the Slide, please check out our cell phone accessories, ringtones, and help page.
Features
Similar to the T-Mobile Sidekick LX, a majority of the upgrades were made to the design of the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide and not so much to the feature set, which is disappointing. However, there are some new additions. We'll start with the messaging capabilities, since that's a huge draw of the device. Like previous models, the Slide comes with its own T-Mobile e-mail account with an always-on push e-mail solution for real-time message delivery. You can also access up to three additional POP3/IMAP4 accounts, and for the first time ever, T-Mobile is offering the same push solution for Yahoo and AOL accounts. The carrier will roll out this feature as an over-the-air update to Sidekick Slide and LX owners with the hopes of reaching all customers by the end of November. Once you receive the update, you'll just need your user login ID and password to get things set up.
As usual, the Sidekick Slide also 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 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. The Slide also supports text and multimedia messaging.
The Slide's phone capabilities 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 (the SIM card holds an additional 250 contacts), with room in each entry for five numbers, an e-mail address, an IM account, a Web URL, a street address, and notes. For caller-ID purposes, you can pair an entry with a photo, a group ID, or one of 22 ringtones. The Slide 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 T-Mobile Sidekick Slide 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. Unfortunately, you won't be able to pair the Sidekick with stereo Bluetooth headsets since there's no love for A2DP. 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 have seen the inclusion of Wi-Fi to have another option for Web browsing.
For multimedia, there's a built-in music player that supports MP3 and AAC files, but the Slide requires the use of a storage card to take advantage of this feature. The Slide's expansion slot can accept up to 4GB cards. You can search for songs by artist, album, genre, or composer, as well as organize tracks into playlists. The Slide is also equipped with a 1.3 megapixel camera but disappointingly, there's no flash or video-recording capabilities. There's a photo counter, and you get your choice of three image sizes (1,280x1,024, 640x480 or 320x240) and two exposure settings (normal daylight or night/lowlight). Once done snapping photos, you can organize them into albums, view them in a slide show, or send them to family and friends via e-mail or multimedia message. Now, despite the lack of a flash, the Slide produced some OK photos with clearly defined objects and decent color.
Finally, like the LX, the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide also works with the new MySpace Mobile application, which you can get through the device's Download Catalog. The mobile version of the social-networking site allows you to do many of the things you'd be able to do on a PC, such as edit your profile, upload photos, and so forth. In addition, you can get real-time updates on new messages and comments, friend requests, and see which friends are currently online. While it took a while to download and upload, we were impressed with how functional the application was as it wasn't just a watered-down version of MySpace with limited capabilities.
Performance
We tested the quad-band (GSM 850/900/1800/1900; GPRS/EDGE) T-Mobile Sidekick Slide using T-Mobile service, and call quality was OK. There was a noticeable hissing sound as we talked to friends, though it didn't prevent us from carrying on conversations or interacting with our bank's voice-automated system--more of a nuisance than anything. Meanwhile, our callers said we sounded tinny and as if we were talking from the bottom of a well. Surprisingly, audio quality improved once we activated the speakerphone, as voices sounded clearer on both ends. We had no problems pairing the Sidekick Slide with the Logitech Mobile Traveller Bluetooth headset.
Armed with 225MHz Texas Instruments OMAP 850 processor, general performance was snappy. The device really excels at messaging, though browsing the Web will test your patience a bit with the slower EDGE speeds. Finally, music playback through the phone's speakers was loud but lacked richness and bass.
The T-Mobile Sidekick Slide's battery has a rated talk time of 5 hours and up to 3 days of standby time. In our battery drain tests, we were able to get 10 hours of continuous talk time on a single charge, which is impressive. According to FCC radiation tests, the Sidekick Slide has a digital SAR rating of 0.67 watt per kilogram.
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