Trying Out the Latest Sidekick By Walt Mossberg and Katherine Boehret
When it comes to cool hand-held devices, one always stands out in the crowd: the T-Mobile Sidekick. You may have seen photos of Hollywood stars posing with this device like an accessory, or maybe you've just seen someone using one and you caught yourself wondering what it was.
The Sidekick, built for T-Mobile by Sharp Electronics Corp., doesn't look like most common hand-helds, such as the Palm Treo or RIM BlackBerry, which are designed with a screen and keyboard lined up under one another for convenient emailing, phone use and Web browsing. Instead, the Sidekick is meant to be held horizontally and its screen must be twisted out with a dramatic, eye-catching snap in order to use its hidden keyboard underneath. In closed-keyboard position, the device can be held up to your ear vertically to use as a phone.
This week, we tested the latest version of this trendy hand-held, the Sidekick 3. It will officially launch July 10 for $300 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile USA Inc., but is available just for current T-Mobile customers starting today for 12 days.