Review: Sidekick LX
2007-11-06 16:26 -
I’ve had my Sidekick LX now for two weeks. Keep in mind that I skipped the Sidekick 3 generation entirely, so it probably seems a lot more impressive to me than it would to a Sidekick 3 user.
Things I like:
- The trackball took a little getting used to, but is pretty indispensable and awesome for quickly navigating through things
- The resolution is nice and sharp (although not nearly that of my friends’ Zaruses)
- Battery life seems pretty comparable to the Sidekick II (lasts about 18-24 hours of heavy use).
- The keyboard is less prone to wear compared to the Sidekick II (my old keyboard was peeling off)
- Mmm, mp3 player.
- The design is a lot classier than the Sidekick II and feels very snazzy.
- The flashing trackball light conserves power a lot better than keeping the screen active all the time.
- Having submenus to cluster IM services is extremely useful, as is the quick jump menu.
Things I don’t like:
- Two accidental taps while in keyguard pin entry mode will result in a call to 911. Thankfully, the only times it’s been set off have been when there was no reception, so I didn’t accidentally gum up the emergency response lines, but…
- No SSH client available for purchase yet. Granted, I can compile it from the 3.0 example source using my devkey, but I’m lazy and would rather have something that’s guaranteed to work in a production environment when things go south.
- No more Flash LED controls in the debug menu so I can use it as a flashlight
- The sound effects are a lot more abrupt and disruptive. In general, I’m nostalgic for the old sound scheme.
- Hiding the notes application in the organizer submenu is very frustrating, as I use only the notes app and not the calendar or tasklist apps. There’s no way to customize it either :/
- The Javascript support is still very gimped, and won’t run anything remotely AJAX-like.
All in all, the Sidekick LX is an indispensable tool much like the Sidekick II was for the two years it survived in my hands. I definitely would buy the LX over an iPhone any day due to the sturdy construction and the keyboard, but if the iPhone ever were to get a physical keyboard, I’d spring for the iPhone instead. The iPhone has a much broader range of available software, as well as a full Safari browser.
<- Reps. Frank and Pelosi throw transpeople under the bus A Phyrric victory ->
You know, there are a bunch of other options out there for quick messaging, support of SSH & VPN, etc. Opera on a Treo with the IBM Java Runtime works rather slick. If you’re around next time I’m near your office, you can tinker with mine.
— Nate Nov 29, 01:16 PM #