i have been a sidekick user since the first version. chad and bryan had actually bought them on initial release and after playing with theirs i knew i had to have it. after i got mine i did my best to encourage others to buy it. the phone had so much promise. it was a great geek toy and the potential for development by its users was limitless, or so we thought.

we quickly realized that there just wasn’t going to be any real development for this phone without either signing away your warranty rights or just sitting and waiting forever for any kind of over the air update. however tmobile was really good about replacing the b&w and color versions of the original sidekick as they were prone to hardware malfunction quite frequently.

i have owned a b&w sidekick and upgraded to a color. i gave my b&w to joel who got a free upgrade to color after the b&w broke a few times. that jerk. i had to pay for both! i eventually upgraded to a sidekick 2 and yes, i upgraded to a sidekick 3.

i have investigated a lot of phones through the years. i’ve always wanted something better, something new, something cooler but nothing ever really rose to the occasion. i accepted the fate of the sidekick; it would become a trendy celebrity hip hop toy, and while im sure it was a good move for danger and tmobile it still fucking sucks.

im not a heavy phone user in itself, but i rely heavily on email, aim, and sms (from my phone). I also play the shit out of it (tetris and bust a move). i have one of the original plans that has been grandfathered every time i renew contract. its a 39.99 a month plan for unlimited data, 200 anytime minutes and 1000 weekend minutes. a lot of ppl say “oh those minutes are trash” but as i said before i don’t rely heavily on the phone. however i started to use the phone more and more and occasionally would suffer a .35 penalty on extra minutes which sucked ass. i eventually upgraded and added on unlimited mobile to mobile minutes for 7 bux. one of the major reasons i’ve never left behind the sidekick and/or tmobile was simply because, my plan rules.

here are the specs on the phone. some of the upgrades are a 1.3 mexapixel camera, expandable memory (miniSD), lighter, slightly slimmer frame. mp3 player. improved battery life, bluetooth, usb, added email protocols imap4 (they had pop3), they now offer msn along with aim and yahoo. you can also read the manual online on dangers site.

Specifications:

Battery Life Talk time (hours): 5 hours

Standby time (days): 60 hours

Talk and standby times and other specifications are provided by the manufacturer and are approximate. Actual performance varies based upon features or services used, network configuration, signal strength, operating temperature, customer use, and other factors.

Battery Type is listed here

Changeable Faceplates No

Codecs AMR

EFR

FR

HR

Dimensions Height 1.26 width 1.90 thickness in inches

Display Type: SXVGA

Colors: (16-bit) 65K

Size: (pixels) 240 x 160

Mini Display N/A

Memory Memory listed in KB, MB, GB

Expandable Memory: Yes

Type: miniSD

Frequency Bands GSM 850

GSM 1800

GSM 1900

Phone Style Flip screen

Phone book Capacity 2000 in device memory, 650 on SIM Card

Operating System Proprietary

Weight Weight (in ounces): 6.7

Call Management

Picture Caller ID Yes

Ringer Caller ID Yes

Speed Dial / One-Touch Dial Yes

Maximum Amount of Speed Dial Entries: 9

Speakerphone Yes

Type: Full-Duplex

Vibrate Yes

Voice Dialing No

Camera

Modes Yes – Airplane mode, maximum. Loud, normal, soft, buzz, and silent

Megapixel(s) Yes

Megapixels: 1.3

Resolution In pixels: 38,400

Video Capture No

Zoom No

Connectivity

Bluetooth Yes

Bluetooth Profile: 1.2

Browser Type:

Type Version:

Supports: WAP (1.0, 1.2.1, 2.0), HTML, XHTML, XML

EDGE Yes

Class: E2

GPRS Yes

Class: Rel 0.4

Infrared (IR) Port No

Synchronization Yes, No

SyncML Yes, No

UMA No

USB Support Yes

USB Mass Storage Yes

Wi-Fi No

Messaging

E-mail Client Yes

Protocols Supported: IMAP4, POP3

Instant Messaging Client Yes – AIM®, Yahoo!®, and MSN® Messenger

MMS / Picture Messaging No

SMS / Text Messaging Yes

Concatenation Support: Yes

Digital TTY/TDD Support: Yes – two apps available for download through the PDM catalog that support TTY: “IP Relay” and “Sprint Wireless Relay”

Predictive Text: Yes

Predictive Text Technology: User configurable Auto Text

Organization

Alarm No

Calculator No

Calendar Yes

Currency converter No

Dictionary No

Memo / Notepad Yes, No

To-do List Yes, No

Phone book Multiple numbers per name: Yes

Address Field: Yes

E-mail Field: Yes

Caller Groups: Yes

Voice Memo No

Personalization & Fun

FM Radio No

Games Embedded: Yes

Games installed: listing of games: Rock and Rocket

Downloadable: Yes

Music Player Yes

Type of Player: SonicBOOM

Supported file formats: MP3

Ringtones Yes

Types Supported: Polyphonic (# of chords), HiFi – t-zones not supported, but there is a Danger download catalog

Themes Yes

Themes Provided: Liquid, Madison, Rodeo, and Surface

Wallpaper Yes

Types Supported: Static

WHATS IN THE BOX:

PV200 Main Unit / With Screen Cling

PV-BL11 1500MAh Battery

PV-AC11 Battery Charger / AC Adaptor

PV-HS11 Stereo Headset

PV-CA11 Carrying Case

PV-LN11 Lanyard / Wrist Strap

PV-SD64M 64 MB Mini-SD Card

PV-UC11 USB Cable

TM0607 Gift Box

TRAY200UP Upper Gift Box Tray

TRAY200BOT Lower Gift Box Tray

TM1352 Start Guide

TM1353 Reference Guide

TM1350 Terms & Conditions Guide

ZZZ260R010 SIM Card

TM1024 Legal Sticker

TM1351 Accessory Guide (will not be in initial BOM)

if you’re wondering what it looks like, it hasn’t changed that much. like i said before they made it a bit slimmer, they also added in a trackball instead of a wheel.