T-Mobile Sidekick 3 Review : Specs, reviews and prices.

The Sidekick has long been the phone of choice for Hollywood socialites and hipsters, and after having tested out the Sidekick 3 myself, I can certainly see why this is so. It's the ultimate all-in-one package, featuring it's signature flip screen, easy-to-type QWERTY keyboard, an Internet browser, digital camera, music player, and more. The Sidekick 3 is definitely an improvement over the Sidekick 2, featuring upgrades all-around.

The Sidekick 3 compared to its predacessors has a much smaller and stylish design. It's slightly smaller, and a little bit more rounded, and that alone earns points with me. While the Sidekick and Sidekick 2 were cool, they were a bit bulky and awkward to carry around. The Sidekick 3 is 20% smaller, which is small enough to slip into a pocket, yet large enough to find easily in a crowded purse (which is a good thing).

The Sidekick 3 saw several upgrades as compared to the previous model. The camera has been fine tuned for better quality, which is a nice gesture, although with the higher quality images you do tend to fill up more of the built-in storage. Mine only allowed me to store 3 images on the camera without a miniSD card installed. Bummer.

My favorite upgrade to the Sidekick 3, other than the overall size and design, was the replacement of the scroll wheel with the super-cool glowing trackball. It makes navigating the phone a million times easier, and for those concerned with aesthetics, the trackball glows a rainbow of colors on start-up and shut-down, and when it's just sitting there it flashes various colors like blue, orange, or green.

The Sidekick 3 also saw the addition of a music player, which is something not found on previous models. Personally when it comes to listening to music, I prefer my iPod Nano or iPod Shuffle over listening to music on the phone, so the music player is something I could have really done without. But I suppose it does serve as a nice addition to a long list of cool features.

The keyboard and keys also saw an upgrade. Instead of the old membrane keys, the Sidekick 3 now has harder plastic keys which allow for faster and more responsive texting, emailing and dialing. If you've ever had another cell phone and tried texting, you definitely want to try out the Sidekick 3 as there's nothing better than texting on it. When it comes to ease of use, the Sidekick 3 surpasses most, if not all, other multimedia mobile phones.

Notably missing from the Sidekick 3 are the iconic rubber bumpers. On previous models these rubber pieces could be taken off and your choice of a rainbow of colored rubber pieces could be inserted. It was a way to customize yours and make it stand out from the sea of same-colored Sidekicks, but it definitely will not be missed by most. These rubber pieces, after some time, tended to fall out, stick out, and become an utter pain in the rear. While some claim that the rubber pieces offered some degree of extra protection, I can say confidently that I dropped the Sidekick 3 several times (accidentally) on concrete and it works as good as ever and suffered no scratches, cracks or damage. The Sidekick is a pretty tough cookie, which is great if you're klutzy like me and drop your phone on occassion.

The Sidekick's OS got cleaned up, and tweaked for better organization and ease of use. Similiar applications were grouped together into single-menu items that open in subfolders. As far as backgrounds go, the Sidekick's options are limited, although slightly better than previous versions. The Sidekick 3 allows you to choose from one of three background styles. I prefered the classy pink and maroon styling of the "Juicy Couture" background, but I really wish I could get rid of the image of the people on the background. In fact, I really wish that I could put whatever image I want as the background, and that's something Danger should really consider for any future versions of the Sidekick. We like options, and that background option is somethings sorely lacking in the Sidekick.

While the internet access has been somewhat improved over previous editions due to the Sidekick now operating on T-Mobile's EDGE network, it could definitely still be improved. Get it as fast as the 3G on Cingular's network, and I'd be pleased as punch. In fact, I'd be grinning ear to ear. Having been spoiled with high-speed internet access at both home and work, it's a real downer when your phone can't go nearly half as fast.

I love the Sidekick 3 and would definitely recommend to anyone who is as interested in text messaging, emailing, and instant messaging as they are actually talking on the phone. And if you're big on personalization, ColorWare can brighten up your Sidekick 3 by replacing the boring silver with your choice of a range of colors. I'm tempted to send mine off, but I can't bare to part with it. So if you get one, I'd recommend sending it off to ColorWare before you get too attached (that way you won't yet know what you are missing).

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