![]() Group Text provides functionality similar to that of other app- or web-based group texting services like GroupMe, allowing you to create and manage a group of contacts and send mass SMS messages. The Sidekick 4G stays true to its chat roots with a slew of messaging options, including Google Talk and the phone's signature Group Text and Cloud Text Features. And although the handset is clearly meant to be used primarily in landscape mode, several apps and functions require it to be in portrait orientation. That's a bit of a shame on a touchscreen device. With some apps, like the Facebook widget, you have no choice but to use the Back button (heavily) to navigate. Once inside an app or widget though, you lose those options. It's not exactly multitasking, but it is a timesaver. ![]() The Jump key (a Sidekick legacy) was particularly handy in this respect: It lets you switch from one recently used application to another while bypassing the home screen. But it's fine once you find one method you prefer over the others. It's less than intuitive – there are three ways to access just about every app or feature of the phone, which can be a little confusing. The Sidekick 4G comes with Samsung's Kick UX skin for Froyo onboard. Male friends with longer - normal-sized? – thumbs thought the keyboard size was just right. Sliding the screen back in without pressing any of the buttons also takes some getting used to.įor my dainty lady thumbs, the QWERTY keyboard was a little uncomfortably spaced out, dropping my texting speed a few notches. This leads to a lot of unintended volume adjustments, screen shut-offs and other accidental button-presses when flipping the screen up. You can't apply the force horizontally, which is a departure from other slide-out keyboards, and from the swivel screen on older Sidekicks.Īlso, the volume rocker and power button sit just a hair below where you need to place your thumbs to push the display out. But all you have to do is nudge it free of the body, and the screen springs out the rest of the way on its own. Sliding the screen out takes a bit of practice: You need to use both thumbs, applying pressure to the crack between the screen and keyboard. The Sidekick's screen slides out using a unique "pop-tilt" mechanism, revealing the display's sassy pink underside, after it's snapped into a comfortable viewing angle. That thickness comes from the physical keyboard under the screen. It fits in a front pocket, but it is a bit chunky. ![]() The phone has about the same heft as an iPhone 4, but is slightly longer and about 50 percent thicker. I really wanted the Home button to be on the bottom right when it's held in landscape orientation, with the Back button above that and the Menu and Jump keys on the left. A Menu key and Back key are situated on the right, with a small optical track button sandwiched in the middle.īeing right handed, it took a while to get used to this button placement. A Home button and Jump button grace the left side. Samsung stuck with the traditional Sidekick silhouette, with two buttons placed on either side of the 3.5-inch 480 x 800 resolution touchscreen. It's an Android phone built for the 4G now, but it has some hardware and software quirks that make it feel several steps behind. So, can the Sidekick make a comeback? Samsung hopes so: The latest iteration of the old classic, the Sidekick 4G for T-Mobile, stays true to its heritage while bumping up its specs and adding a host of media and entertainment perks. Over the years, the Sidekick and its successors ended up losing out to the newer breed of smartphones ushered in by the iPhone – devices with advanced operating systems and apps, and with touch displays in place of physical keyboards. And the large screen – bigger than most other phones in 2002 – made tasks like browsing the web and writing e-mails on your phone actually seem like ideas worth getting used to. It was aligned horizontally to make typing easier, but it wasn't too bulky. With a flip of the thumb, you could expose the physical keyboard hidden behind the screen. You could say the original Sidekick was the first shot fired in the smartphone revolution.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |