First Impressions

[Ghost14]

Hey guys what are your first impessions of the phone? I just picked mine up (I'm on it righ now) and it is phenomenal. It may not be a G2X but the screen is way nicer than I would have thought and its a lot thinner than it seems in the videos. Maybe this is because I came from a Moto Cliq but who knows. I'm excited I had 4g speeds for a second but it went back to edge before I could clock it. So what do you guys think?

 

[eggFuJON]

I came from an LG Optimus V on Virgin Mobile. I couldn't do without a physical keyboard so this phone satisfies my needs. 4G is awesome. Camera is good. Too bad no flash, though. I have no fears about the sliding/hinge. Those top-half, bottom-half sliders I didn't really like because sometimes there'd be gaps and just didn't sit flush when closed. This phone is just the screen and it is flush. No worry about gaps or flimsiness.
The key player is the keyboard and it is one of the best I have ever used.
Some things I don't like it that it sometimes lags, mainly on the home launcher. And the outside shoulder buttons are not backlit, only the keyboard. The shoulder buttons not backlit are a pretty big issue. Idk why they omitted that. But I personally do not mind.

 

[Ghost14]

The key player is the keyboard and it is one of the best I have ever used.
Some things I don't like it that it sometimes lags, mainly on the home launcher. And the outside shoulder buttons are not backlit, only the keyboard. The shoulder buttons not backlit are a pretty big issue. Idk why they omitted that. But I personally do not mind.

They Keyboard is definitely amazing. Its even better than my Sidekick LX. This keyboard is hands down the best on the market. I've found myself using Swype a little more, but for long messages and emails, the keyboard is phenomenal.

Yeah I have to agree with the backlighting, its odd they don't have it but then again use the phone for a day and you already have those keys memorized, so not a problem at all.

Its funny how so many people on Twitter have been criticizing T-Mobile for "bringing the Sidekick back from the dead" but this phone is better than 95% of the phones out there. Just because it doesn't compete with dual core phones, there are only two that have even been released. The screen is the same size as the iPhone and although it lacks the retina display it is still wonderful plus you get a keyboard and all of the Android apps.

Its just funny people tweeting from their MyTouch's, G2's and such are acting like this phone is a piece when its better that what they are running.

 

[eggFuJON]

I believe those aforementioned HTC devices are far better by a longshot. But I do not care. I love the G2 keyboard. If only the Sidekick had that layout but 5-row like its own than that would make the keyboard perfect. But it still is a great keyboard.

Btw, how has the phone been for you? Battery life is nowhere near the Optimus V running Aphrodite. The Sidekick's battery seems to be a little better than Optimus V running aosp4.3. But I am still satisfied. I had a 3hr call and lost probably about 20%. Not bad at all.
My biggest issue for me now is phone calls. The receiving party cannot hear me as much because the Sidekick's mic is low. I didn't have any trouble with other phones. I am sure an update is due once T-Mobile hears of the issues and bugs I posted on the other thread.

 

[Ghost14]

Battery is a lot better than my Cliq when it was running 2.1, but I feel like I should be getting a little more out of it. I got about 13 hours out of it today with sporadic web surfing, two downloads from the market, one 4 minute phone call, and heavy texting on vibrate. My one qualm is that the vibrating notification for texts is very long and I feel like if you could change it to make it shorter, battery could be slightly saved.

I also would like to make the notification light blink more often than every minute, if it blinked every 10 seconds or so, I would find it more useful....again options they should have.

I haven't actually had any mic issues so far. Everyone I've called has said I sound very clear...but I'll let you know if I run into this issue at all.

I do have one question, though. In the SMS app, what is the padlock icon to the right of everyone's name?? Maybe I'm some sort of an idiot but I just can't figure out what it is for.

 

[eggFuJON]

The padlock is if you want to protect a message. Say, if you were to accidently delete it or include it in a batch delete, it would prevent it from being deleted. However, it would ask if you want to delete included locked threads. If you press Yes then it will delete it.

 

[li2327]

I'm loving my sidekick so far. I use to have the original sidekicks with the danger os then moved on to blackberry then iphone then android. Don't think I could leave android. The keyboard is amazing. I love how spaced out the keys are. The phone also has a pretty good weight to it. I'm impressed.

 

[acw81]

Just got mine and i am definitely loving it. I think best phone i've owned so far. My only problem is the battery life but at least it has a task manager