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If people carry them is because they use them. Sure, you can carry some gadget for a week for its novelty factor but if you don't use it sooner than later you will stop taking it with you.

Having said that PDAs are not for everybody. Unless you spend certain amount of time away from you desk and in need of contact information, scheduling or some specific application maybe a PDA is not for you.

Personally I love my XDA especially because I have my email always updated anywhere I go. I don't use it as a phone very often but when I do it works very well although certainly not as well as a normal cell phone.

Other than those features, it sucked. I took mine back just inside the 30 day satisfaction guarantee period. There were many times that I nearly threw it across the room in frustration and I don't even have a temper. The UI is that bad.

I turned it off on accident many times because logging off of the internet and turning the phone off are the same action in different places. The auto keylock only works if you return to the first screen. If you get a page while the keys are locked, it says "read now?", then when you press "yes" it says "keys are locked", and this is before it even shows you a hint as to the contents. Oh and we ended up in a conversation with the police one day because the keylock doesn't stop the emergency dialing of 911. Also, the web browser was worse than the CDPD mitsubishi that it was replacing. There were many other quirks too, these are the ones I remember.

I took mine back without a second thought and got a HipTop a.k.a. a T-Mobile SideKick instead. Ah.. Such a pleasure to use.

Oh, BTW, I'm typing this on a SideKick now. Try that with your favorite phone.

--tif

They did? It seems you're right, but even when they get only 56kbit, and if you'r actually using that, then that $39.99 is blown away in 49 minutes of heavy surfing (or a 49 minutes tiny 56kbit realvideo stream for that matter).

fourty bucks for fifty minutes just doesn't sound even close to right yet, neither does eight and a half hours for a hundred bucks.

I'll stick with CSD for now.

T-Mobile Sidekick

GSM Phone + GPRS data access. Custom hardware and OS by Danger, Inc.. Web Browser, AIM, Email, SMS, PIM, Camera attachment, and games. Built-in thumbboard behind a very cool flip-up screen. Hi-res grayscale screen. Polyphonic ringtones provided by the Beatnik Audio Engine.

Unlimited GRPS Data browsing, unlimited email, 1000 SMS messages, 200 anytime minutes and 1000 weekend minutes per month, for $39.99. The device costs $99 after rebates from CompUSA ($249 - $50 T-Mobile rebate - $100 CompUSA rebate).

I have had one of these since they launched about a month ago, and I absolutely love it. The web brower can render just about any site (obvious exceptions being Flash, audio, and javascript. All browsing happens through compression proxies, which re-arrange the pages (and do a great job of it), and compress and decolorize images, to speed up browsing. No horizontal scrolling. All emails and PIM data (contacts, calendar, to-dos, etc.), and photos are constantly synched with the Danger/T-Mobile backend servers, so all of your data is accessible via a custom website at T-Mobile. You can even use this page as a webmail account, if you want. This way, if you run over the Sidekick with the car, you get a replacement, sign in with your username and password, and within minutes, all of your emails, contacts, and photos are synchronized back to the new device, and you're in business.

The geek coolness factor of this little gadget is off the charts - I have single-handledly disrupted staff meetings, classes, and and other events but just having it visible, nevermind using it. Once I flip open the screen (kind of like the flip phones in The Matrix), it's all over. :-) It's got a tiny camera attachment that can hang on your keychain, and when plugged into the accesory port, takes 120x90 pixel color pictures that you can email on the spot. Plus, it's got a cool scroll wheel that can supposedly) display 65,536 different colors. I don't know if it's that many, but it's definitely cool.

The best feature, though, has to be the unlimited GPRS data. Granted, web access is through compression proxies, and so far, no one has found a way to use it as a GPRS modem for a laptop or PDA, but the fact that I can pay $10 more per month than I was paying before, for the same number of voice minutes (200 anytime, 1000 weekend), and get unlimited GPRS data, well, that just sealed the deal.

I love my Sidekick! Email me on it at jabancroft@SPAMBLOCK.tmail.com (remove the SPAMBLOCK)!

Jenova_Six

Data Transfer(per month) = Unlimited *

* - After 1st year, unlimited becomes 15MB/month, $3.50/additional MB.

if you go to http://www.t-mobile.com/ and click on the sidekick plans you can get the full explanation. i think it's a bit diff than their other plans right now..... they also throw in the novelty camera attachment (it's really tiny).

Price = $39.99

Whenever minutes(per month) = 200 minutes

Weekend minutes (per month) = 1000

from what i read somewhere they do not count data like phone calls... and AIM can always be on as well as email checker. i have Verizon wireless web now and if i want to use Yahoo! Messenger i have to go into web-mode which ties up the whole phone.... though Verizon just worked out somehting with AIM that *might* allow AIM names to contact you and you to contact them as text messages. kind of an alias portal thing or something. i have not investigated that yet because it seems i have to set up a .Net account to do so. hrmmmmm makes the sidekick that much more appealing.

KMFM$

This may be OT, but what good is a cool cellular device if you can't use it most places? T-mobile's coverage is pathetic. If you look at their coverage map, you'll see a broken spider web of purple blotches across the US. Their website doesn't make it very clear that their service offers *no* coverage outside these splotches. If I go out of town w/a T-Mobile phone or neato Sidekick, its highly likely that I won't be able to call for help or SSH into my box in an emergency :(

From who? What service can I get? Where can I get coverage? Why something? When can I get it?

You can get the Sidekick from T-Mobile today.

For information on the service, coverage, and where to get it, see their website.

From who? What service can I get? Where can I get coverage? Why something? When can I get it?

You can get the Sidekick from T-Mobile today.

For information on the service, coverage, and where to get it, see their website.

Interesting that T-Mobile (was Voicestream) has dropped the Nokia 9290 for this product and the Pocket PC Phone Edition. Too bad.

To spare you looking up, go here.

Go check the VoiceStream homepage. Voicestream is being rebranded as T-Mobile, which is a daughter of Deutsche Telekom. Got to Deutsche Telekom if you can read German, they have a press release saying that they are integrating Voicstream into the international T-Mobile.

If you want to check the availability of the device in the USA the link to T-Mobile is here or here.
Cliff

If you want to check the availability of the device in the USA the link to T-Mobile is here or here.
Cliff