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Color Sidekick to be Released Tomorrow
Saxton writes "Just announced by hiptop.com's T-Mobile Rep, the awaited Color Sidekick will be available at CompUSA and 1-800-TMOBILE tomorrow. The thread is here. Now available is a data-only plan for $29.99, and you can now use any other T-Mobile price plan with the Sidekick. Anyone meeting me at CompUSA tomorrow morning?" Here is
my Review of the Original device, which I still think is among the most useful portable electronic devices I've seen. I'm looking forward to testing out the new version to see what improvements have been made to an already great unit.
I'd buy one of these things pretty quickly if they could do SSH. Does anyone know if that's working on the SideKick?
That's all well and good but I'm waiting for this PDA to be released in color.
Here is the compusa page:
p ?p roduct_code=303888&pfp=SEARCH
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.as
It looks like they are in stock and available for pickup in the Northeast US. The price seems high, and they will probably change it to $299 on friday.
Chicago2600.net more than a lifestyle, its a survival trait.
Has anyone got any links to pictures of the device, that is so cool, it provokes slashdotters to see red?
Machine9dotNet
I am boycotting these so-called "PDAs" until they provide the following features.
In the meantime, I'm sorry but this gets a 2.5 out of 10 on the Seth Finklestein scale of greatness.
I'm not Seth Finkelstein. I still speak the truth.
Cnet has a review at http://computers.cnet.com/hardware/0-2709830-404-2 1169039.html?txt that goes into more details.
Why can't I moderate something "Wrong" or at least "Grossly Misinformed"?
No. Have fun. Let's see what you will be getting (from the CompUSA site):
Full Color Web Browser to Access Virtually Any Website
Get Your Email & Wireless Calls In One Convenient Package
Get the Internet & POP3 Email, Send Photos** & Read Image Attachments
Two-way Text Messaging
Use Your Existing Screenname for AOL Instant Messenger & AOL Mail
Wireless Synchronization
Flip Screen Reveals Qwerty Keyboard
32MB of RAM
When I see things like this I think, "why?" Some people need to be this connected, but I think that number is small. For the rest, I wonder why people have a need to stay so connected. Fear of loneliness or lack of feeling important? It seems an antisocial way of being social. For me, I'm happy being alone at times...not only alone but unreachable.
They just release a fix so that mapquest comes in very well now. You can actually read names of roads (at least on yahoo maps, which I believe is just mapquest rebranded).
It is quite useful on the road.
How about a review of the new model rather than the old one? Here is one:
Cnet Color Hiptop Review
you forgot a video adapter capable of running Tux Racer.
It is called HiptopOS, it's a Java based OS that Danger rolled for the device.
I'm not trolling, but how are people using the Internet portion of the Sidekick? I can see people using the phone function but the T-Mobile prices are pushing unlimited Internet access. I understand the need for accessing the web every now and then while away from the desk computer but do you need so much wireless Internet access that you need a flat price for it?
I don't see myself using $30/month worth of wireless Internet on a small screen in addition to a broadband connection. So is this a niche product or am I missing something?
--- I'm Green Hornet's sidekick not Inspector Clouseau's!
I've had color Borland Sidekick since the 80's.
-=- Many seek good nights and lose good days.
All the Sidekick would need is an up to date SSH client that supports SSH1 and SSH2. That feature alone would make the Sidekick the most valuable UNIX and other Real Network Admins (Cisco Router/firewall network admins.) gadget available.
I haven't heard nor have I been able to locate any information regarding an SSH client for the Sidekick, has anyone else?
If you ignore the other uses of a tool, does that make the tool less useful, or you less useful?
Likewise, only I'm more in the market for:- 1. a hard drive (or wait until Flash gets so cheap I can put 2GB+ in the thing). Being limited to one or two MP3 albums' worth of expensive Flash memory sticks is not acceptable. 2. programmability. I don't care if the OS is Linux, but it certainly wouldn't hurt. If the OS is Linux, I don't have to care about the number of keyboard keys or the bundled software as I know they kbd can easily be remapped and new s/ware installed. However, at the minimum, it has to allow the development of apps that can access the local filesystem, TCP/IP and whatever I/O the machine supports (I suspect the gaming-oriented Java VMs included with "smart" phones lock out some of this?) 3. a usable-quality colour digital camera (I'd buy at 320x200 and stills-only, but would prefer 640x480 and motion capture). 4. a high-enough resolution screen for readable-but-ugly text at 80x25. 320x200 *just* scrapes by as acceptable there; in any case it's hard to build much more than that in to such a small form factor. 5. reasonably quality (better than your average cellphone) external connectivity for audio I/O, preferably on standard 3.5mm connectors. I'm starting to get frustrated with what I see as a lack of innovation with regards to integrating this stuff.. we all know it's possible with current technology. Right now, I carry around a semi-smart (actually pretty dumb) phone, an iPod and a small digital camera. Each of these has probably 85% of its components and weight (casing, screen, battery, mobile CPU, buttons, connector jacks, memory) in common, so it MUST be possible to build something like this that's no more than 30% bigger and heavier than a new-style iPod. I suspect it may in part have to do with the cellphone companies having rather stringent rules on what can connect to their networks.. I don't suppose they'd much like their protocol stacks running in the same address-space as any old code.
While i guess there's no _guarantee_ that particular websites will work on the Hiptop, my experience over the last 3 months is that the vast bulk of sites work great. The only sites that haven't worked are ones that rely on JavaScript to do everything useful in the site.
My advice, if there's a small number of sites you're most concerned about, is to post a list of them on the hiptop.com board and ask people to try them for you. Or go to a T-Mobile shop and try them yourself.
To clarify, it's not like you have to be on some Danger-approved list or anything. The sites i run all work fine.
Personally, my Hiptop has been life-changing the way that my first Palm was. Does it always work and do everything exactly the way i want, everywhere? No. Is some mobile web/email with a real keyboard better than none? Hell yeah.
mahlen
"Perhaps it IS a good day to die! I say we ship it!"
--From the "Top 20 things likely to be overheard from a Klingon programmer"
With SSH support, she would have no reason to actually be in the office, and could work from the middle of a cafe or (more often) traffic.
And when she runs into me and I throw her cellphone/pda/whatever ubergadget into a river, she better be ready to shell out $300 for a new one and however much it costs to fix my car. The last thing we need are people using ssh during traffic, cell phones are enough of a problem. Use it in a cafe, fine, but in traffic? People have been shot for less here (seriously, though this is Texas...) While it may be convenient for you, it sucks for the 100,000 other people who have to share the road with you. Just say no.
Is a handy, useful device if you need mobile connectivity. I've liked using mine-- the IM client is a very usable adless implementation of AIM. No group chats, but that's no big deal. The web browser is fairly capable, helped heavily by a recompressing/reformatting proxy on the server-side.
Where it loses out is as a PIM-- the calendar has a very limited number of entries, and sync for the calendar and address book is only one-way. You can import your records from Outlook, but there's no getting them back out. Sync was expected Q1 this year, but hasn't materialized yet, so I wouldn't bank on that feature.
The Java SDK is cool, but so far there is no way for developers to actually put code on users' devices. So, although lots of great apps have been written, they can only run in the emulator.
And finally, while I really like the way the device was designed as a whole, whoever is assembling the device is not doing them justice. I am on my 4th unit in 6 months. Some folks at hiptop.com are on their 8th unit. For a device that hasn't even been available for a year! I'm hoping that they have fixed their issues with the release of the color unit, but I would wait a few months before purchasing to see how they're holding up.
I like the unlimited data plan, and I'll be keeping mine. It's great as a wireless IM client and to check webpages (but their proxy doesn't like games.slashdot.org), just don't expect it to be everything they list in their features list. It's like a video game-- it got released before it was ready, and it's going to be a while before all the patches get put in place. And don't expect it to last more than 2 or 3 months. Fortunately, they've been good about shipping replacements.
If only this device can deliver always on connection it would be a great gadget. Being an owner of the first version of Sidekick, however, I was disappointed on the connectivity. The problem in San Francisco Bay Area is Cingular's poor radio signal. The device frequently lose sync with the server. To resync it often takes one to two minutes. Everytime I click a hyperlink it may fetch in a reasonable amount of time or it may take many minutes. You are not going to enjoy web surfing given the unreliablity. I have adapted to the problem of this device. When I use it usually I have a book on one hand and the sidekick on the other hand.
And if you leave the device on overnight and you want to check the weather next morning. Chances are it has already lost sync. Wait another few minutes for it to get connected again. Sometimes you have to reboot the phone altogether in order to get connected.
Wai Yip
The Handspring Treo 300 ($199 at Amazon.com) can do SSH via Top Gun SSH. It also has the benefit of using the Sprint PCS network, which is much larger than the T-Mobile network and runs at 128K instead of 19.2K. (The difference is huge.)
The really cool thing about the Treo is that you can hook it up via a USB cable to your laptop and get Internet access anywhere you have a Sprint PCS connection. This means that you can be on the Internet pretty much anywhere without worrying about wireless hotspots. (Treo Central has more information on this.)
I'd pick the Treo 300 over the Sidekick any time. It's cheaper, works on a network that has much greater coverage, and can run any applications that run on Palm OS. With the laptop connector, it's a no-brainer.
Simpli - Your source for San Jose dedicated servers and colocation!
Cons
-The phone is still awkward to use after 8+ months of use, and the audio quality of the phone is pretty poor.
-The lack of Outlook synching is a major negative for me and I'm sure many other business users. Danger seems to be of the opinion that this device is for kids and hip twentysomethings that don't use corporate email.
-T-Mobile's network coverage really sucks even in areas where they supposedly offer solid coverage. It's funny that most of the time I can maintain a solid signal at home or at the office, but almost 20% of the time I get no signal in these exact same places.
-The devices are very fragile. I'm on my third unit. The first had a major screen crack within a week of purchase even with no drops. The second just inexplicably lost receiving ability and had to be replaced.
-Too bulky to be pocketable. This one isn't a big deal to me, but it is quite thick for pocket carrying, and there is a real lack of beltable carrying cases on the market.
-No email filtering. My Sidekick access multiple POP3 accounts, and there's no way to separate those into separate folders, they are all just dumped into the Inbox.
Pros
-The easiest data entry on a portable device I've used. I've used just about every type of PDA on the market, including the Treo, Clie, and Zaurus with keyboards, and nothing comes close to the Sidekick keyboard.
-Web browsing is outstanding. None of the WAP that most portable devices offer, this is a full-fledged browser that works great in most cases.
-Portable email works very well. This sort of goes along with the ease of data entry point above, but it's as easy for me to email from my Sidekick as it is from my desk PC. And as long as co-workers don't read email headers, they don't know if I'm at my desk or on the road with my setup.
-It's always connected. No need to engage a dial-up connection. Just open the browser and you're pulling down data right away. And email is always-on and checking for new mail.
-Very affordable. Comparable hybrid PDA/phone devices are hundreds of dollars more. The B&W model even got below $100 after a few months.
I'm not a heavy phone user, so the Sidekick has worked well for me. I basically view it as a portable communications device rather than a phone or PDA. It's not a great phone, it's not a great PDA, but it is a great all-purpose device. If only they could get Outlook synching to work, I might consider upgrading. As it is, I'll be looking at other devices once my contract runs out.
Sony Ericsson P800.
Color, bluetooth, GPRS, and a PIM (not palm though, uses symbian os)
I have one, and I had a sidekick before. Biggest problem with Sidekick was its phone functionality sucked. It was so hard to hear people, reception wasn't that good, dialing wasn't easy, espicially when you were in a car.
P800 doesn't have a keyboard, but can regcognize input from a stylus ala grafitti. I just wish they'd come out with a little bluetooth thumb keyboard for it.
Upgrades are now available, for roughly $299+tax depending on how long you have been a T-Mobile subscriber.