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Color Sidekick to be Released Tomorrow

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the hardware-to-desire dept.

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.

6 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Compusa by Saxton · · Score: 5, Informative

    The fake price on CompUSA, the $608.03, refers to the release date. ;-)

    --
    My name is Aaron Landry, and I approve this message.
  2. Meeting by Call+Me+Black+Cloud · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Anyone meeting me at CompUSA tomorrow morning?

    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.

    1. Re:Meeting by brianosaurus · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I've never understood the "why do you want a (cellphone, pda, whatever)? people will bug you all the time" mentality. My mobile phone (which happens to be a Sidekick) is for me to reach people when I want or need to reach them. It has never been a burden on me.

      In fact it has been a tremendous convenience. There have been quite a few times that I've needed to call someone (like to ask my wife which brand of toilet paper to buy... important stuff like that ;), and its nice to be able to do it from wherever I am, instead of having to hunt down a quarter and a payphone.

      And being unreachable is really, really easy: turn off the phone, or mute it, or just don't answer it. I could be "unreachable" at my desk at work (just ask the people I used to work with!). It just requires some amount of self-control.

      If you can't handle owning a mobile phone without feeling like it controls your life, you probably shouldn't own one. Good for you. For those of us who can handle it, its a great convenience.

      --
      blog
  3. Re:SSH? by jhsewell · · Score: 5, Informative

    I suspect that we may all still have a very long wait until we (non-developers) can install applications on our (non-development) SideKicks.

    Like you, I've been waiting and waiting and waiting for an SSH client for my SK. The fact that the application has existed for months, and that I've played with it on the emulator, and that it appears to be fully functional just makes the wait more frustrating.

    Although the guys at Danger are relatively responsive and appear to be competent, they seem to have an excruciatingly long software developement cycle. Combine this with the closed nature of the SK's operating system and application distrubution mechanism, and I would be suprised if we have SSH running on the SK any time soon.

    As I understand it, Danger must revise and upgrade the SideKick's operating system before you'll be able to install applications. And even after the upgrade, obtaining and installing new applications will never be straight-forward in the same way that it is with PalmOS or PocketPC phones. I suspect that the mass-distribution of applications will require the blessing and cooperation of Danger Inc. to provide the backend equipement for over-the-air installations.

    Hopefully, this color SK will have the needed OS revisions to allow the installation of applications, or better yet come with SSH built-in.

  4. Real review by Espen · · Score: 5, Informative

    How about a review of the new model rather than the old one? Here is one:

    Cnet Color Hiptop Review

  5. Re:SSH? by Benley · · Score: 5, Informative

    You're very close to the problem, but not quite right on. The best explanation for the reason normal non-developers can't have SSH right now (aside from needing an OS update, which is indeed true), is that T-Mobile has to approve everything that goes out to their customers. This is exactly the reason why app distribution will never be as straightforward as it is with PalmOS or PocketPC phones: T-Mobile is scared to death of this thing (well, sorta.) - in particular, the concern is of 3rd party developers writing apps that access the data that hiptops store on t-mobile's servers (every bit of info you put in the hiptop is stored on t-mobile's servers as well as the hiptop. Yes, this is a Good Thing, trust me) - anyway they don't want 3rd party developers screwing things up and creating tech support nightmares for them.