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New Hiptop (Sidekick II) Photos
s4xton writes "Some new photos of the upcoming Sidekick II from T-Mobile have been leaked on hiptopinfo.org. In addition to already being one of the best portable GPRS units with SSH2, Web Browsing, AIM and Mail, the new unit, slated for an August release features a built in camera, speakerphone and a number of other features. Thread on Hiptop Forums about it here. Here's some older photos and an owners manual and a previous Slashdot story about the original Color Sidekick."
From the pictures, this looks suspiciously like the old one. I am going to stick with my brand new Verizon Wireless Treo. With a VGA camera, keyboard, Palm OS 5, and 144Kbps download speed, an added 512MB SD card from Kingston, it's got everything I need. Seriously not a troll, if you can get one and you've got the $500 (with a one year activation), it's definitely worth the money. Like the new advertising will say, my laptop does feel really heavy now. (There's nothing like switching away from Yahoo! chat to take a picture and going back with no interruption - while on your phone!)
libertarianswag.com
The original color Sidekick was a great data device but a terrible phone. The RF was dismal and talking on it was awkward. I hope they've improved these points, however with the device being made by Audiovox/Curitel I'm not expecting much.
But now that the price of the Sidekick data plan with voice has dropped to $20 this new Sidekick certainly looks appealing. I like the design and the camera isn't too bad (for a phone) either.
How about IRC though? I mean, this is a fine consumer product with AIM and all that, but how about the geek cred?
I mean, even my dreamcast can run an IRC client.
-- d'arcy poirot
seems like the server is getting slaughtered.. for people who just care for the images (not very impressive)..
http://mirrors.linuxpowered.com/sidekick2/
get em while it's hot..or before my server crashes.
This article has not been slashdotted:
...and a couple pics here, if you scroll down.
Sidekick 2 Revealed
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Freedom or Evil: Freevil.net
G. W. Bush says, "You decide!"
If you ask the business press:
If it isn't half the price of every other competing product with twice the features and doesn't triple the company's stock price in days while gaining 80% market share and a Wall Street Journal front page feature and a new solid two-ton 24K gold company logo in the marble lobby of a new corporate headquarters with a leather-appointed 2000 square foot conference room with bean salads all around it is a failure.
Business isn't willing to pay for products, innovation and careers, so we get brands, mortgage commercials and layoffs.
Oh yeah. How 'bout that geek cred! ;)
blog
The only flaw with the Sidekick is that it's a thin client device. All your data is on the server and subject to T-Mobile's whim. It's a great device, but it can't do stuff like play mp3s or anything that would require a lot of processing power. Still, it's a great smartphone for people on a budget who don't mind being kind of crippled by their service provider.
For my money, though, I'll take my Treo 600 any day. It's quite a bit more expensive up front, but it's far more customizable and expandable. The Sidekick is more of a walled-garden approach.
My dad got a sidekick... the fact that it has no bluetooth wouldn't be a problem if you could just take the sim card out and put it in another device (like a bluetooth phone or an aircard) in order to get some of that unlimited data through to a laptop. To use the card in another device, T-mobile wants you to pay another $20/month to get what amounts to another flavor of unlimited data.
I have been using an ngage with T-mobile's unlimited data. It works fine as a wireless bluetooth modem to my linux laptop or even standalone for IM or basic email if I can be patient enough to type with a number pad.
Too bad there's not something that gives you a decent OS, thumb keyboard *and* bluetooth to a pc. Nokia has it almost right (flip-over keyboard, bluetooth) with the 6820 but it doesn't have Symbian 60 so it's not really extensible enough to benefit from addon programs...
>he RF was dismal and talking on it was awkward
Ive had a sidekick since they were made available. I'm sporting the color model now and have made 6 returns because of poor manufacturing quality. Three for the B&w and three for the color.
Its a nice but it has some serious downsides:
1. Total vendor lock in. The SSH client is free,
but the upgrade is 10 bucks. Games are 10 bucks.
This isn't a palm where you can just upload apps onto it (unless youre a developer).
2. Spotty reception is putting it nicely.
3. Its as thick and big as a bar of soap and sadly this new model doesnt look much smaller.
4. The web proxy isn't scaling. It was usable over a year ago but now surfing anytime during the day means lots of timeouts. The device is too popular for the servers.
Next time I have some cash I'm going to pick up the treo or perhaps just a normal cell phone.
How about a phone that acts like a phone? I know that the issue is primarily with the telecoms but jesus h. christ...when will someone invest money in making the networks better. At this rate, in 5 years I will be able to remotely cook my food with my phone. I would settle for a phone that has excellent clarity and doesnt drop out. Now that's the phone I want.
I replaced it last week with a Nokia 6600, which, with the exception of the full keyboard, does everything the Sidekick could do and more, only better. Plus it actually works well as a phone.
Everybody knows some radios have great reception, and others won't pick up the broadcast from the radio tower looming overhead without a 6' antenna.
Why don't reviewers also measure reception?
I've seen plenty of feature-laden phones, but refuse to upgrade until I can verify it has reception comparable to my Audiovox 9155.
(Yes, that's my review at the bottom)
As I said, Photos are nice, and video games are fun, but when push comes to shove, a cell phone without reception is a paperweight.
How do these feature-laden PDA things measure up in reception? Which one has the best?
I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
I owned one of the first generation devices. I loved it and it broke my heart.
The software is smooth and elegant, the design is slick, and it's the best portable email terminal ever made. The damn thing was unreliable, though. I went through no less than FIVE units while under the warranty period.
One had the screen crap out. One refused to turn on. One couldn't charge its' battery. One had a flaky keyboard, and the last one's radio stopped working one day. The last one was a real pisser, since it's a frickin' paperweight without network access.
Obviously, I'm a little bitter. Each time, I spoke to T-Mobile and they promptly sent me a refurbished unit as a replacement. The "new" phone would last for a few weeks, and then something would fail. The last unit I had for three months. When I called T-Mobile, they said that it was out of warranty because they start counting from the INITIAL purchase, regardless of the age of the one that flaked. They offered to send me a refurbished unit for $70.
I wasn't willing to shell out $70 every few weeks for my phone, so I switched carriers. That's when the second problem with Sidekicks reared it's head. Your data is hostage to your carrier.
The Sidekick/Hiptop works like WebTV and merely acts as a terminal for large servers run by the phone carriers. Great, because you never have to worry about backing up your data. Not great, because it makes the phone useless if you don't have GPRS service. I took the phone into Mexico, and I couldn't use any of the PDA functions because all of my data was on T-Mobile's servers in the US.
Also, it's darn near impossible to extract information from the phone for your computer. Like to sync your address books? Forget it. Your computer only has access to the data through a web interface. They kept promising sync capability "soon". I had the phone for a year. "Soon" never arrived. When I left T-Mobile, I had to hand type all of my addresses and notes into my computer.
Summary: I loved mine, when it worked. When it failed, it became a nightmare. I'd pass on this new one until they can prove they've got some quality control.
This
Truth is, you can have virtually full access with neither. The GSPM internet connection on many of the phones is left open and available and is intended for you to be able to buy ring tones and backgrounds for your phone.
Turns out that's just enough opening for you to get to your pop3, smtp, and mostly any webpage.
Furthermore, the time isn't counted against your regular airtime, so while I am only paying $20 a month for the phone service, I am constantly able to check and send email.
Try here for the pics: http://handhelds.engadget.com/entry/15353103208184 08/. They're unwatermarked, too.
It's got NEARLY everything my free docomo phone had only a scant two years ago, that's incredible!
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I went through four sidekicks in six months. Defective screen, permanent lockup, defective keyboard, defective wheel, etc... and reception so lousy that made me take back all my bitching about Sprint, Cingular, and Verizon in the past.
I loved the interface, AIM client, SSH, etc... all very nicely done. What finally booted me, though, was the lack of sync. Mentioned in dozens of Danger's early press releases, this was never released for the T-Mobile Sidekick. You can't sync your contacts with anything besides their web interface, which itself can't sync with anything and disappears when you cancel service. When it worked, I loved it, and when it didn't work, I still loved it. But the defects and oversights got to be too much, and I cancelled my plan.
The worst part? The sync code is done. It's been deployed on several smaller carriers' networks for the hiptop/sidekick, and works fine. The "conspiracy theory" is that T-Mobile doesn't want to dilute blackberry sales with a cheaper device that syncs, but all they've managed to achieve is looking like asshats and the loss of revenue from people like me.
I went with a Treo 600 on Sprint, and although the interface is not as slick as the hiptop's, I've got IM on all four networks, SSH, VNC, MP3s, XVID, games, reception that works, no need for four replacement devices, and it syncs with all sorts of crap, including my yahoo! account and my office's exchange server.
If anybody wants it, I have a still-working Black&White Sidekick you can have for $60.