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Hiptop/Sidekick Sequel Unleashed
powerline22 writes "After years of waiting, the second Hiptop (or Sidekick, depending on the carrier) has been unveiled to the public. After the terrible hardware reliability of the first version, the second one, manufactured by Sharp, looks a lot better, with longer battery life, built-in camera, more buttons, better radio, new software features and more. Also, according to T-Mobile, sync is going to finally be here real soon now. There are reviews at CNet, over at PCMag, and at MSNBC." We recently covered leaked Hiptop II photos.
Seriously, I'm still using my t68i as a BT modem with T-Mobile's unlimited GPRS and I won't switch till there is a decent BT phone/PDA combo (treo 610 pleaseohpleaseohplease, maybe the new iPaq 6315).
The t68i's interface is dog slow though.
-truth
I had a steady B+ in my AI class until I failed the Turing test...
Is there such a thing as too connected? This is just a personal opinion of course, but sometimes I wonder if we are driving ourselves out of our own privacy and personal sanity by making ourselves always available all the time, no matter where we are. If I require a device which always tells me where I am supposed to be when, what kind of life am I leading?
I work for a company which produces software used by hospitals, and I am required to be available 24x7x365 in case something goes wrong. They pay me well for what I do and I enjoy the work, but I've spent the last 3 years in the "most connected" job of my life and sometimes I feel like I can't escape.
What ever happen to returning a phone call or an email the next day?
The sidekick, mark 1, suffers from having a fantastic java based architecture.. and -zip- all for software.
.. and if not a touch screen at -least- a less awkward way to dial numbers.
.. and cubed.
In fact, at first all the ringtones you could want were free. A few months later, the SAME ringtones cost anywhere from $.99-->1.99!
One of the most useful applications, an ssh client/terminal was also free.. and now costs $4.99.
The carriers are afraid to deploy software, especially T-Mobile. Software updates are few and far between.
Things I would have liked to have seen on the sidekick2? Oh, simple things like an SD memory slot, on-device synchronization of contact information, bluetooth (it's funky to hold and have a conversation with)... oh
Oh well. Danger has yet another cute device, but if all we get is a digital camera out of it? what's the point.
Nice going, Danger. Try again. Maybe the design team will do ACTUAL MARKET RESEARCH next time, and get it right when the sidekick gets cubed.
As for now, the existing device should probably be crushed
-feh-
"Don't worry about the problems you have in mathematics, I assure you mine are much greater." - Einstein c.1919
No Bluetooth.
No sync.
No world standard GSM.
No storage slot.
But we DO get yet another new, hip, happening crappy camera. Just once, I wish someone in the pda/phone/mobile attachment would get it right. It's not about how hip the damned thing is. It's about how functional it is. If Danger (or Handspring, or Sharp, or whoever) could get it right, I'd only have to carry one device on my belt instead of three. Please, God, Treo 610. And none too soon.
Who's it designed for?
Me. I'm a kid in high school without any need to access my 'corporate email'. I can, and will IM people wherever. The biggest thing, however, is the web browsing ability. I found my way to a party at this girl's house that i didnt know the address of, only her name. so i did a whitepages search, used mobile mapquest to get there.
Of course, on the way there, I remembered that I was at her house once fixing her dad's computer, and put her address in my cell phone. I could've scrolled to her name, clicked 'map this location' from the address book.
The Treo 300 is a good compeditor, and has some advantages over the Sidekick, such as thousands of apps. however, it doesnt have the backend proxy which compresses and reformats webpages so its a lot faster.
Gaming? I don't care for it. It sucks up battery life. If I want gaming, i'll get a GameBoy. More apps on a platform that was designed for gaming.
Anyone know if they plan to offer upgrade discounts to existing sidekick customers?
I'd love to get my hands on the new one, but I'm not going to fork over another $300 for the thing!
Heck, my 1st gen is only a year old (well, newer... I'm on my 3rd replacement) and I bought it right after it came out!
Yeah, the promises are getting old... the OLD ONE was supposed to get all of the software updates the NEW ONE has... that's pretty sleazy and they WILL lose a lot of customers because of it.
There's a huge following for this device, and they've been beating on the walls waiting for some of these updates that they (we) were told a year ago would be out shortly.
These folk won't be too happy if they find out they've been lied to for this long and have to repurchase what they originally were sold.
- Preferences: Solaris 10 (servers), Ubuntu (desktops), Solaris 11 (personal servers) -
But if you haven't bought one yet, you could just as easily get a Handspring Treo 600. Not only can you sync it, but you can sync it with as many PCs as you want, and even use it as a backup dialup modem for your laptop in case of emergency. Hurray for GPRS :-)