New Sidekick 4G Features - what is known...

ncmacasl

ncmacasl

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If you missed the press release last night at midnight, read more here (with more pics) -- http://www.tmonews.com/2011/03/t-mobile-announces-sidekick-4g-details-along-with-hspa-21

Sidekick-4G_front_open_menu.jpg


Sidekick-4G_back_open_matte-black.jpg

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Back in December, when T-Mobile tweeted "What would you like to see happen with Sidekick? Give us your wish list." (see article here: Will The Sidekick Ever Make A Comeback? )...

I replied in the comments section:

"Keep the keyboard and the keyboard shortcuts & the 4 corner buttons. Make it Android. Grandfather old rate plans! Can Slide or Swivel, but Swivel is better. Touchscreen, shoulder buttons, video chat, deaf-friendly apps, 4G! Easily port data from older sidekicks, tmail accounts transfer, Enterprise support (free), Social apps (free), Unlimited Data plans, tethering, Lots of memory, wifi, Google Voice, Same AIM, Threaded Texting, more Tmail MBs, Facebook Chat, Adobe Flash, Netflix-ready, more than 2 choices for case color, same Copy&Paste, same AutoText, updated hidden Snowboard game (including the Christmas Trees in December), TouchPad instead of TrackBall (in addition to TouchScreen)"

Let's see what we know so far what they have and don't have & what is unknown:

  • keyboard -- YES
  • keyboard shortcuts -- YES
  • 4 corner buttons -- YES (though modified)
  • Make it Android -- YES
  • Grandfather old rate plans! -- YES (if you still have your old Sidekick plan you can talk to the Customer Loyalty Department to get data rates similar to your current sidekick plan; however, if you left your old sidekick, good luck getting old rate plans!)
  • Can Slide or Swivel, but Swivel is better -- YES (Slide but not swivel - which is good enough, IMHO)
  • Touchscreen -- YES
  • shoulder buttons -- YES (rear views seem to show 2 Shoulder buttons on top and power/volume controls on the bottom)
  • video chat -- YES (via Qik & Front-Facing VGA camera)
  • deaf-friendly apps -- UNCLEAR (but several Text-Relay apps are already available in Android's App store)
  • 4G! -- YES (HSPA+ 21 which is top of the line right now!)
  • Easily port data from older sidekicks -- YES (T-Mobile has already released Backup software that ports all data to standard formats that can be uploaded to google - I have already uploaded mine to my own Google account - Calendar works perfect. Contacts converts everything to a "Notes" filed so you need to go thru each contact and put the data in the right fields. It "works" but not as smoothly as it could have been). Bookmarks, To Do & Notes are also backed up)
  • tmail accounts transfer -- UNCLEAR (but doubtful),
  • Enterprise support (free) -- UNCLEAR
  • Social apps (free) -- YES (Facebook, MySpace, & Twitter integration is standard)
  • Unlimited Data plans -- YES
  • tethering -- UNCLEAR
  • Lots of memory -- UNCLEAR
  • wifi -- YES (802.11 b/g/n)
  • Google Voice -- (already in Android App Store)
  • Same AIM -- NO (only standard IM clients from the Android App Store)
  • Threaded Texting -- YES++ (2 different Text-Centric apps come standard)
  • more Tmail MBs -- NO & YES (uses default Gmail apps which have virtually unlimited account sizes)
  • Facebook Chat -- UNCLEAR
  • Adobe Flash -- UNCLEAR (but it *is* already available on many, but not all, Android 2.2 devices)
  • Netflix-ready -- UNCLEAR (but it *is* rumored to be coming on Qualcomm Android chips, no word in Netflix integration with Samsung chips, including Sidekick's Hummingbird chip)
  • more than 2 choices for case color -- NO (but TWO choices is better than just ONE)
  • same Copy&Paste -- UNCLEAR (but there is no Dpad nor are there Arrow Keys, however there *is* an Optical "TrackBall" so it is possible.)
  • same AutoText -- UNCLEAR (however Smart Keyboard is available for free from the Android App Store and can be configrued to work with a physical keybaord)
  • updated hidden Snowboard game (including the Christmas Trees in December) -- UNCLEAR (however a similar free App "Mountain Chase" is available from the Android App Store)
  • TouchPad instead of TrackBall (in addition to TouchScreen) -- YES & YES

Hopefully TmoNews & AllDeaf will soon clear these issues up as more details becomes available
 
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(almost) Full Spec sheet released here:

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G - Full phone specifications

GENERAL 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 1700 / 2100
Announced 2011, March
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2011, Q2
SIZE Dimensions -
Weight -
DISPLAY Type TFT capacitive touchscreen
Size 480 x 800 pixels, 3.5 inches
- QWERTY keyboard
- Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
- Multi-touch input method
SOUND Alert types Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
MEMORY Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records Practically unlimited
Card slot microSD
DATA GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
3G HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 2.0 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth Yes v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
CAMERA Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus
Features Geo-tagging
Video Yes
Secondary Yes, VGA
FEATURES OS Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
CPU 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, Hummingbird chipset
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser HTML
Radio Nо
Games Yes
Colors Matte black, Pearl magenta
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support
Java Via third party application
- MP4/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
- Organizer
- Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- Voice memo
- Predictive text input
BATTERY Standard battery, Li-Ion
 
it does seem like a pretty nice device. but, I'd like to know more of what T-mobile offers for deaf/hoh customers with their data plans and the costs (since the $29.99 plan that was available on older sidekicks will no longer be used from my understanding).
 
I was used a crazie fan of SK for 5 years, but I am glad seeing Sidekick 4G come back in phone market for teens. it looks more sexy, and Twiz UI is very neat.

Good Luck
 
cdmeggers said:
it does seem like a pretty nice device. but, I'd like to know more of what T-mobile offers for deaf/hoh customers with their data plans and the costs (since the $29.99 plan that was available on older sidekicks will no longer be used from my understanding).
Click to expand...

How much charge for new Sidekick 4G data plan?
 
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTdgvoVkUY4&feature=feedu]YouTube - T-Mobile Sidekick 4G hands-on[/ame]

Hands on the sidekick 4g.
 
I used chat support with T-mobile yesterday, and was told the Data plan for the new sidekick will be $39.99 per month, if anyone is interested in getting the new Sidekick.
 
cdmeggers said:
I used chat support with T-mobile yesterday, and was told the Data plan for the new sidekick will be $39.99 per month, if anyone is interested in getting the new Sidekick.
Click to expand...

Ouch, it's little high for me, plus the cellphone insurance would increased to 7.99 a month. I decided to close the Tmo account because of high cost, and I am switching to Virgin Mobile (they have android).
 
cdmeggers said:
I used chat support with T-mobile yesterday, and was told the Data plan for the new sidekick will be $39.99 per month, if anyone is interested in getting the new Sidekick.
Click to expand...

Ask you if swap new Sidekick 4G from Old SK and same deaf data plan price??? But T-Mobile don't have discount plan for hearing impaired customers.
 
no you can't get the same old deaf data plan anymore from what I was told. It's 39.99 now, not 29.99. It's an android phone so I'm sure that's why there's the increase in costs.
 
FYI if you have been a long time customer with T-Mobile. You can get it for $29.99 a month but it takes several loopholes and several phone calls to T-Mobile to get that deal. One of the way to get this deal is by calling them and say that you want to return the Sidekick 4G and quit being a customer of T-Mobile most of the time they would scream and want to keep you. If that happens just tell them what you demand $29.99 a Month or Forget it !

This is not GUARANTEED ! but it has worked for some of my friends. :D.
 
Several people just switch from old SK to this new one, but the store could not transfer their contacts from tmail. They came to me since I'm pretty good with gadgets. Anyone know how I can do the transfer for them without having to re-type all of their contacts?
 
To Sidekick Android/4G user... I wonder anyone of you guy can answer that question.

Did you try Z4 or any product of VRS use Android on Sidekick since it has front camera. How the quality? It is still good quality either 3G coverage or 4G coverage? I am curious.. since no update post lately.. just curious :)
 
Just got one today! I like that I can eventually go to the data-only plan if my hearing continues to decrease. A bit of a learning curve for me - as I had a Blackberry - but I think I'm going to like it. I managed to get one of the white/magenta ones. I love purple - and the magenta is purplish. I'll probably try to find a purple gel skin for it.
 
I was just looking at phones today and liked the layout of the Sidekick. Do you ever use the Google talk to put voice mails into text? Does it work well?
 
Beach girl said:
I was just looking at phones today and liked the layout of the Sidekick. Do you ever use the Google talk to put voice mails into text? Does it work well?
Click to expand...

Is this Google Talk available in the iTunes App Store? I used to have something like this when my phone contract was under Alltel and I liked it.
 
It's amazing how much stuff is out there. I got totally confused looking at various phones and walked out without buying anything. I can't figure out which features should be most important to me, and what phones can do what apps.
 
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