Is it really that bad?

[hayden sin]

I am interested in potentially owning a Sidekick 4G and I have been doing research on it.

I hear that it freezes all the time, text don't come through, and it is just a pain.....and then i hear people have no problems with it at all.

Is it really that bad? I don't necessarily care that it has Android 2.2 and it has weak specs. I actually like the skin and it seems like a fun device.

It is free right now(Along with the G2X...which i was considering getting but i've heard even worse stuff about that one)

OR i was considering getting it on MOnthly 4g for 50 bucks a month for everything Unlimited

But is this phone truly that bad?

 

[RunningTheRed]

I am interested in potentially owning a Sidekick 4G and I have been doing research on it.

I hear that it freezes all the time, text don't come through, and it is just a pain.....and then i hear people have no problems with it at all.

Is it really that bad? I don't necessarily care that it has Android 2.2 and it has weak specs. I actually like the skin and it seems like a fun device.

It is free right now(Along with the G2X...which i was considering getting but i've heard even worse stuff about that one)

OR i was considering getting it on MOnthly 4g for 50 bucks a month for everything Unlimited

But is this phone truly that bad?

I have had a Sidekick 4g for a month and have had no freezes..

I got my Sidekick for 30$ with a 2 year agreement. It is 50$ a month unlimited with 2 gigs of internet a month.

 

[mwl1119]

Stay far away from it.

Far, far, far away.

The G2X is a far better choice.

 

[jeennny]

sidekick is a paaaaaaaaaaaaaain! my some messages never come through, touch always messes up, forecloses all the time, the media wont work and for it to work i have to turn it off and ack on again, such a hassle, NOT WORTH IT!

exchanged mine today for the g2x, will see if this ones any better...

 

[Bman123]

If i was starting a contract I would get the G2X, if you want to do the monthly 4G plan get the sidekick. If you like physical keyboard phones like me then the sidekick is a no brainer as the keyboard on that phone is awesome

 

[ncmacasl]

The keyboard is top of the line, but the software can be buggy if you download apps. I ended up rooting nad removing some of the bloatware that likes to continually load in the background as well as adding a task killer that helps with the stuff you can't remove but still loads. Now it works well and is reliable.

 

[Bman123]

The sidekick 4g needs a good rom not just root, it is a shame this phone didn't get the attention I think it deserved dev wise. 2.3 and CM7 would fly on that phone, especially with the great keyboard it has.

I love keyboard phones and the other t mobile phones with keyboards suck. The my touch 4g and G2 keyboard are terrible, the top row is so damn cramped I can never hit the right key

 

[Thomas Morgan]

Hi, I have a Sidekick 4G, the second one I've had in fact (which is for a bad reason, which I'll get to in a bit). I must say, when the thing works right, it is great. I love the keyboard. The keyboard is absolutely perfect. The screen isn't the largest out there but it's not small either, and it's got a nice resolution of 800x480. To me, besides having a keyboard, the most important component of the phone is it's processing power, and with a 1GHz hummingbird processor, it is pretty fast, although not as fast as some of the newer phones that have dual core processors running at 1.5GHz+.

The biggest problem with the phone is that it's buggy. Stuff likes to lock up. A lot. I restart my phone at least once a day, I'd say. It's always a terrible feeling when you hear the vibrating sound, and then wait for the three little vibrates that follow that indicate some kind of error, which is all too often the type which requires a restart. And speaking off restarting, the phone has a very annoying feature which I have not figured out how to turn off, and that is that it plays a loud jingle when you're turning OFF the phone, which if you're in a situation where you need your phone off because silence is necessary, is quite annoying.

I also had a problem with the phone, a very serious one, which started happening out of the blue: the phone would suddenly restart, and then go to the battery charging screen, and then start back up, only to restart a few seconds later in an infinite loop. The phone was essentially bricked, and I had to have it replaced. I did nothing unusual with the phone, such as trying to root it or anything; it just started happening out of nowhere. I had to get the phone replaced, and was not happy to say the least. I have not had the same problem with my new phone.

It may seem like I'm sounding kind of negative on the Sidekick 4G, but I really do enjoy using it. I would not want to replace it with any other phone, because I love the keyboard and general feel of the phone. I would recommend it to someone, but only after taking into consideration the possibility of having the problems I've mentioned.

 

[JiN1337]

If you don't root and flash a custom ROM, I'll admit the Sidekick 4G may be the worst phone ever. However, if you root and flash a custom ROM, you'll notice it's elegant speed and simplicity.

However, if a G2X is an option, I'd rather go with that.

I myself develop ROMS for the Sidekick 4G, and have had my share of success with it, but with everything it is time to move on. I'm getting a Galaxy S II in a few months.

If you need a list of good ROMS to try, try Either my GOV303 release, or Hewett's latest RAGE release over on XDA. All the best.