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When time mobile announced the return of the Sidekick and its use of Android as an OS in the new Sidekick 4G. A lot of people wondered how effective the device would be, will it still have the Still have the Sidekick charm, will it still be an awesome messaging device, what apps will take advantage of the device and final is there a target audience for the sidekick anymore? So does the new Sidekick 4G live up to all that?
Lets take a look at the hardware again, specs wise the Sidekick comes with good internals
1Ghz Hummingbird processor
VGA Front facing camera
3.2MP camera at the rear
5 Roll QWERTY keyboard
2GB memory card
First thing to note, the Screen slides out and doesn’t swivel to reveal the keyboard. Second the keyboard is awesome, typing is easy, buttons are backlit well spaced for. as for the rest of the physical hardware, the build of the Sidekick is of a plastic design, suited more for durability than styling. Also considering the target audience (tweens & old Sidekick fans), it suit it quite well.
The Sidekick 4G has a decent Camera that takes pictures at 3.2MP and the front facing VGA camera doe s decent job with video chat. A sample video is attached with the review and check out the still below in the Gallery
Social Tools
The Sidekick 4G comes packed with various tools to make your messaging experience easier and faster, First off with a dedicated jump key button on the hardware, that allows you to access any area of the device via a single key. Quick access to updating social media sites through the notification bar.
Group texting app (which I though was not going to be useful) actually turned out to be very intuitive and easy to use.
Easy access to updating you social media sites via the Notification bar
PROS
- Great 5 Roll QWERTY Keyboard
- it feels like a Sidekick
- Running Android 2.2
- Deeper Social media integration
- Group messaging
- Media hub
- Buitl in Wi-Fi Calling
Cons
- Hardware button (Home, menu, back & Jump Key) not backlit
- VGA front facing camera
- No flash for rear Camera
Conclusion
To Answer all the question I posed at the start of this review. Yes Sidekick 4G is effective dude to it running Android OS, Yes it does feel like a Sidekick, also a very effective messaging tool and I will get to the last question in a sec. There are some downsides to the New Sidekick 4G, the hardware doesn’t have that high-end finish, no flash on the camera and there are some occasional slow down,s even with the 1Ghz processor.
That being said, I decided the only way to best assess the validity of this New Sidekick was to see how it fairs with a Target audience. So I let my teenage cousin try it out for a day and in a matter of mins, she had already set up two group message clients and was constantly updating her social media sites with easy while typing away on the keyboard. It got her thumbs up, and also get my solid buy for the Sidekick Crowd.
