Review: Sidekick LX 2009
Calls
I hate holding phones sideways to make calls. It conflicts with the traditional notion of what I consider a phone to be. Because the LX offers no option (at least that I could find) of displaying information on the screen in portrait orientation, you have to hold it sideways to make calls (and do everything else, for that matter).
That gripe aside, you can access recent calls (and your contacts) without the need to open the phone. That saves a lot of time. Scrolling around, it is easy to find what you're looking for. Using the Menu button lets you do pretty much whatever you want with a phone call log or contact once you've selected it. You can't perform detailed searches (aka, type in a query) with the phone closed, though. For that, you have to open it up. You can, however, subject yourself to the punishment that is dialing via the trackball. I'd suggest avoiding it. It sucks.
Sound can easily be transferred to the earpiece, speaker, or Bluetooth if you so choose. The Sidekick makes most essential calling features easy enough for anyone to figure out.
Contacts
The contacts application is fairly robust. Each contact entry is loaded with options to customize how they appear. You can add phone numbers, email, IM, web sites, street addresses, notes, job title, company, birthday and anniversary. Each of these can be customized further with ringtones, alerts, and labels.
You can import contacts already stored on your SIM, or add them piecemeal if you wish. Of course, the LX comes with T-Mobile's MyFaves calling plan, which makes managing at least five of your contacts that much easier. There is a specific button on the lower left corner of the LX's face that can be set to automatically take users to the phone application or the MyFaves list. Your choice.