Sharp Hiptop 3 / Sidekick 3
Phone Scoop Review
Jun 19, 2006 by Eric Lin
In Depth review of the sleek new Sidekick 3 for T-Mobile, with Video Tour and side-by-side comparison with Sidekick II. read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
SK3 AND ID
I WENT TO THE TMOBILE STORE TODAY AND COMPARED THE SIDEKICK 3 AND SIDEKICK ID...BOTH PHONES ARE GOOD ALTHOUGH SIDEKICK 3 IS A BIT HEAVIER AND ID IS NICE ALSO THOUGH IT LACKS EDGE,CAMERA,MP3 AND BLUETOOTH
I COMPARED THE WEB SPEED ON BOTH PHONES THE PAGE ON THE SK3 WILL POP UP IN ABOUT 5 SECS AND SK ID WILL POP UP IN 8 SECS HEY I HAVE THE PATEINCE LOL SO YA THESE 2 PHONES R THE BEST
BUT ME?? ILL GO WITH THE SIDEKICK 3
Overall, A Well-Rounded Phone
I've owned my SideKick 3 for over a month, and in this time period, this phone has become integrated into my life. Now there are some people who are saying that after the "newness" of this phone wears off, it becomes a terrible phone. I am here to say that that is CRAP! This phone has many great features, granted that it will occasionally glitch, but is still reliable.
I have looked into other SmartPhones and in the end, the SideKick 3 always seems to be at or above the level of the competition.
Phone: Great sound quality and reception (I'm with T-Mobile) and has a very simple address book system
Texting: A great texting phone, with a QWERTY keyboard, you'll never keep your friends waiting
Camera: 1.3 MP, takes clear pictures for a phone, but won't be as clear as your $350 Digital Camera
OS: A great operating system that you'll figure out in five minutes
Music Player: mp3 format, is very clear
Apps: If you're with T-Mobile you'll have a great selection of applications to choose to install on your phone
Organizer/Planner: Very simple, you may think that you'll be using that nice leather-cased day planner that your mom gave you when you first got that new job, but this will make that seem irrelevant in a New York Minute
IM/E-Mail: Not a bit different from what you have installed on your computer at home or work
Web Browser: For a phone the internet is pretty quick, plus while you wait, you could be IMimg a friend or replying to a couple of E-Mails, and this isn't some watered-down version, this is the real deal (I'm with T-Mobile)
I hope that this was of help to you
Stellar little communications device
Firstly, this phone is only worth it if you pay the extra $20/mo for "Sidekick Unlimited". This includes unlimited internet access, instant messaging (AIM, MSN and Y!), text messaging and emailing. The UI. Danger has done a bang-up job in creating a great, intuitive interface to allow you to quickly access the myriad features available. It is a necessarily complex system, but they make it very easy to manoeuvre through. There are universal key shortcuts that allow quick access to any of the main applications, and then shortcuts inside those applications. There's also a slick menu system that you can use if you'd rather not learn the shortcuts. The keys are awesome. The QWERTY keyboard is perfect, with raised, separate keys that are spaced apart well and have enough resistance to avoid accidental keystrokes. The four proprietary buttons on the face are well-positioned and good-sized, but the shoulder buttons are a *tad* too small and/or recessed. The bottom ones are fine. And the trackball rocks! It's just this little polymer ball that you can click, and it works great. What a deal! Speaker phone is very functional and has good volume. It's a bit tinny, but I wasn't expecting Klipsch-quality audio from a portable device like this.The ability to have applications running in the background is awesome. I can be composing an email or doing a web search, and then if I get an IM or text message I can switch to that application, do my thing and switch back without any hassle. Now for the few complaints I have:
1.) The inability to use uploaded MP3s for ringtones. The *only* reason for this that I can see is they want to force you to pay for additional ringtones.
2.) Inability to send picture messages through SMS. You have to email them. There's no reason why the SK3 can't handle this.
3)Lack of a simple alarm. You have to g othrought the calender and do it for it to work.
But thatâs about it.
Buy it!
The Best and i dont even own
i do not even own this phone but i used it for a week and i can not see how people don't like it i mean i am going to buy it
***PRO'S***
Everything basicly the phone
***CON'S***
NOTHING
Sidekick 3 could be better if...
It is way more stylish than the sidekick 2 and alot of other competitors phone, the keyboard is way better than SK2.
somehow my sim card was always "ready" with the sk2 and with the 3... not so much..
HORRiBLE PHONE!
Everyone who has something postitve to say have just recently got the phone!! that is why they love it so much!
take if from someone who has had the Sk II for 1 year and now the Sk III since June 06
CONS!!!
***** EVEN WHEN U HAVE SERViCE - PPL WILL CALL U AND ON THIER END IT WILL RING 2x and take them STRIGHT TO THE ANSWERING MACHINE - IN OUR END WE DONT GET NUTTIN EXCEPT MAYBE A MESSAGE IF THEY LEFT ONE!
*** THE SCREEN - pops out for anything thing. i had to get it popped back in like 10 times now i dont EVEN HAVE A SCREEN!
* AFTER A WHILE THE SCREEN WONT FLiP AS CUTE AS IT DID WHEN U FIRST GOT IT
* THE TRACK BALL FREZZES AND THE MORE U USE IT .. IT DOESNT MOVE AS SMOOTHLY ANY MORE
* INTERNET SUCKS - sometimes sites like MYSPACE wont even connect it says that it has to reconnect idk
* GOOGLE IMAGES - DOESNT WORK
* MP3 player - only holds like 15 songs
* CAMERA! - makes anything u take a pic of look ORENGE - only takes "ok" pics in sunlight
* AIM - messages dont always get to you and then u recieve like 3024 IM's at the same time
* MSN - NEVER CONNECTES - it doesnt connect on the phone
* EMAiL - sometimes you dont recieve emails right away
* SERViCE - WOW!! SOMETIMES U CAN HAVE FULL SERViCE AND U CANT EVEN MAKE A CALL!!!! it says the network connection is not available
* YOU HAVE TO RESTART IT ALMOST 3 TIMES A DAY TO GET UR SERViCE BACK!
* NO ALARM CLOCK!
* BATTERY HORRIBLE - it lasts like 9 hrs if you dont touch it - BUT ITS A SIDEKICK ppl txt and be on it like crazy - IT WILL LAST U 5hrs the MOST - bring ur charger with you EVERYWHERE!
i could go on and on this phone is really bad! - Everyone has it and everyone complains about it!
TRY HAVING IT FOR MORE THEN 2 WKS BEFORE U POST THAT ITS A GREAT EXCELLENT PHONE!!
BC I WAS IN LOVE WIT IT TOO AT FIRST!
DONT MISELAD THESE PEOPLE!
Not good enough for the cost
I am lucky that I received this phone as a gift. I do hate that the person that I got it from spent over $350.00 for it. This was supposed to be a great phone with blue tooth, camera, MP3, etc. The camera is a 1.3 megapixl and honestly, it sucks. I have another phone with the same megapixl camera and it is so much clearer than this device. The blue tooth will not connect to anything other than a headset and there is a lot of static with them. I purchased three different blue tooth headsets and then realized it was the phone. There is a lot of feedback when talking on the phone for the ones you are talking to. Not one person that I talked to could clearly hear me because of the echo in the phone. My co-worker also owns one and has the same issues so it is not that I got a bad phone, they are all like that. It has no alarm clock on it either. The battery will not even last a whole day. This device is made to use a lot for Internet, IM, phone, etc and it would not even last a whole day. I had to purchase a second battery just to make it through a day and my other phone that I now use, well, I charge it only twice a week.
Pros:
Internet Browsing
Instant messengers make same sounds as on a computer
Cons:
Pictures are not clear
Can't send pictures through text
Web browser times out sometimes
Can't view all websites correctly (non mobile web enabled sites don't come up right)
The camera has a bit of a delay when loading
No Calculator
No Alarm Clock (half to use calendar as an alarm)
Awesome Phone
I've had the phone for about a month and a half now and I love it. It could use some improvement, but overall it's a great phone.
Pros:
Internet Browsing
Easy to use
Going from feature to feature is a snap
Great speaker phone
Bluetooth connectivity is easy
Great sound
Decent battery life
Clear sound
Instant messengers make same sounds as on a computer
Cons:
Can't send pictures through text
Web browser times out sometimes
Can't view all websites correctly (non mobile web enabled sites don't come up right)
The camera has a bit of a delay when loading
No Calculator
No Alarm Clock (half to use calendar as an alarm)
Overal I love it. They do need to improve the custom background feature to sometime more user friendly. YOu have to do it by hooking up to a computer. There's ten steps to do it and it's a bit of a pain. Other than that, I can't wait for the next Sidekick to come out! this phone rocks! :)
SIDEKICK 3. A good idea, a mediocre phone
i purchased a sidekick 3 when it was first released. the phone was advertized with all the features that i liked on the sk2 and then some. the data was upgraded to the edge service, the camera was supposedly 1.3 megapixle. bluetooth and an mp3 player.
after i had been using the phone for a month or so i noticed a lot of the flaws. though the camera is 1.3 megapixle, the quality is terrible. every picture is grainy, dark, and distorted. the VGA on the sk2 took better pictures. the edge data transfer was much faster, but i noticed quickly the phone didn't hold a signal as well as the sk2. mp3 player works great, this was probably the best feature of the phone.
after 4 months of having the phone, people complained they could never hear me when i was talking to them. the backlight wouldn't shut off. tmobile issued me a replacement...then 3 weeks later i had the same problems. i now use the t-mobile dash and have no problems atall.
in conclusion, the idea of the sidekick 3 is amazing. but in practice it's a mediocre phone meant for young rich kids. bummer.
No Internet No What??
This is a really great phone. I had this phone for about 2 days now and i am really enjoying it. A couple pros and cons are the following
Pros
Great qwerty keyboard, can type a 4 page letter in seconds
great layout of applications
easy to use (my grandma can use it)
light sensor lights up keyboard, and screen when needed
shortcuts to features
Cons
have to have sidekick 3 package to use im's
poor camera (unless in bright light)
very crappy instruction book
blue tooth is hard to use
all in all i think this is a really great phone for the younger crowd, but if u wanted to use it for business DO NOT SPEND THE MONEY
for the money you spend i think its worth it
PURCHASE THIS PHONE
