The pared-down Sidekick vs. the slim dual-hinge phone. Both pack QWERTY keys and a $100 price tag. Which phone should your thumbs crave?
Review summary of the T-Mobile Sidekick iD:
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Full T-Mobile Sidekick iD Review:
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Round 1 - Style
The T-Mobile Sidekick iD looks exactly like previous Sidekicks, with the new bumpers for a bit more color. We have always enjoyed the Sidekick design, and find the flipping, twisting mechanism to be fun and addictive. Still, it's a big phone. It isn't as comfortable to hold as the U740, opened vertically, and it is way too big to fit into a pocket, on jeans or cargo pants. The Samsung SCH-U740 is slick, thin, and the dual-hinge mechanism works well. Open vertically, it is even thinner than many standard clamshell phones.
Winner: Samsung SCH-U740
Round 2 - Keypad
We never completely got used to the dual-orientation printing on the number keys of the SCH-U740's keypad. We figured it out, but the intense jumble of characters on every key was not very pretty. The keyboard itself was also smaller than the Sidekick's wide layout, and we found the Sidekick's keyboard more closely resembled the shape of a desktop keyboard, which made a bit of a difference hunting and pecking. We wish the device were more flat, with less of a ridge for thumbs to drop down to hit keys, but the typing experience on the Sidekick was much more pleasant than that on the U740.
Winner: T-Mobile Sidekick iD
Round 3 - Interface
If you have a standard Verizon Wireless Get It Now phone, you know what the menu structure on the U740 looks like. Even though the form should lend itself to a special interface, or some special features, instead Verizon Wireless just shoehorns their standard menus into the phone, albeit with a nicer looking menu screen. The iD borrows its interface from the more-capable Sidekick 3, from which it also presumably gets its dull screen. The Sidekick interface is simple and fun, with top-level access to all of the devices key features. Also, the interface works well with the Sidekick's trackball and unique soft keys, while the Verizon Wireless doesn't take much advantage of the U740's unique design.
Winner: T-Mobile Sidekick iD
Round 4 - Calling
We were generally disappointed with calls made on the T-Mobile Sidekick iD. To compound the problem, T-Mobile slashed calling features to keep the price down, including Bluetooth and speaker-independent voice dialing, both of which the Samsung SCH-U740 packs. The contact list was much better on the Sidekick, with live, while-you-type searching available from many different applications that require address book access. Still, calls on the U740 were much better, and, as cell phone-using drivers, we find the lack of both Bluetooth and voice dialing to be a potential disaster for us. Maybe these features are less important than a good address book, however, for the 15 and under crowd, but they made a difference to us.
Winner: T-Mobile SCH-U740
Round 5 - Messaging
This category was mostly a case of "anything you can do I can do better," in favor of the Sidekick iD. The Samsung U740 can display most of an outgoing SMS, but the Sidekick can display all 160 characters, and then some. The U740 has IM preset for AIM, MSN, and Yahoo; ditto the Sidekick, but the Sidekick can handle more simultaneous conversations. Both phones support POP3 and IMAP4. The U740 has a slight edge with MMS messaging; though both phones can receive multimedia, the Sidekick iD lacks a camera, so it can't send photos and videos like the U740. This may be a big deal to some customers, but we could never see ourselves using the blurry camera on the Samsung device, even for MMS, so we think the rest of the messaging features on the Sidekick make it the superior phone for text addicts.
Winner: T-Mobile Sidekick iD
Round 6 - Multimedia
On the Samsung SCH-U740, streaming video is okay, audio support is worse, and Web browsing is completely unusable. Still, this may be better than the T-Mobile device, which lacks any streaming video or audio file support. We may gripe about the lack of included headphones with the U740, but at least there is something to listen to; the Sidekick lacks any music or video player.We weren't impressed with the Web browser on the U740, but the Samsung phone at least has EV-DO for fast networking, while the T-Mobile phone isn't even taking advantage of the carrier's slower EDGE network, opting instead for 2G GPRS. Hands-down, the SCH-U740 wins, because the iD just isn't a multimedia phone.
Winner: Samsung SCH-U740
Round 7 - Value
From T-Mobile, we picked out a Sidekick iD for $100, a $40 calling plan, which gave us myFaves, but only 300 minutes, and the unlimited data and messaging plan for the Sidekick, called Sidekick Unlimited, for $20. So, $100 plus $60 for calling and unlimited messaging and data. Not too shabby. The Samsung SCH-U740 on Verizon Wireless also costs $100, but the rest gets a bit hazy. The $40 calling plan nets you 450 minutes, but unlimited calling to Verizon Wireless customers only. The V Cast plan costs $15 per month, and includes 3G access, but no messages. We weren't thrilled with the 3G options on this phone, even the Web browser, but if you use instant messaging, you'll need the unlimited data plan to avoid per kilobyte charges, which are exorbitant. For another $15, you get 1500 messages, which is 50 per day, and unlimited messaging to Verizon Wireless customers. Even though it lacks the bulk of minutes that Verizon offers, between myFaves and all the unlimited offerings that come with the Sidekick Unlimited plan, we think the Sidekick iD is the better value.
Winner: T-Mobile Sidekick iD
And the winner is:
The Samsung SCH-U740 has a unique design, and it does a few things well. Important things, like making phone calls and fitting comfortably in your pants pocket. Still, as a messaging phone, it can't match the messaging behemoth that is the Sidekick. Though the iD can't keep up in terms of multimedia, we think real messaging fans of all stripes, fans of SMS, IM and e-mail, will prefer the Sidekick iD. We would have hoped that less features might have slimmed down the size, as well as the price, but if you have room in your bag, the iD is the one to get.
Champion: T-Mobile Sidekick iD
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