Early Review of the Danger Sidekick II (with service by T-Mobile)
Anyone who has been reading my journal knows that I have recently found myself in possession of the Danger brand mobile phone device known as Hiptop 2 or Sidekick II.
I've had it in my possession for just over 24 hours, and I'd like to post a pre-review. I'll do a full review later, but I'm sure there are details that I'm thinking about right now that I'll forget about later>
Price: $400 to $200
You can purchase the hardware without a service plan agreement from My World Phone for $400. I don't really know why you'd do that when you could get an older or used palm pda for cheaper. Possibly this is useful or interesting to software developers. Possibly useful for people living outside the U.S. (I've no idea why their website claims that the device was originally "$699" -- that's just ridiculous.)
You can purchase the device with one year service from T-Mobile for $300 in the store at $250 at the website.
You can purchase the device with one year of service from A1 Wireless for $250. You do have to call them. This is the option I chose.
Size
It's about the size of a PDA, and bit bigger than most phones. This is fine for me, but would definitely be off-putting for some users.
Camera
The camera can take pictures in three sizes, the largest of which is 640x480. You can see some of the photos I took with it in my previous post. The flash is not as bright as you might expect, and distance shots don't come out so well, but there are four flash settings that you can control to get the best results. There's even a tiny mirror on the back of the camera to assist in self-portraits.
Hardware Interface
The buttons on the device are mostly quite easy to manipulate. There is a volume control on one side for easy adjustment without going through the software menus. The speaker doubles as a four-directional joystick (and also multi-color flashing light). One of the smartest design features is the scroll wheel on the right. Between the joystick and the scroll wheel, there should always be more than one way to do any specific navigation feature.
The screen flips up to reveal a small QWERTY keyboard. The keys are a fine size even for large fingers. You can dial phone numbers from the numbers at the top of the keyboard, or use the number pad that overlays a section of the keyboard. It's nice to have both options. The device comes with a headset jack, a recharger jack and a secret USB jack (with no official use for "consumers"). Apparently it is possible to upload your own ringtones and possibly other code through the USB port.
Software Interface
The software interface is pleasingly intuitve. You get a stylish curved menu that you can scroll through with the wheel, click through with the joystick, or short-cut key if know which application you want. There are so many details on the interface, that I can really only sketch them. Here are some that really please me:
1. autotext -- automatically replaces text with other text. So you can have "cant" always become "can't". You can add or remove conversions from this list. This is especially lovely for grammar nazis who don't want to have to go to the extra effort of typing things correctly.
2. event repeating -- an event can repeat "first friday of every month". It's possible to set up repetitions for specific day of month, day of week, collection of days of week, very flexible. The only thing I'd ask for here is to be able to set the notification sound for the reminder differently for every event.
3. It is possible to receive OS updates via the internet connection.
4. Installables -- There are many ringtones, some free, most between $1.69 and $1.99. None of them seemed $1.69 worth of entertaining. There is also a YIM client (free), a calculator (free) which will even split bills and calculate the tip for you (whew!). But, the list is fairly limited, and most of the applications and games cost about $3-$10. (The ssh client is $10, and the paint program is $6). I feel hopeful that there will be more available in the future.
5. Games -- The device comes with one obvious game, Rock & Rocket, which is a version of the old asteroids game. It's also got a snowboarding game that you can only play by finding the right Easter egg for it. I also downloaded a game called Removi (at the cost of about $5). It's a cute little game, but the interface is imperfect. There's not reason why it couldn't be played with the screen shut, except that the person who wrote it chose the wrong key for "select". It's definitely not up to the same standards as the other applications.
Complaints
This morning the phone froze on me while I was taking pictures. It wouldn't respond to any input, and the user can't take the battery out. After reading all three "manuals" that came with the device, reading the Danger and T-Mobile websites, I gave up and called. The customer service wasn't necessarily bad, but the first three people I talked to seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. They kept asking me if I'd taken the battery out (no, your documentation says not to). They encouraged me to push buttons that didn't exist. Finally, the fourth person (Daryl) was able to tell me how to do a hard reset on the device (hold down the "off" button, swivel the screen half way out, and push a paperclip into the tiny hole that is revealed).
Also, the scroll wheel has been imperfect in terms of response. Sometimes it works just fine, sometimes it doesn't do anything at all. I keep thinking that this is me, somehow. But it's not. It's the scroll wheel. It acts like a mouse when the mouseball has a small bit of grease or dirt in just the wrong spot deep inside.
Summary
This device is a good match for me. I didn't need the bleeding edge of technology in terms of high quality features, but it easily does the things that are most important to me. When the applications are written carefully, the device is a joy to work with. Here's hoping the hardware holds up.
I've had it in my possession for just over 24 hours, and I'd like to post a pre-review. I'll do a full review later, but I'm sure there are details that I'm thinking about right now that I'll forget about later>
Price: $400 to $200
Size
It's about the size of a PDA, and bit bigger than most phones. This is fine for me, but would definitely be off-putting for some users.
Camera
The camera can take pictures in three sizes, the largest of which is 640x480. You can see some of the photos I took with it in my previous post. The flash is not as bright as you might expect, and distance shots don't come out so well, but there are four flash settings that you can control to get the best results. There's even a tiny mirror on the back of the camera to assist in self-portraits.
Hardware Interface
The buttons on the device are mostly quite easy to manipulate. There is a volume control on one side for easy adjustment without going through the software menus. The speaker doubles as a four-directional joystick (and also multi-color flashing light). One of the smartest design features is the scroll wheel on the right. Between the joystick and the scroll wheel, there should always be more than one way to do any specific navigation feature.
The screen flips up to reveal a small QWERTY keyboard. The keys are a fine size even for large fingers. You can dial phone numbers from the numbers at the top of the keyboard, or use the number pad that overlays a section of the keyboard. It's nice to have both options. The device comes with a headset jack, a recharger jack and a secret USB jack (with no official use for "consumers"). Apparently it is possible to upload your own ringtones and possibly other code through the USB port.
Software Interface
The software interface is pleasingly intuitve. You get a stylish curved menu that you can scroll through with the wheel, click through with the joystick, or short-cut key if know which application you want. There are so many details on the interface, that I can really only sketch them. Here are some that really please me:
1. autotext -- automatically replaces text with other text. So you can have "cant" always become "can't". You can add or remove conversions from this list. This is especially lovely for grammar nazis who don't want to have to go to the extra effort of typing things correctly.
2. event repeating -- an event can repeat "first friday of every month". It's possible to set up repetitions for specific day of month, day of week, collection of days of week, very flexible. The only thing I'd ask for here is to be able to set the notification sound for the reminder differently for every event.
3. It is possible to receive OS updates via the internet connection.
4. Installables -- There are many ringtones, some free, most between $1.69 and $1.99. None of them seemed $1.69 worth of entertaining. There is also a YIM client (free), a calculator (free) which will even split bills and calculate the tip for you (whew!). But, the list is fairly limited, and most of the applications and games cost about $3-$10. (The ssh client is $10, and the paint program is $6). I feel hopeful that there will be more available in the future.
5. Games -- The device comes with one obvious game, Rock & Rocket, which is a version of the old asteroids game. It's also got a snowboarding game that you can only play by finding the right Easter egg for it. I also downloaded a game called Removi (at the cost of about $5). It's a cute little game, but the interface is imperfect. There's not reason why it couldn't be played with the screen shut, except that the person who wrote it chose the wrong key for "select". It's definitely not up to the same standards as the other applications.
Complaints
This morning the phone froze on me while I was taking pictures. It wouldn't respond to any input, and the user can't take the battery out. After reading all three "manuals" that came with the device, reading the Danger and T-Mobile websites, I gave up and called. The customer service wasn't necessarily bad, but the first three people I talked to seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. They kept asking me if I'd taken the battery out (no, your documentation says not to). They encouraged me to push buttons that didn't exist. Finally, the fourth person (Daryl) was able to tell me how to do a hard reset on the device (hold down the "off" button, swivel the screen half way out, and push a paperclip into the tiny hole that is revealed).
Also, the scroll wheel has been imperfect in terms of response. Sometimes it works just fine, sometimes it doesn't do anything at all. I keep thinking that this is me, somehow. But it's not. It's the scroll wheel. It acts like a mouse when the mouseball has a small bit of grease or dirt in just the wrong spot deep inside.
Summary
This device is a good match for me. I didn't need the bleeding edge of technology in terms of high quality features, but it easily does the things that are most important to me. When the applications are written carefully, the device is a joy to work with. Here's hoping the hardware holds up.