An extra click for AIM: try assigning a shortcut jackass.

If you have to SAVE your TXT messages, you arent utilzing yourself correctly.

The battery sucks, I agree.

No meniton of BT? You must be an amatuer.

PS. THe browser dosnt support FLASH porn, so of course its not usable. Try a goob book. I recommend "The Alphabet Of Manliness by: MADDOX"

The Sk3 is a very minor upgrade over the SK2. The web browser is somewhat faster, and the trackball is kinda cool. The music player is useful unless you already have an iPod, otherwise its not really worth shelling out the money for a big miniSD card.

Unfortunatly all the old limitations of the SK2 are still there, and some things have gotten worse. The swivel isn't crisp as it was, nor is the keyboard as easy to use. And the camera still sucks.

Yeah... I've had mine for about two weeks now.
Note that I've only ever had a sidekick as a phone, so my feelings are based on the sidekick 3 versus the sidekick 2 and 1.

The good:
-MP3 player works well, is easy to use and doesn't seem to cause much battery drain
-Standard USB port and removable storage usage is handy
-Trackball rules.
-It feels better in your hand because the sides are curved in.
-The phone sounds better.
-It looks a lot nicer than the sk2.
-The keyboard's still the best on the market (I keep trying other keyboards to compare and the sidekick's is really so much better)

The semi-good/semi-bad:
-The screen's the same... it does its job, but aint incredible.
-The camera's bigger... but the picture quality is still crappy like most camera phones. Flash seems brighter than before.
-Web is slightly faster, but only once it starts downloading the page. Wait times to request the page from the server etc are the same, if not longer and are often the dominating factor.
-Like mentioned in the above review, the screen opening is slightly noisier and less smooth. At first this annoyed me, but after some usage I really don't mind.
-The grouping of similar applications as pointed out in the other review is slightly annoying, but also has its advantages. Personally I assign and use keyboard shortcuts almost exclusively to switch between programs, so this doesn't really affect me.

The bad:
-Battery life is terrible. As stated by the above review, it hardly lasts till midnight with regular internet usage. It seems internet usage is the dominating factor of this, so I suspect the EDGE is the problem.
-The new side buttons are terrible. They're hard to press on purpose and easy to press accidentally.
-The speakerphone sucks.
-They removed the dedicated ringer/speakerphone speaker on the back of the sk2 and use the smaller speaker used for phone calls for speakerphone and mp3 player.

The battery life is really the big downer in my mind. The phone is definitely a disappointment. So much so that I went out and tried out some other QWERTY phones....

Unfortunately the Windows Mobile 5 is a sluggish beast and in comparison to the Sidekick's UI and shortcut methods is horrible. Almost all other phone's keyboards force you to use your thumbs to press buttons very close to the edge of the phone. This is difficult because it makes for maximum curvature of your thumb. The sidekick places buttons on the end of the phone, allowing a much more comfortable keyboard experience.

All in all it gets a big "ehhhhhhhhh" when compared to the previous sidekick. If somebody came out with a decent OS, UI and keyboard for a phone I'd switch... but for now I guess I'll justhave to charge my phone twice in a 24 hour period (as obnoxious as that is).

TheZodiac, buddy, what is the deal? I was simply asking for some user reviews of the Sidekick 3. Keebler and Jaguar did a fine job providing their own information, there is no need to completely insult Denton because you seem to think you are the master of all things Sidekick.

Next time you feel the need to comment and flame someone, try reading a "goob" spelling and grammar book. It will help you look like less of a moron.

I agree that the battery life is abysmal, and I've also had trouble with the screen catching. I've started doing a little downward wrist flick when I open the screen to keep it from catching and not opening all the way.
Nobody seems to have mentioned that the keyboard is a lot nicer than the old one. I couldn't type very fast on the old rubber KB, and the glue was defective so I had to crazy glue it into place a couple times, no fun. I can type much faster on the new one, and I doubt there will be the defective glue/peeling keyboard issues of the old sidekicks.
Internet and general interaction is a lot faster. 10 Pin actually responds to my actions immediately, I've had to retrain myself not to correct for lag in response time. Now if they could just get the rest of the games I liked upgraded . . .

I love the sk3, the track ball is nice and quick and faster than the scroll wheel. The keyboard is a hundred times better. Battery life is not to big of a deal to me, as it sits on a charge at home, in the office, and in the car. Mp3s are a nice new addition, haven't used bluetooth yet. Using the miniSD as removeable storage is handy.

The bad:
the "shoulder" buttons are in a crappy position.
The battery cover is a pain to get off
Reception is not quite as good as SK2

Ah, I forgot about reception. Yeah, I used to be able to get 1-2 bars with data access in my windowless, solid cinderblock office deep in the bowels of a hospital, but now I get the little phone icon and maybe 1 bar. No good. I've resorted to using the desktop interface online to see if I've got any mail waiting for me.

Interesting comment by Brian in the post about not being able to fingernail the keys... I've always used my fingers, not my fingernails to hit the keys, but I could imagine how the soft keys were nice w/ fingernails.

The old keyboard design had to go. The keyboard peeled off of all three sk2's I had.

Also, if anybody wants to try, I think sealing the backvolume created behind the speaker to the underside of the PCB might produce greater sound output. I haven't tried it because it might void the warranty.

Another note: it's a bit harder to get this phone apart than the SK2 (not that that really matters for most people)

Phil T. from MAKE has a good review of the Sidekick 3 vs. MDA up here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pmtorrone/188990737/

For the record, the Terminal SSH application showed up this morning in the catalog.

Hello, I used the sidekick for almost 3 years. I used to have specific strategy games in sidekick 2 such as banana word, solitarie, and apples to oranges, etc. When I got new sidekick 3. These strategy games are not available in sidekick 3. This is unbelivable!

Camera still sucks! Any suggestions?

I was obsessed with my SK2 but I hate my SK3. It IS an improvement, however, there are just as many glitches and problems. Great memory space, but I am having more text messaging issues than I did with the 2. Also, I always had service with the 2, my 3 cuts out constantly.

I've had my SK3 for 4 months and I already need to replace it. It resets itself everyday, causing me to lose my txts. It also freezes frequently.

The SK3 is great for 1st time "sidekickers" but those who had the 2 might be quite disappointed.

I'm a new user. Loved the SK3 at first. However, if you use text messaging frequently, you may want to reconsider. I lose 5-10% of incoming messages until hours or DAYS later when they appear in my inbox. (Of course these are the most important messages that can cause extreme emotional upheaval when not read in a timely manner.)
Tech support, after dealing with them for almost a week, admitted that there are glitches, but this this is the industry standard and I'm beyond my "buyer's remorse" period for a return. (Lucky for me, though, they are working "round the clock" to fix it -- but we have no idea how long it will take.) Thankfully, the T-mobile retailer has a cortex and offered to rectify the situation.

My SK3 resets itself automatically also. I loose all my text messages, and my phone becomes unusable for a good 10 minutes while it reboots. If anyone knows how to fix that, please share because it's very annoying. Especially when it decides to reboot in the middle of a phone call. :-p Otherwise, I love my SK3...

I've had a Sidekick 3 for almost a year now and I can't wait to get rid of it. I've had 5 replacement phones in the past 8 months and customer service at T-mobile is refusing to send a new one out to me. If you decline to pay the extra 10 dollars a month for insurance they require that you send the phone to them first before they issue you a replacement. This means a solid 3 weeks without a phone.

All of the replacements they send me last for about a month and a half before they start to break down. They constantly reset themselves and erase all your information. One of my past devices actually erased my entire simcard as well. I cant tell you how many times I've lost my entire in and outbox full of texts. Text messages take hours to arrive even if you have the "G" and if the phone loses reception it takes it a good 10 minutes to find it again and to recognize the sim card. The camera is super grainy for a 1.3 megapixel and if you don't have it set exactly right you don't even get a picture.

I personally wouldn't recommned this phone to anyone and I'm seriously thinking about paying the early cancelation fee so that I can change to a different product.

I too have had a similar problem as ksweets. I've had my sk3 replaced 4 times already. My first issue was that the screen constantly froze, then I couldnt get reception ANYWHERE, then the speakers apparently broke b/c I couldn't hear the phone ring and the final issue was that I was charging it and in the middle of the night it turned off and has yet to turn on!!

The most recent being about 5 days ago. It completely stopped working 1 1/2 days after getting it. I hadn't even sent back the old one!!!! Honestly tmobile should stop sellin it cuz its obviously a piece of crap!!!

After callin them and having a fit they are now replacing my sk3 with the Dash. So far I havent heard any issues with that one so Im good for now!!!

When I first got my sidekick 3, I loved it but lately its been disintigrating. The side peice constantly falls off, internet is slow, and wen I try to flip up the screen, where it's supposed to stop, it keps going and sometimes goes in a compete circle. It doesnt read my extra memory card so I cant store music, and it constantly deletes all my texts. And worst of all, it has deleted all my contacts 7 times. Is this normal?!

I love my sk3, it lasted almost a year. It's terrible that the inbox only holds 100 texts, and my phone has also deleted my contacts multiple times. Right now it's only deleting last names out of my contacts though. However, my trackball broke about five months ago, and I just dealt with it, until I ordered a new side off Ebay and replaced it myself, because I didn't feel like going three weeks without a phone.