Sidekick Slide vs. Sidekick LX
We were fortunate enough to preview the Sidekick Slide way back in July, and for the most part, our opinions and views haven’t changed. Instead of just doing a review on the Sidekick Slide, we’re going to pin it head-to-head with the Sidekick LX. For each category you’ll see our opinions on both of the devices, so sit back, relax, and put them profiles on "Buzz".
Operating System
Sidekick Slide: If you’re a previous Sidekick user you’ll immediately notice the refined look of the new OS, new system sounds, and a couple of other handy features.
Sidekick LX: We might be hearing things, but we noticed different system sounds on the Slide, and the LX. In general, the Sidekick LX really shows off the new OS nicely because of the real estate screen space.
Screen
Sidekick Slide: The Sidekick Slide’s screen has a resolution of 320×240, and is exactly the same physical size as the Sidekick iD. Even though it is quite smaller than the LX, the Slide’s screen is crisp, bright, and shows vivid colors.
Sidekick LX: We’re in love with the Sidekick LX’s screen! At a resolution of a 400×280, it provides ample room when web browsing, or just doing general tasks with the device. This is the main reason we’re so inclined to stick with the LX. It really is fantastic.
Instant Messaging
We can’t really show off the differences between the Slide and LX because they both have the exact same IM clients on board. Again, LX screen size makes IMing oh-so-easy!
Size
Sidekick Slide: The Slide’s physical size is the smallest of any Sidekick yet. It’s even thinner than the LX at 17.2mm, and is perfect for someone constantly on the move, yet not willing to give up Danger’s OS.
Sidekick LX: The LX is really for the more hardcore Sidekick users. It is 21.8mm thick, wider, and longer than the Slide, but for anyone with large hands, this is the way to go
Keyboard
Sidekick Slide: When you make the Sidekick smaller, the keyboard obviously will get smaller, too. The Slide’s keyboard is actually hard plastic circular-shaped keys, and while we could get used to them, there is minimal tactile feedback. We can see the younger / female market loving this.
Sidekick LX: As the manufacturer of probably the best keyboards for mobile devices on the planet, Danger can’t mess with success here. And they haven’t pretty much. The LX’s keyboard is roomy, extremely pleasurable to type on, and sort of combines the Sidekick 2’s rubber keyboard, with the Sidekick 3’s plastic key keyboard into one. This turned out very well, and we have no keyboard regrets.
Reception
Sidekick Slide: We’ve got Motorola for the first time, and we’ve got Sharp for the LX. Motorola came to play and we think they did a great job. Reception is on-par with average Motorola reception, and we hardly noticed any "two-dot dances" or "X’s" we previously have gotten on earlier Sidekick models
Sidekick LX: The LX is physically a bigger device. That leaves for room to play around with the antenna, and it worked. The Sidekick LX’s reception is fantastic, and totally trumps any previous Sidekick model. It is one hair-level better than the Slide in our unscientific tests.
Call Quality
Sidekick Slide: Motorola integrated the ear speaker on the actual screen panel, instead of the d-pad where all of the ear speakers have always been housed. This was an awesome move, and provides the most clear and not awkward talking experience of any Sidekick to date. It is also incredibly comfortable.
Sidekick LX: As we mentioned above, the ear speaker is housed on the d-pad which is on the left side of the phone. We don’t normally use the Sidekick devices as phones, but when we tried it out, we noticed a buzz / hiss through out all conversations, and after a couple minutes the d-pad started to get annoying.
Speaker Volume / Quality
Sidekick Slide: The Slide’s volume ups the LX by a little bit. We hear a much louder and fuller sound when using the Slide, and you don’t get those fun lights to help you know when you’ve got a call or message, so that speaker better be on point! And it is.
Sidekick LX: Definitely wished it was louder, but it is not iPhone quiet. Speakerphone when talking on the phone was pretty good and definitely audible, but MP3 playback is a little tough. We also miss IMs sometimes because of the low volume
Side note to Danger: Integrate vibrate with the AIM IM sound for the love of god, already!
Catalog
We actually don’t have to split this up because as far as we can tell, the Catalog is actually exactly the same on both devices. We reported that the Catalog would stop using "blocks" to show how much Application / Game space you had left, and we were 100% on the money! We finally have the storage space shown in Kilobytes, and this helps judge the remaining space more accurately. Something which you’re not able to do, is store Applications / Games to your memory card. This really puts our mind to work, because we have no idea why! It is not like you could copy the app off the memory card and send it to your friend so they can install it for free! The Sidekick platform is only open to developers, so with out a dev key, you are not able to do anything besides buy apps and games. Come on, Danger! If I want to buy more stuff, but don’t have space on the handset, you’re not going to let me? Totally wack! On the flip side, if you do uninstall something you bought, you’re free to install it again because the Sidekick back-end keeps track of your purchases. Not the best of methods, but at least you don’t have to buy something over and over again.
Conclusion:
We hope you liked our head-to-head battle between the Sidekick Slide and the Sidekick LX. What’s our ultimate conclusion? If you’re a hardcore Sidekick user you’ll want to grab the LX. The keyboard and screen alone make this a win. The Sidekick Slide isn’t really beneath the LX on the totem pole, so if you want an awesome phone, but love the Danger OS all in a small device, you will definitely want to pickup the Slide. It’s a hard choice, believe us. We switched from the LX to the Slide, back to the LX probably 6 times alone in the past day, but for now, we’re sticking with the Sidekick LX. The screen is just too good…
Click on over to our Sidekick Slide vs. Sidekick LX gallery!
Just wondering . . . Why wasn’t the camera reviewed? I notice that the Slide doesn’t include a flash
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@ Jay
Left the camera part out for a reason — really makes no difference to me if there was a camera on board or not, they are sub-par for a late 2007 device. Slide and LX have the same camera, and as you pointed out the LX has an LED flash.
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just to let you know…you can change the AIM sound and you can make it vibrate. As a current Sidekick LX user i love this device a lot….but i do want to try out the slide!
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@ Mark
I know you can change the sound, what I meant is that when using the default AIM sound, there is no vibrate. Some of us like to keep the original AIM IM sound.
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I agree, the camera feature on the Sidek!ck (all sidekicks for that matter) have always been sub-par. Just thought that Moto might have given the Slide a decent camera. Thanks for the input though.
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Honestly I want the Slide because it’s smaller and all black.. I really don’t want a brown phone. But it sucks to hear there are none of the lights that go off when you have a message/call like the SK2 (last one I had). I’m also assuming there’s no video recording. Not a big deal but would be nice the future. Guess I’ll go check them both out IRL on the 7th when the SKS is out. But I think I’m going with the Slide.
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Is the iD and Slide’s screen 2.4″ or 2.5″ or niether?
When I Google it I get mixed results.
Also, what about the SK3?
I heard it was 2.6″
It is sort of hard for me to believe that the SK LX has a 3″ screen.
I have to see one really bad.
Because 2.6 on the SK3 seems large, but since the 3 and LX are about the same size, 3″ would seem huge, wouldn’t it?
I was sorta amazed to see the SK Slide on T-Mobile’s website last night.
It was all BAM “Coming Wednesday, November 7th!”
I thought it was only going to be in the UK.
Guess not.
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totally on the money BG! while I really want the LX I think I am going to get the Slide on the 7th because my hands are small, and the Slide is more cute for a girl
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The LX is 18mm actually thick - that’s the official Sharp figure. T-Mobile put up the Sidekick 3 thickness for some reason. Just measure it and you’ll see.
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Thanks for the side-by-side comparison. I am still using my sidekick II because I really didn’t like the III’s keypad and overall feel of it. It seemed too plastic and cheap. I like my rubber buttons so it’s good to know that the LX has something similar. Can you tell me anything about the browser? Is it the same as previous versions? There are a lot of websites I just can’t visit because of the II’s browser. I even switched to a T-Mobile Dash with windows mobile so I could have a browser that worked with more sites, but switched back because I missed my sidekick. How come no wifi on these two new devices?
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I need a new phone and am looking at the t-mobile shadow and now i guess the sidekick lx. The only thing i am worried about is getting sick of the lx because of the size. Then the blackberry pearl started to enter the mix but then I decided no on the pearl because i think it soon going to be outdated. If anyone has any advice for me please let me know, just leave comments and I’ll check it.
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hey i liked the side by side comparison…and I’m leaning more on the side of the LX. I’m using the Slide now (I’ve had it for about a week now) and the keyboard definitely takes some getting used to. I’m still going to write up a hands on for the slide on my site in the next day or so…
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@ Matt
I also have The Shadow (it’s my main phone and I’ve had it for over a month now, I get T-mobile Releases early) and when we at T-mobile call it “The Official Phone of Fun” we’re not lying. The Shadow is a fun phone and quite usable. The size is perfect for the hand and the key board was actually easier than I thought to use. The screen resolution is excellent and the camera is nice (2.0 megapixel)
The Shadow can do everything the LX can do and with the exception of instant messaging (nothing beats a sidekick for instant messaging) the Shadow can probably do it better.
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I’d like to know more about Sidekick lx Call Quality and the what you meant by “We don’t normally use the Sidekick devices as phones. .”
I’ve never owned a Sidekick and I’m planning
on buying but the Sidekick lx. I use my phone
more than quite often to call my friends,
and it would be very very bad if I heard a buzzing noise when talking on the phone.
Please emphasize for me
I really do not want to spend $300 for a phone that might not even sasified me.
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I personally am in love with my sk lx…its definatly way more adult looking and i personally think its the best sk out since the sk2…the sk3 was very distructive and child like. I also feel that the sk slide is also child like in its design…point blank the sk slide is 4 kids…the lx is for more of the adult crowd…did i mention i love my sklx (expresso brown)
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I have a LX and I love it the I had an ID before and really enjoyed it then I got my LX and realized it is so much better I have big hands so the keyboard size is a plus the screen is awsome I haven’t seeen a slide yet but this LX is the best phone I’ve ever had
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I have the sk3 right now and am so excited to buy the lx! As for phone quality buy a bluetooth then you can talk on the phone and text at the same time! Btw anyone kno if you can watch video or send pic text these are the only two things I see the sk3 lacking and if they fixed it for the lx it would be awesome!
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I don’t know if anyone posted this, but there is vibrating on the AIM im’s. Go to menu, settings,general,scroll down and highlight buddy sign-on alert and change it to new message alert, once selected you can change the alert you may want to use when you receive an im from your friends.
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Good Point.The camera probably wasn’t reviewed…because sks aren’t known for their camera abilities. haha. I picked mine up 11/7. I really love it so far. I upgraded from the sk3 to the slide. The size feels very comfortable to me and it doesn’t feel like a brick. Making calls and doing tasks are good quality. The keyboard touch feedback v. the sk3 is the notable difference to me. Its taking some time to get use to, but I think in a long run it won’t bother me. The size of the screen doesn’t bother me and the screen color quality is a huge improvement. Hopefully, the battery will be better than on my sk3 which was a major issues for me. Overall The size and the convince of the device is enough for me.
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URRRRGGGHHH!!! I’m still up in the air, as I’m still leaning towards the Slide, but that LX is still insane. I’ve seen the LX & I’m amazed by it & the camera is gorgeous. So I’ll go play with the Slide this weekend….Slide or LX?! Eh, we’ll see….
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@ db
I migrated from the sk3 to the lx just for the picture messanging. Its done similar to a text message and you can add a voice recording to the pic as well if you so choose. I have to say the lx did meet my expectations for the new sk. The screen is amazingly clear and crisp. I wasnt too fond of the micro sd chip instead of the miny. Now i gotta get another chip. lol. Other then that great device.
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I have the Lx as well, n I fell in love with it since the 1st day I got it. The screen makes a big difference, everything is so much clearer, I just gotta get another memory card cuz the 1 it comes with is to0 small.
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[[M!Dn!GhTbLu3 Lx]] =)
B4 the Lx I had the sk2, wen the 3 came out I didn’t bother gettin it b-cuz the keypad was plastic n was very uncomfortable for me, I was to0 used to my rubber keypad. Wen I heard bout the Lx, n its keypad bein similar to the sk2, n the screen bigger n better, I just had to go get it! The bumbers lighting up wen ppls sign on n off of aim is just ko0l.!!!
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where can i get a cheap lx without a plan i need to get it for my fiance for xmas??? someone please help
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Now that the sidekick slide came out Iam undecided on which one to get. This will be my 1st sidekick ever and I want to make sure I chose the right one for me. I’ve heard how the slide has longer battery life, clear and louder sound then the lx but the keypad is crapy. I like the lx cause of the the fancy lights and the bigger screen but in the end I want a phone thats going to sound, work better and last longer. Which has better speed, is the menu layout the same, which has better reception, better call quality and speaker volume etc…I need someone whose compared both phones and tell me all the pros and cons of each one before I decide which to purchase, thanks!
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