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!
i dont know which toget. i have bigger hands, but i want a smaller phone. i dont want a phone that is too quiet and cracks when im tlking, though. ive been looking at the slide for a while, but when i looked at the pictures of the keyboard, it kind of turned me toward the LX. The keys r too smashed together and small. i like the sliding though. Right now i think i might get an LX, but i wish they were a little cheaper!!!
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Anyone that has the Sidekick Slide, have you realized that when you somtimes slide the screen back down the whole phone just shuts off? Is my phone defective or is anybody else having this problem?
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@ Minican Lunatic
naw I’ve never had that problem with my slide. Im suggesting you take that bad boy back before you reach 14 days and have to go thought T-mobile customer care…
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@ Minican Lunatic
Yes, that is a common problem with the Hiptop/Sidekick Slide.
To overcome it you need take half a business card and place that in between the back of the battery and the back plate of the phone.
Of course I recommend you keep getting a replacement in the off chance you get one that doesn’t have this problem but at the moment I am seeing 95% of the Slide’s having the problem and I am simply replacing them over and over again for my customers.
Hopefully Motorola will do a revision and recall on the current version and release a Slide that does not shut off just between you slide the screen open or slide it down.
Motorola might be in for a rude shock when they find out about how many ELF’s Telstra are conducting on the device (many repeated for the same customers again and again).
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Interesting about the shut off problem after the slide. I was beta testing the Slide for a while, thought this would be fixed in production models. My phone has been doing this for a while. For the people that experience it, do all your SMS messages get flagged as unread when it restarts?
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hey guys i am getting ready to buy my lx or slide i had the sk3 and it got stolen but w.e i heard dat the sidekick lx is gonna have video features after is da slide also gonna have dat??
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@ Cloke
Yes! The damn messages get marked unread everytime the unit does that! It also sends 4-5 messages about refreshing myFaves contacts!
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How can i buy an xl from america? bcos im british it would be cheaper for me to buy one from america due to our currency being worth more, some1 help!
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Well all i gotta say is i love the sk lx which i got the blue one but the problem i noticed and it happens to a few ppl is the battery yes its lot better then the sk3 but i noticed when u charged it fully then less then 5 mins you already loose bars i got my brightness all the way down cuz havein it bright just blinds me but other then that i love the device
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its damn near 2008…. and both phones are barely better than the sidekick 2 that was dropped in 2004…. weak cameras still, still no video, can’t create ur own ringtones….no 3g… must I go on.. wow there’s new sounds on aim and a screen that’s .5 inches wider…… that’s no reason to pay 300-400$…. I’m stickin wit my sidekick 3
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Sidkick lx rocks, i dont have one and ive been on it since its first idea, and ive gotta love thtet keyboard, its rubbery plastic, cool, and also if someone send you a video message, the phone converts it to gif so its playable but the sound quality sucks, good though. Slide isnt doin it for me, really ,its way to small in my part. Im big
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I have a d wade version on my sk 3 and its the bomb!! But now that I’ve checked out the new sk’s slide and lx they are the chizznitz, I didn’t know in which to decide until now! Thanks guys for the reviews, I’m gonna get me and my girl on X-mas a sk lx, specially cuz it don’t slide lets keep it old school.
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Hey eveyone. This may sound like a stupid question but does the Sidekick Slide comes with the internet? Im still deciding whether to buy the Sidekick LX or the Sidekick Slide for Christman. And when I went to the T-Mobile webiste and compared the two, The Sidekick LX was the only one that mentioned ‘real web browsing’. Thanx.
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Okay check it out I have been reading alot of reveiws. about the pros of the lx and the cons of the slide. I puchased the Slide today and ill tell you why.. I have big hands as im sure alot of people do . but i like to have a small sleek looking phone at the same time. the slide has the same everything as the LX except the large screen and spaced out keyboard. now while you all think having a bigger screen is better thats not true the size of the screen is only nice for about the first week or two. after that its more or less what the phone can do for you. so now you have the keyboard difference standing in between the 2 phones. honestly i can get used to the smaller keyboard if my ringer is louder and i can hear who im talking to 10x clearer. it all comes down to the fact that i need a phone that works very well and having the sidekick feature added on is a big bonus for me and it looks alot nicer then a blue or brown phone thats bulky and call qaulity sounds like ***. so you guys decide for yourselves but you should already know which one to go for depending on what you want in a device.
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hey everyone I just thought i would leave this link for everyone who has any doubts about the slide vs the LX heres from the professionals . Decide for yourself
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Mo0yqems4a4
Feel free to reply to my comments.
Thanx
Jay
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Ok to ur side note to Danger there is a vibrate function on the AIM client. Just go to settings and go to the new message sounds and change the sound to a chime or a song and when you reciev IM’s it will vibrate.
-Aires
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Hey the sidekick slides internet goes way faster then the sidekick lx just to let u know
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I know that everyone says the LX is better, but BESIDES the screen and keyboard size, are there any other differences?? and is it really worth $100 more just for a bigger screen and bigger keyboard??? u tell me…
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I was happy to switch over to the new side kick LX; being a former flip phone victim. Im NOW on my second phone within the last 2 weeks, and Im about to return the second one tomorrow.
The speaker blew out and rattles louldly and cuts up!!!! I was worried it would happen again after the first one so I put the volume lower than usual. Why am I living in cell phone fearI ask myself? I havent even downloaded any music, I dont use the speaker phone, my volume setting is normal for the ring tone, as well as the speaker volume. But should any of that matter?…. I should be able to have the volume on maxium on all that if I wanted to!! Its the size of a garage door opener for crying out loud! Disappointed! I called TMOBILE, and complained; Im getting 100 bonus points and a blackberry. Bummer. I was just getting to figure out the 5 different ways to do eveything. And the sounds were really kinda cute* The screen is great, although the internet is slow. If your going to do it, the brown is closer to black or a dark metallic color, v.s. the cheesy blue*
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The sidekick lx is the best for my opinion.Also the sidekick slide doen;t hav a flash so you wont be able to take pics in the dark.So if you want a phone that has the litle tiny screen like the past models then go right ahead. For those that would like a bigger and better screen wit flash then you should get the sidekick lx. I recomend it…
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I kcant wait to get my lx on december 1st but I hear their coming out with a purple lx is that true…. just tell me when it (purple lx) comes out &&+ I’m so getting that it sounds pretty cute and girlie! I also hear the lx has picture texting &&+; if thas true I think I’ve found my phone mate •【レ】(ツ)【レ】•
But yea when are they cominq out with another sidekick becusz I don’t wanna spend $300 on an lx && they upgrade as soon as I get it… THANX FUR THE DETAILS!
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omgg…i am getting the sidekick lx for christmas and i want it sooo bad i think it is aweessommmee
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i rlly need a sidekick but need 2 no which is bigger bigger screen and is much better cuz i need 2 no if teh sidekick slide is better or the sidekick lx
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Wow, Nancy, thats some fancy spelling you have there. Maybe if you read the article, your questions would be answered?
Thats just a thought to ponder.
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Ok in my opinion. The lx is the way 2 go. It way cost more but dere is a reason. Da slide is a downgrade from da sk3, smalla screen, wtf? Da key pad nd byttons as a hole r uncomfertable 2 use. Da dpad is to long 4 ppl wit small hands, 4 main buttons on each side 2 far apart 2 hit fast nd comfertably, trach ball small from wat I’ve seen in dummy fones. So if u hav small hands ur stuffd, nd if u hav big hands ur stiffd as da keypad buttons r smalla, nd sqwishd 2geta. Wtf? Da buttons feel hard, nd u hav 2 push em harda den da sk3. Now flashin colord lyts? Wtf Huge down grade. Now da lx, huge masive screen, biga OS nd resultion. Da bettery is in fact longer lastin. Keypad, is much better, styl gr8 space, feelin is relli good, I luv da fell of em. Luvin it sick. Da mood lytin is awsum gr8 featur. Betta reception, witch I’m glad, as it is bigga den da slide it has a betta antena. If u txt, im, email a lot den havin da bigga fone makes it awsum. If u r mms’d a video, u can watch it, unlyk da slide. Personaly, I much prefure da lx also 4 webbrowsin, as u can veiw webcyts much betta. I relli injoy da fone. I relli recomend it, da colourmakes it a an adults fone, even a purple 1 cumin out I here 4 da younger girls, dat slide looks lyk a fake lil kids fone, plus da colour of it looks lyk sumfin u wuld c a trancevestiti wearin (no offence 2 trannys, hav nufin agenst em, I’ve just een 1 wearin a mini skirt in dat color). Lol relli recomend da lx 2 all. Da fone cqwality isn’t as bad as every1 finks
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