Sidekick LX Cell Phone Review - Hardware
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Alfredo Padilla Published on December 11, 2007 Comment on this |
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Keypad
Text Words Per Minute (0.0)
We were able to type out a speedy 46.1 words per minute (WPM) on the Sidekick LX's QWERTY keyboard using two hands. This is a very good score, and compares well with other QWERTY devices, as you can see from our comparison chart below. Our only issues with the Sidekick LX's keyboard are that it's rather large, so those with smaller hands may be reaching for letters in the center of the keyboard. The fact that it also sits in a cavity where the screen normally sits also takes some getting used to. To get this score we type a standard phrase five times and see how long it takes to type it each time. We take the average time to calculate our final score. | Cell Phone | Words Per Minute | Score |
| Sidekick LX | 46.1 | 9.22 |
| AT&T Tilt | 49.95 | 9.99 |
| LG Voyager | 44 | 8.80 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 49.8 | 9.96 |
| Helio Ocean | 53 | 10.60 |
| Apple iPhone | 39.6 | 7.92 |
T9 and Auto Complete (3.0)
Because it lacks a normal keypad the Sidekick LX does not support T9 predictive text. It also lacks word prediction, so the software doesn't offer you potential words as you type. It does, however, have a shortcut system that allows you to type commonly used phrases using a keyboard shortcut. You can edit this list of shortcuts to fit your personal needs. We thought this was worth a couple of points so the Sidekick LX doesn't get a zero in this section.
One Hand Usability (4.42)
We know that many people prefer to text using only a single hand, as such we do our words per minute (WPM) test using only one hand. If you've read our reviews before you'll know that phones with full QWERTY keyboards don't do very well on this test and the Sidekick LX is no exception, managing an anemic 22.1 WPM. As you can see below almost all of our comparison phones, which all have QWERTY keyboards of one type or another, also did poorly on this test. The only exceptions were the iPhone, whose virtual keyboard is easier to use with one hand simply because it isn't as wide as most real QWERTY keyboard, and the Voyager, which has a virtual phone keypad on the touch screen that makes it easier to type one handed. With the Sidekick LX we found it was extremely awkward to hold the phone with only one hand while typing with a single finger. We don't recommend typing with one hand on the Sidekick LX. As with our two-handed test we type out a standard phrase five times and take the average time to calculate our final score.
| Cell Phone | Words Per Minute | Score |
| Sidekick LX | 22.1 | 4.42 |
| AT&T Tilt | 16.93 | 3.39 |
| LG Voyager | 35 | 7.00 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 26.5 | 5.30 |
| Helio Ocean | 28.3 | 5.66 |
| Apple iPhone | 32.1 | 6.42 |
Keypad Backlighting (5.0)
The Sidekick LX's keyboard is evenly lit and it' easy to discern the symbols on all the keys. Unfortunately there are no controls over brightness or time out in the settings so you're stuck with the default settings. We found the device did a pretty good job, but we would have liked more control nonetheless.
Controls
D-Pad/Joystick (8.0)
The Sidekick LX has two "D-Pads". We put D-Pad in quotes there because one of these control mechanisms is a trackball, very similar to what is found on modern BlackBerry devices like the Curve. On the other side of the device is more traditional D-Pad, with the exception that there's no center select button. We found the trackball to be very responsive and easy to use, and thankfully you can control how sensitive it is to fit your use. The D-Pad can be set to act just like the trackball or to make larger "jumps" when you press up/down on it. We found that we used the trackball 99% of the time so we're going to score this section largely on our impressions of it, but the D-Pad can be useful for some games and those who prefer the feel of a "true" D-Pad will appreciate having it there. On the other hand it can create some confusion, especially when you realize that you can't activate items with the D-pad and instead have to press in on the trackball. Touch Screen (0.0)
The Sidekick LX does not have a touch screen.
Jog Dial (1.0)
The Sidekick LX lacks a jog dial, however the trackball does allow you to easily scroll up and down large lists so we decided to award a point in this section to reflect that functionality.
Soft Buttons (0.0)
The Sidekick LX doesn't use soft keys like most phones do. Instead it has its own set of control buttons that we will cover in the other buttons section below.
Volume Control (1.0)
The volume keys on the Sidekick LX are located on the top left of the handset, or the bottom left depending on how you're holding it. We found that during most usage when you're holding the phone horizontally the volume keys where not very conveniently placed. The buttons themselves sit on a rocker and sit flush with the surrounding plastic, which makes them difficult to find by feel. We also found that they had very little travel when pressed and very poor tactile feedback. About their only good point is that you're unlikely to hit them by accident. When you do press them they give you a hybrid volume/profile control. Thankfully this control can also be brought up by hitting the menu and done button together, which we found more convenient most of the time.
Power and Standby (3.0)
The power button is located on the same side as the volume keys opposite them. This means it sits on the bottom left when the phone is held vertically or the bottom right if you're holding it horizontally. The power button has the same features as the volume keys, but in this case the difficulty in hitting the button is actually a boon as you don't want to hit your power button on accident. That being said we still disliked the lack of key travel and tactile feedback.
Other Buttons (10.0)
In addition to the buttons mentioned above the Sidekick LX has a whole plethora of additional buttons that help you navigate the interface. The most obvious are the four buttons that sit on the front of the device flanking the trackball and D-Pad respectively. When holding the Sidekick LX horizontally, as you will be most of the time, you have the cancel and done keys on the right and the menu and jump keys on the left. The only one of these keys that is customizable is the jump key, which by default takes you to My Faves in the main menu. If you wish you can set it to take you to the phone instead. The keys are all large, easy to find by feel and provide good key travel but not so good tactile feedback. They can also be used in combination to activate various functions, for example jump + done will bring up the mini music player.
The other buttons found on the device are located on the top when held horizontally or on the left side when held vertically. When you hold the phone horizontally these are in easy reach of your index finger. However the buttons suffer the same problem as the volume and power keys in that they are difficult to find by feel and have very little key travel and tactile feedback. The left (or bottom) button launches the camera while the right (or top) button opens picture messaging. Neither of these is customizable or has a secondary function. In addition to these buttons the Sidekick LX has a whole plethora of key combinations that can be used with the keyboard as shortcuts to various functions, we recommend you learn and, when possible, customize these to help you get around easier.
Display
Primary Screen Gross Resolution (8.50)
The Sidekick LX's screen has a resolution of 400 x 240 pixels, which is slightly higher than the standard 320 x 240 pixel resolution found on most phones. We appreciate the additional pixels because the Sidekick LX has a larger than average screen and the higher resolution makes it look nicer than similarly sized screens on phones like the Helio Ocean or HTC Tilt. You can see below that it has a higher resolution that most of our comparison phones, the same as the LG Voyager and is only beat out by the iPhone.
| Cell Phone | Resolution | Score |
| Sidekick LX | 400 x 240 | 8.50 |
| AT&T Tilt | 320 x 240 | 8.00 |
| LG Voyager | 400 x 240 | 8.50 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 320 x 240 | 8.00 |
| Helio Ocean | 320 x 240 | 8.00 |
| Apple iPhone | 480 x 320 | 9.00 |
Primary Screen Pixels per Inch (7.62)
Pixels per inch (PPI) is a measure of how densely pixels are packed into the screen. Higher pixel density means sharper edges in the display and richer colors. Displays with lower pixel density can look washed out and pixelated. The Sidekick LX's display measures 152 PPI, which is slightly lower than the 160+ PPI we see from most of our comparison phones. Only the AT&T Tilt, which has a similarly sized display but lower resolution, scored lower in this score than the Sidekick LX. That being said 152 PPI is sufficient that the screen looks decent. The biggest issue is that it seems just slightly washed out.
| Cell Phone | Pixels Per Inch | Score |
| Sidekick LX | 152.4 | 7.62 |
| AT&T Tilt | 142.86 | 7.14 |
| LG Voyager | 166 | 8.30 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 164.6 | 8.23 |
| Helio Ocean | 168 | 8.40 |
| Apple iPhone | 164.8 | 8.24 |
Screen Physical Size (0.0)
The Sidekick LX's screen measures 3 inches diagonal, which is one of the larger displays we've seen on a device. You can see below that it's larger than the displays on most of our comparison phones with the exception of the iPhone. Having such a large display on the Sidekick LX makes us feel a little sad that it doesn't support functions that would have made the best use of it such as full page web browsing or watching videos.
| Cell Phone | Size Diagonal (inches) | Score |
| Sidekick LX | 3 | 7.50 |
| AT&T Tilt | 2.8 | 7.00 |
| LG Voyager | 2.81 | 7.03 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 2.43 | 6.08 |
| Helio Ocean | 2.4 | 6.00 |
| Apple iPhone | 3.5 | 8.75 |
Screen Brightness (14.05)
The Sidekick LX's screen measured 106 lux, which is one of the brighter displays we've seen on a device. You will notice in our table below that most of our comparison handsets did similarly or better than the Sidekick LX in this test. Don't let that fool you, the score put up by the Helio Ocean is much more representative of most handsets. It just happened to turn out that we are comparing the Sidekick LX to some of the best phones in terms of screen brightness on the market, which puts the LX amongst peers here.
We were also very happy with range of screen controls offered, with 27 different brightness levels, the ability to set when the backlight goes off to one of five time periods and a light sensor that will adjust your backlight automatically depending upon the conditions. This is one of the best combinations of screen brightness and controls we've seen on a device.
| Cell Phone | Brightness (lux) | Score |
| Sidekick LX | 106 | 14.05 |
| AT&T Tilt | 153 | 10.06 |
| LG Voyager | 99 | 4.95 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 105 | 9.50 |
| Helio Ocean | 63 | 4.35 |
| Apple iPhone | 168 | 15.40 |
Screen Bright Light Performance (5.0)
To see how well the Sidekick LX handles very bright light we shine 3000 lux of light on the screen and judge how legible it is. We found the Sidekick LX's definitely had a lot of glare, and places where the background was in color like the home screen it was very difficult to read, albeit not impossible. In places where the background was white like the contacts application it was much easier to read. You can probably use your Sidekick LX in a bright light situation, but you'll definitely be squinting. That being said it's nowhere near as bad as the LG Voyager, whose screens were almost completely illegible in bright light.
Color Depth (6.00)
The Sidekick LX's screen supports sixty-five thousand colors, which is standard for most phones. That being said we are starting to see 260 thousand color displays and even up to sixteen million colors, and we would have loved to see such a display on the Sidekick LX.
| Cell Phone | Colors (thousands) | Score |
| Sidekick LX | 65 | 6.00 |
| AT&T Tilt | 65 | 6.00 |
| LG Voyager | 262 | 8.00 |
| BlackBerry Curve 8320 | 65 | 6.00 |
| Helio Ocean | 260 | 8.00 |
| Apple iPhone | n/a - unknown | 6.00 |
Ports & Storage
Power & Data Ports (9.0)
We were very happy to see that the Sidekick LX supports a standard Mini USB connection for both data and power connections. This is much better than proprietary connections we've seen on devices like the LG Voyager and Helio Ocean. We were also happy to see that you can charge the Sidekick LX via USB, so if you're traveling you can just bring along your data cable and keep your device synchronized and charged with one cable. Headphone & Jack Compatibility (4.0)
Continuing our appreciation of the Sidekick LX's standard connectors we were very happy to see it support a standard 3.5mm headset. Unfortunately it does not support wireless stereo headphones via Bluetooth, which is a shame since a large phone like this can benefit a lot from getting rid of the wires.
Internal Storage (1.0)
The Sidekick LX has 64MB of internal storage for your contacts, calendars, applications and messages. This should be sufficient for most users, but if you take a lot of photos or install many applications you may find yourself running up against this limit quickly. If you do want to store a lot of photos or music you should probably invest in a Micro SD card.
Expansion Slot & Format (7.0)
The Sidekick LX supports Micro SD cards, with support for high capacity cards that are currently available up to a maximum of 8GB. The memory card slot on the Sidekick LX is located under the battery cover but not under the battery itself, for which we're thankful. That being said it's kind of annoying to have to take off the entire back cover to swap out a card. The slot itself is located at the top and is spring loaded, which makes it easy to get a card in or out. | Previous Next | |||||||||||||||||||
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