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Sidekick LX Cell Phone Review - Tour & Design

Alfredo Padilla Published on December 11, 2007 Comment on this

Intro Making/Receiving Calls Software Other Features

Tour & Design Messaging Battery Life Value & Comparisons

Audio Quality Organizer Connectivity Conclusion

Imaging Multimedia Hardware Ratings & Specs

Front Closed
Unlike most phones that are held vertically along their longest axis the Sidekick series is held horizontally, so when held correctly they look very wide and not very tall. The front of the Sidekick LX is dominated by the three inch screen. To either side of the screen are the control keys. To the right is a trackball very similar to that found on recent BlackBerry devices. Just above and below the trackball are the send and end keys. Above and below those buttons are the "cancel" and "done" button (and if you can figure out they're different just from their names, you're a smart chap). Next to the cancel button, the top one if you're wondering, is a small hole for the phone microphone. On the opposite side of the screen is a four way D-Pad, which strangely lacks any kind of center select button. Instead the central part of the D-Pad is used to hold the grill for the phone speaker. Above and below the D-Pad are the menu and jump buttons, which mirror the cancel and done buttons from the other side.

Front Open
Sidekicks have an opening mechanism unlike any other phone we've reviewed to date. Instead of sliding or folding open the Sidekick LX's screen rotates 180 degrees on a pivot to sit just above it's previous position. When the screen pivots away it reveals a full QWERTY keyboard underneath.

Left
The left side of the Sidekick LX holds a volume rocker key near the top and the power button near the bottom, with bottom and top being somewhat arbitrary designations here.

Top
The top of the LX has the Mini USB port for connecting power and data cables on the left and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack on the right.

Bottom
There are no significant features on the bottom of the Sidekick LX other than a lanyard loop at the bottom right.

Right
On the right of the Sidekick LX are two small buttons one near the bottom and another near the top. When the phone is held horizontally this puts them within easy reach of your for fingers. The button near the bottom launches the camera by default while the one near the top launches the multimedia message interface.

Back
The back of the Sidekick LX is basically taken up in its entirety by the battery cover. Near the top of the device is a small slot in the cover where you can see the lens, flash and self-portrait mirror for the 1.3 Megapixel camera. The back itself is textured in a pseudo-leather material.

Battery Out
When you slide the back of the phone up it comes off and reveals the battery cavity underneath. There is a very capacious 1540 mAh battery. Thankfully you don't have to remove this huge battery to get at the spring loaded Micro SD slot near the top of the phone. You do have to remove the battery to get at the SIM card slot though.

In the Box (5.5)
The Sidekick LX ships with a reasonable selection of accessories including a set of manuals, USB cable, case, stereo headset, charger and a 128 MB Micro SD card to get you started.

Handling (3.0)
The Sidekick LX is a big phone, there's no getting around that. Throw in the fact that it's meant to be held horizontally for most operations and you have a phone that's not exactly the easiest to handle. One-handed use is not the strong point here, instead you will find yourself having to use two hands for most operations. Throw in the fact that even when you are holding it vertically during a phone call it's heavy and rather wide and our impressions of its handling are, to put it mildly, unimpressive.

Portability (4.0)
As we mentioned above, the LX is a brick of a phone at 5.2 x 2.4 x 0.7 inches and weighing in at a heft 5.8 ounces. This thing won't slip into your pocket easily, in fact there are some pants pockets it probably won't fit into at all. Not good, folks, not good.

Aesthetics (6.5)
So, the Sidekick LX is big and handles poorly, so you better hope it looks good because people are going to be able to spot this thing from a mile away. Thankfully the Sidekick LX's aesthetics are not totally offensive. If that doesn't sound like a whole hearted endorsement, it's not. We do like the LX's black finish and although the pseudo-leather soft touch finish on the back might be considered tacky by some others will find it cool. The Sidekick line has always targeted the young and hip crowd, and we're sure this demographic will continue to be impressed by the rotating screen and blinky lights.

Durability (5.0)
We are concerned about the Sidekick LX's construction on several fronts. First of all there's a lot of plastic on this device that, combined with a large screen, leads us to worry about scratches. We also worry about any phone that has moving parts and the Sidekick LX's signature rotating screen fits the bill. Thankfully, the rotating mechanism seems to be made of metal, but it still feels flimsy and we were easily able to bend the screen a little too easily in the wrong direction. The soft-touch finish on the back does provide some measure of protection, but on the other hand the camera lens is not protected. We also noticed that many of the buttons and controls on the Sidekick LX were a little loose. The Sidekick LX isn't a cheap looking device like the Pantech Duo, but these combination of concerns make us worry about its long term durability.

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