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SK-4G Features

ncmacasl

ncmacasl

Member
Back in December, when T-Mobile tweeted "What would you like to see happen with Sidekick? Give us your wish list." (see article here: Will The Sidekick Ever Make A Comeback? )...

I replied in the comments section:

"Keep the keyboard and the keyboard shortcuts & the 4 corner buttons. Make it Android. Grandfather old rate plans! Can Slide or Swivel, but Swivel is better. Touchscreen, shoulder buttons, video chat, deaf-friendly apps, 4G! Easily port data from older sidekicks, tmail accounts transfer, Enterprise support (free), Social apps (free), Unlimited Data plans, tethering, Lots of memory, wifi, Google Voice, Same AIM, Threaded Texting, more Tmail MBs, Facebook Chat, Adobe Flash, Netflix-ready, more than 2 choices for case color, same Copy&Paste, same AutoText, updated hidden Snowboard game (including the Christmas Trees in December), TouchPad instead of TrackBall (in addition to TouchScreen)"

Let's see what we know so far what they have and don't have & what is unknown:

  • keyboard -- YES
  • keyboard shortcuts -- YES
  • 4 corner buttons -- YES (though modified)
  • Make it Android -- YES
  • Grandfather old rate plans! -- YES (if you still have your old Sidekick plan you can talk to the Customer Loyalty Department to get data rates similar to your current sidekick plan; however, if you left your old sidekick, good luck getting old rate plans!)
  • Can Slide or Swivel, but Swivel is better -- YES (Slide but not swivel - which is good enough, IMHO)
  • Touchscreen -- YES
  • shoulder buttons -- YES (rear views seem to show 2 Shoulder buttons on top and power/volume controls on the bottom)
  • video chat -- YES (via Qik & Front-Facing VGA camera)
  • deaf-friendly apps -- UNCLEAR (but several Text-Relay apps are already available in Android's App store)
  • 4G! -- YES (HSPA+ 21 which is top of the line right now!)
  • Easily port data from older sidekicks -- YES (T-Mobile has already released Backup software that ports all data to standard formats that can be uploaded to google - I have already uploaded mine to my won Google account - Calendar works perfect. Contacts converts everything to a "Notes" filed so you need to go thru each contact and put the data in the right fields. It "works" but not as smoothly as it could have been). Bookmarks, To Do & Notes are also backed up)
  • tmail accounts transfer -- UNCLEAR (but doubtful),
  • Enterprise support (free) -- YES
  • Social apps (free) -- YES (Facebook, MySpace, & Twitter integration is standard)
  • Unlimited Data plans -- YES
  • tethering -- YES
  • Lots of memory -- 1GB on board / 2GB card included
  • wifi -- YES (Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n)
  • Google Voice -- (already in Android App Store)
  • Same AIM -- NO (only standard IM clients from the Android App Store)
  • Threaded Texting -- YES++ (2 different Text-Centric apps come standard)
  • more Tmail MBs -- NO & YES (uses default Gmail apps which have virtually unlimited account sizes)
  • Facebook Chat -- UNCLEAR
  • Adobe Flash -- UNCLEAR (but it *is* already available on many, but not all, Android 2.2 devices)
  • Netflix-ready -- UNCLEAR (but it *is* rumored to be coming on Qualcomm Android chips, no word in Netflix integration with Samsung chips, including Sidekick's Hummingbird chip)
  • more than 2 choices for case color -- NO (but TWO choices is better than just ONE)
  • same Copy&Paste -- UNCLEAR (but there is no Dpad nor are there Arrow Keys, however there *is* an Optical "TrackBall" so it is possible.)
  • same AutoText -- UNCLEAR (however Smart Keyboard is available for free from the Android App Store and can be configrued to work with a physical keybaord)
  • updated hidden Snowboard game (including the Christmas Trees in December) -- UNCLEAR (however a similar free App "Mountain Chase" is available from the Android App Store)
  • TouchPad instead of TrackBall (in addition to TouchScreen) -- YES & YES
Hopefully TmoNews & Phandroid will soon clear these issues up as more details becomes available
 
(almost) Full Spec Sheet release on SK-4G:

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G - Full phone specifications

GENERAL 2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 1700 / 2100
Announced 2011, March
Status Coming soon. Exp. release 2011, Q2
SIZE Dimensions -
Weight -
DISPLAY Type TFT capacitive touchscreen
Size 480 x 800 pixels, 3.5 inches
- QWERTY keyboard
- Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate
- Proximity sensor for auto turn-off
- Multi-touch input method
SOUND Alert types Vibration, MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
MEMORY Phonebook Practically unlimited entries and fields, Photocall
Call records Practically unlimited
Card slot microSD
DATA GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
3G HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 2.0 Mbps
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth Yes v2.1 with A2DP
Infrared port No
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0
CAMERA Primary 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus
Features Geo-tagging
Video Yes
Secondary Yes, VGA
FEATURES OS Android OS, v2.2 (Froyo)
CPU 1 GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor, PowerVR SGX540 GPU, Hummingbird chipset
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Email, IM
Browser HTML
Radio Nо
Games Yes
Colors Matte black, Pearl magenta
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support
Java Via third party application
- MP4/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+ player
- Organizer
- Document viewer (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- Voice memo
- Predictive text input
BATTERY Standard battery, Li-Ion
 
Was really excited for this phone but now kind of disappointed with the specs.. :(

- No swivel screen, that was really 1 of the main features I was looking for in a Sidekick
- Screen size is small, was hoping for at least 3.7 inch or more
- Seeing as this is Samsung, I was expecting a super AMOLED screen. Doesn't really bother me that much though
- and it being a 1ghz processor when dual cores are coming out now, that 1 didn't bother me that much though either

Aside from these things I love the phone. Especially the keyboard, it's so nice. But was really looking forward to a swivel screen. I hope they release another Sidekick with that though, that'd be really good!
 
well the swivel *was* cool but as long as the hinge works well (and you can flip it open with 1 hand) I am fine with it.

Screen size is still larger than the last Sidekick LX 2009 which was 3.2 inches.

with HSPA+ 21 it should fly!!!
 
eh if this was early 2000, it'll be impressive but its now 2011

sidekick isnt that impressive anymore spec wise etc

oh yea its samsung made :o
 
phantom phenom said:
eh if this was early 2000, it'll be impressive but its now 2011

sidekick isnt that impressive anymore spec wise etc

oh yea its samsung made :o
Click to expand...

Agreed, it was pretty much a disappointment to me also when I heard of the specs. And another thing that got me was that it only has a 3mp camera with no flash x.x
 
UPDATES:

deaf-friendly apps -- UNCLEAR
-- WIll a Video Relay App be available? -- UNCLEAR
-- Will Captioning/Subtitles be available on the video/TV apps??-- UNCLEAR
-- How strong is the Vibe function? -- UNCLEAR

tmail accounts transfer -- UNCLEAR (but doubtful),
Enterprise support (free) -- YES
tethering -- YES
Lots of memory -- 1 GB on board - 2 GB Memory Card included
wifi -- YES

Google Voice -- (already in Android App Store)
-- Integrated into phone -- UNCLEAR

Same AIM -- NO (only standard IM clients from the Android App Store)
-- AIM included within GoogleTalk (like it is within GoogleTalk inside of Gmail) -- UNCLEAR

Facebook Chat (in Android App Store)
-- Integrated into phone -- UNCLEAR

Adobe Flash -- UNCLEAR (but it *is* already available on many, but not all, Android 2.2 devices)

Netflix-ready -- UNCLEAR (but it *is* rumored to be coming on Qualcomm Android chips, no word in Netflix integration with Samsung chips, including Sidekick's Hummingbird chip)

more than 2 choices for case color -- NO (but TWO choices is better than just ONE: Black/Black/White & Black/White/Pink)

same Copy&Paste -- UNCLEAR (but there is no Dpad nor are there Arrow Keys, however there *is* an Optical "TrackBall" so it is possible.)

same AutoText -- UNCLEAR (however Smart Keyboard is available for free from the Android App Store and can be configrued to work with a physical keybaord)

updated hidden Snowboard game (including the Christmas Trees in December) -- UNCLEAR (however a similar free App "Mountain Chase" is available from the Android App Store)

LED Alerts - YES (unclear WHERE they are - PCMag.com says "on top of the screen")

included games? -- UNCLEAR
phone app in landscape mode? -- UNCLEAR
create own skins/themes? -- UNCLEAR
hinge sounds? -- UNCLEAR

Android Central’s recent hands-on video (http://www.androidcentral.com/hands-t-mobile-sidekick-4g ) shows an interesting problem with the placement of the HOME button (where old MENU button used to be) & the MENU button (where the X/CANCEL button used to be) that for android folks used to pressing the home button while scrolling, it seems awkwardly placed. Is there a HOME button within the pop-up Menu where you can hit the MENU button then click on a Home icon on the Menu Pop-Up??? — Seems to be only big design flaw.

Also, is there a true accelerometer or is the orientation forced? (landscape if keyboard is open & portrait if keyboard is closed) Or can this be set?? Or is it App-dependant (phone app, for example, seems to always be Portrait mode even with screen open)?
 
UPDATES (4/23/11):

deaf-friendly apps -- UNCLEAR
-- Will a Video Relay App be available? -- UNCLEAR
-- Will Captioning/Subtitles be available on the video/TV apps??-- UNCLEAR BUT DOUBTFUL
-- How strong is the Vibe function? -- UNCLEAR

tmail accounts transfer -- noEnterprise support (free) -- YES
Tethering/Mobile Hot Spot -- YES BUT @ $15 EXTRA PER MONTH
Lots of memory -- 1 GB on board - 2 GB Memory Card included
wifi -- YES

Google Voice -- (already in Android App Store)
-- Integrated into phone -- UNCLEAR

Same AIM -- NO (only standard IM clients from the Android App Store)
-- AIM included within GoogleTalk (like it is within GoogleTalk inside of Gmail) -- NO
Facebook Chat (in Android App Store)
-- Integrated into phone -- YES (And voice chat via Facebook!!)

Adobe Flash -- YES

Netflix-ready -- NO

same Copy&Paste -- UNCLEAR (but there is no Dpad nor are there Arrow Keys, however there *is* an Optical "TrackBall" so it is possible.)

same AutoText -- UNCLEAR (however Smart Keyboard is available for free from the Android App Store and can be configrued to work with a physical keybaord)

updated hidden Snowboard game (including the Christmas Trees in December) -- UNCLEAR (however a similar free App "Mountain Chase" is available from the Android App Store)

LED Alerts - YES (When Screen is closed, they are near the JUMP button- 4 LEDS - 1 color each. assignable to 4 different functions)

included games? -- UNCLEAR
phone app in landscape mode? -- NO
create own skins/themes? -- UNCLEAR
hinge sounds? -- NO

Android Central
 
Even though its a sidekick, its still a samsung...beef up the specs too much and it'll start to take away the spotlight from the Galaxy; samsungs flagship line.
 
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