Sharp Sidekick II Smartphone

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

 

Every so often, I think to myself that I need a cell phone. When my grandmother won a sidekick in a contest, she gave it to me figuring I’d have more patience that she would for it, mostly because so much comes with it. Aside from a cell phone, you get a Web browser, an e-mail account, AOL Instant Messenger, games, and several other features that I don’t use like a calendar and a section for notes. There’s also a camera attachment, but I wasn’t too impressed. (I’ll get to that later.) They also sent a USB port, but it seems that it’s only for fixing the device. It would be nice if I could synchronize my address books.

You get a keyboard for typing and a wheel to move up and down as well as an arrow pad for moving around within a text box. All of those are big plusses. The screen rotates to hide and reveal the keyboard, so you can get rid of it if you don’t need it. Speaking of the screen, it comes in grayscale. Don’t expect anything fancy when surfing the Web. The only real problem I’ve had is that the screen goes fuzzy every once in a while. If it persists, I’ll have to send it in.

Setup is easy, but takes a while. First, you have to charge the device, which will take about 4 hours. Next comes the SIM card, which carries the cell phone’s internal memory. A phone number is assigned to you, but you get to choose a screen name and a password for your e-mail. (I haven’t figured out how to turn the password on yet.) Some of it may take a while depending on service availability. (No cell phone has good coverage in my house, so I had to be sure to stay by a window.)

Once you get a phone number, which was the last thing that happened for me, it’s all very easy from there. I was lucky that the Sidekick had AOL IM. Already having an account with them, I didn’t have to worry about importing any contacts or setting up a new one. I also have ICQ and Yahoo accounts, so odds were good I’d be in luck, but AOL IM tends to be the easiest going from one device to another. Most of the features seemed to carry over, but I can’t save conversations. I was very annoyed by this since I like to keep them. I can’t even e-mail them to myself.

Speaking of the e-mail service, it’s easy to use. Since the device has a keyboard instead of a pen, I am able to create messages quickly. It doesn’t really matter, though, since the Sidekick account isn’t my primary account. If you, like me, already have e-mail, you can set your reply-to address as that account’s address so that you can use the Sidekick while your out and get the reply when you get home. You can have up to three external POP3 accounts delivered to your sidekick inbox, but I was never able to get it set up. Then again, it’s probably because the one account I tried to set up was my Yahoo! Mail account and they don’t allow for that kind of stuff unless you pay.

Web access is also easy, but far from perfect. The small screen isn’t a problem for text, but it can problematic for letters within images. Also, columns and series of images will probably get realigned and won’t show as intended. It can’t use Java and has to split up framed sites. I can’t access RewardTV, which uses JavaScript for logging in, or ShareBuilder, which uses frames. I can access Epinions, but I can’t rate. Also, I’ve tried looking up bus schedules using the sidekick. The schedules are in PDF format, which isn’t a problem for the sidekick, but something about selecting the schedules is a problem. Forget about long pages, too. Scrolling is fine if you do it in small amounts, but if you have to go to the bottom of an extremely long page, it will seem like a real pain. You could theoretically use the spacebar assuming you don’t hit any text fields, but it’s still a pain.

Now, I promised some commentary on the camera, so I might as well get to that. It’s not much. I’d be tempted to leave it at that, but I owe you more. My main complaint is that the resolution is low. You can make out objects if you were the one that took it or you know the subject. However, it might be a problem for others that are unfamiliar with it. I have no clue as to how I can resize them if I even can. The advantage is that you can email them to yourself easily. The camera can store 36 of these pictures at once, not that I’ve ever needed it. I guess that maybe you could do some of the things you see in the commercial, but I feel it’s better to do most of those things in person.

I guess you’re wondering how I can get this far into a review of a cell phone without actually reviewing the actual phone service and related features. I guess I should get to that. The best thing about it is that I have the second phone line I always wanted. (My computer’s near enough to a window that I get steady service.) It also has Caller ID, which would be a help if I knew more people. I guess I can now avoid telemarketers, not that any have the number yet. (Cross your fingers.) I’ve been able to store all of the names, numbers, addresses, Web sites and e-mail addresses I could ever hope for and I can use the list to dial a number. If you don’t have the number stored, you can either put it in, use the wheel pad, or use the keyboard.

Service outdoors is great, but it tends to be patchy indoors. I may go into a restaurant or 7-Eleven and see that it’s not getting reception. This has proven to be a problem on a few occasions. It has an answering service and you can forward calls when the line is busy or the device is off or out of range. The only major problem I’ve had is with the volume. I don’t receive many calls, but when I do, I can’t hear the phone ring. I have the volume on the maximum, but the case muffles the sound and if you have it in your pocket or backpack, it will be muffled even more. If you’re in a noisy area, forget about it. I’ve tried vibrate, but it was hard to tell if I was out of range or if the function didn’t actually work.

The sidekick also has a problem with overlays. For those of you in the less-populated parts of the country, area code overlays occur when an area gets so crowded with phone numbers that splitting it geographically won’t work. (I think the public service commission stops at the county level.) Thus, Miami-Dade County has two area codes: 305 and 786. To dial from one area code to the other, you don’t dial a one first. (In case you’re wondering, it’s not considered long distance.) My phone number has a 786 area code, but the majority of the county is 305. When the Sidekick receives a call from with an area code other than 786, it puts the one in front of it, which renders the redial option useless. I have to manually enter the phone number, which usually involves writing it down and putting it back in. I don’t need to often because I usually miss calls from people I know or from payphones. It would still be nice if someone did something about this, though.

This is one of those devices that I like mostly because I don’t have to rely on it. It’s especially good for those that don’t have a primary e-mail account or are constantly on the move. I’m going to keep it for the year that was included, but I’m not sure at this point if I’ll want to renew when it expires.

Motorola RAZR V3m

Note:  This review was originally posted to my Epinions account.

I may be part of a minority.  While I have a cell phone, I use it primarily for making phone calls.  I’m letting you know this up front as it will affect my review.  I do occasionally use the other features, but there will be some things that I won’t talk about.

Since I use the phone mostly for calls, I’ll start with that.  Call quality is decent.  It’s not like the person is standing next to me, but I can generally make out most of the words when I’m talking to someone.  I do occasionally get momentary patches of silence, but no dropped calls.  (The service is through Sprint.)

Caller ID works, but will only show a name if you have it in your phonebook.  (This shouldn’t be a surprise.)  One nice thing is that you can take pictures with the camera phone and attach it to a number, so you get a call from a friend, you can have a really small picture of that person to look at.

Speaking of low-quality pictures, the camera is 1.3 megapixels.  Don’t expect artwork out of it.  It’s good if you need to take a quick picture and have nothing else available, but the few pictures I’ve transferred to my computer don’t look too good.  When I do transfer it, it has to be through text-to-email.  (This is useful also if I want to send stuff to Flickr.)  There is a microSD card, but it’s hidden behind the battery and I’m often not sure what’s on the card and what’s in internal memory.

It’s a clamshell design with a small display on the outside and a larger on the inside.  The buttons are big enough that I can enter numbers easily.  (I have big fingers, so this is an issue.)  Having backlit numbers is also a plus.  I find dialing and answering calls to be very easy on this phone.

I do access the Web through the phone, but very rarely.  It’s really only to enter bills on Where’s George when it’s not convenient to go to a computer.  Typing out the URL can be a chore and load time is often very slow even when I have five bars.  The Web pages also display funny since the display wasn’t meant for Web pages.  It’s actually my last resort for going online.

This is because there’s no full keyboard like some other phones.  You have to hit buttons several times to get to the right letter.  Entering a lot of information at once can be tiring.  Add to that the time from hitting send to the actual moment the message is sent can be long.  This is why I don’t text often.  It’s usually worth it to get to a computer and just use email.

I did download a few free songs, but the sound quality wasn’t that good.  I decided not to buy my music collection all over again for a drop in quality.  I’m also not going to try something new when I have a working iPod.  I also downloaded a few games with similar results.  Tetris works fine.  Pac-Man is a little harder to play.  I decided not to spend a lot of money on something that I really won’t be using all that much.

Battery life has taken a nose dive in the past few weeks, but I think it’s because of an old battery.  It used to be that the battery would last 2-3 days if I made a few phone calls every day.  Now, I find myself needing to recharge it after a few hours.  I think we may have an extra battery around, so I’ll have to see if that’s the issue.

I do also recommend getting a case for your phone.  Yes, it’s an extra step between you and your phone, but if you keep your phone in a purse or in your pocket with your keys, it’s worth the extra money.  It’s a pretty common size, so a case shouldn’t be that hard to find or cost that much.

I doubt that they still make this model, but if you can find it somewhere, I’d recommend buying it.  It’s worked fine for me for several years.