Sharp Sidekick II Smartphone

I was reluctant to get the Sidekick because I notice mainly kids and hollywood twenty somethings carrying them around, but on a whim one day at the mall I bought one.

Everyone in this business has a blackberry. I could easily have one, my company hands them out like cookies to anyone who can justify them - but I've always considered company pagers and cell phones to be a leash, and I don't want to be that dog.

Instead, I use my own cell phones and when I am on the clients dime I include my monthly bill on my expense report - giving me more flexibility with what I carry on me. I now have two phones - one primarily for voice conversations, and the T-Mobile Sidekick II.

Here is what works for me:

HTML web browser: This is a jewel of a mobile browser. It loads most pages with no problems, including javascript. I am able to log into my bank accounts, Paypal, Commission Junction, Adwords, Adsense and even my corporate mail server that uses WebOutlook.

Email: It's perfect. Full email capability including attachments such as pictures (viewable) and MSoffice files (not viewable, but can forward). I use this one email program to access my "@tmail.com" built in email account, and two seperate POP3 accounts. It automatically checks for new messages all the time, giving me the ability to be away from my laptop and an internet connection for extended periods.

IM : At first I didn't have much use for the IM function - but when I bought my wife one of these we started keeping a IM session going pratically 24/7. Its quick and easy, a lot better than making a seperate phone call each time.

PDA: The calendar, notepad, todo list and address book are perfect applications that I store everything on. My flight information, work related stuff and personal business. Being able to logon online and use my full size keyboard to enter everything online and have it automatically synch to the handheld unit is genius. The notepad is a great feature to have when you are in and out of different stores and wanting to make quick, discrete notes about the merchandise you are looking at.

Camera: It is not the best all around camera I have seen on a phone, but once you learn the lighting needs, it can be a good camera. I have taken some great shots outside and been able to send them to people via email. These pictures automatically synch with your online space, which makes it easy to save the as JPEGS on any computer with net access.

Cut and Paste: All applications on this device support cut and paste. You can cut something from a web page and paste it into an email, or make a note, or anything you like.

It took a few days for me to get used to the difference between an instant message and a text message - but soon I had it all down and using it like an expert. I liked this phone so much that I bought my wife one also, put us on the family plan and we both really like these devices.

Oh, and the phone works fine also. I prefer a more traditional cell phone for reliability, but this device gets good reception and as long as you are in a relatively quiet spot the people on the other end can hear you fine. The speakerphone on this device works really well and can be quite loud.

Interestingly enough I have found the reception to be better than Verizon. In fact, I recently took a road trip into the back woods and found my Sidekick still getting phone calls and allowing me to use email way past the point where my Verizon phone was dead to the world.

The keyboard works well, and I can slam out an email in no time using my two thumbs to type. And I am a big guy with big fingers, so keep that in mind.

All told, after years of me trying various smart phones and mobile PDA devices - the T-Mobile Sidekick puts everything you need into one easy to use package that is well designed and durable.