Moto DEFY- big screen smartphone in a small footprint!

The NEW Moto DEFY - a rugged big screen smartphone in a very small footprint!

This an amazing phone: rugged & sealed, impact & water resistance, with a big 3.7" LCD High Resolution Touch screen, all in a light and so small footprint, that you can not believe it, unless you measure it or put it side by side with others...

This is a great GSM, 4bands, 3.7" touch screen, bar type, bluetooth, 3G, GPS & WiFi capable smart cell phone with Android 2.1 Operative System, QuickOffice document viewer, Email push technology (imap4 & pop3), full internet browser, and media player.

The Wifi Calling feature is very useful to let you make calls from accesible wifi zones, if you are within a low or not a phone signal area. A lot of new applications are available using the Android Market at low cost or for free!

It includes an excellent 5 MPixels camera with flash, internal memory of 2Gb, and external memory Micro SD-TFT data system (2Gb card included) expandable up to 32gb, to store your photos, music, or data; among other standard features...

Although this phone is not unlock, it can be unlocked by you to be used with other compatible GSM carriers... right now, you can use it with T-Mobile or Simple Mobile without unlocking it; you just need to change some simple settings.

The NEW MOTOBlur technology lets you manage all your social accounts & contacts from a single centralized system... keep backup of all your data over the internet. Its security system allows you to locate the phone via GPS, and if not found, you can erased all data on it in case of lost. You will need a Gmail acount to activate your Motoblur... a very easy thing to do directly on Gmail, if oyu don't already have one. The nice thing is that you select the data or information to be share, and the social network accounts to be included (if any).

I was using a Windows Phone for more than a year, but I have to accept that this one, along with all its attributes, endurance, its easy to use and configure Android System, and the big screen in a so small footprint, just makes me love it... HM

Sidekick 1 Color T-Mobile

For those people who would like luxury of having a Sidekick, but don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on it, this is the phone for them. It has all the basic functions you would expect from a Sidekick like web browsing, a keyboard that's great for texting, and AOL Instant Messenger, without the hassles of paying $100's of dollars.

Although it might not be as advanced as the Sidekick 2 and the Sidekick 3, it's still a great phone.

From a design perspective, the phone's most innovative feature is its rotating screen, which swivels 180 degrees to reveal what is arguably one of the most tactile and roomy minikeyboard on the market. Four main controls, one of which is a transparent scrollwheel that flashes a different color based on the type of alert, are well placed around the screen and within easy reach of your thumbs.

The Sidekick is loaded with tons of features. It comes with its own e-mail address, and you can add up to three accounts. But, since it's geared toward consumers rather than corporate users, you can't get your company e-mail just yet. The monochrome Sidekick lacked support for AOL Mail, but this version includes a quick link to a Web-based solution.

This Sidekick is equipped with double the memory og the original: 32MB of RAM and 4MB of flash-upgradable ROM (2,000 contacts and 50 notes). That should satisfy most users, but there's still no expansion slot, so you'll have to closely manage the e-mail attachments you receive. As with the original, you can open and read Word, PDF, and JPEG files, and you now can play MIDI and WAV attachments and cut and paste from messages.

The Sidekick has an improved Web browser and AOL Instant Messenger. Using the browser, you can navigate forward and backward through pages, while all AOL Instant Messenger conversations are saved if you get disconnected. You also get the standard phone features; a call log; two-way SMS messaging; a decent game (the Asteroids-like Rock & Rocket); and such organizer features as a contact list, a calendar, a to-do list, and notes. There's support for MIDI ring tones (12 songs and 7 chimes are included), and through a partnership with Sony Music, you can download HiFi music tracks as ring tones. You can import contacts from a SIM card and dial their numbers directly from your address book with the click of a button.

One nice thing about the Sidekick is that its Internet access is always on--as long as you aren't using the phone. If you do make or receive a call while surfing, you'll be disconnected from the Internet. After the call, the Sidekick automatically logs back on to the Web, a process that can take up to 30 seconds. You also can use the Catalog feature to download more ring tones, games, and applications, and you can access data on your Sidekick from any computer via T-Mobile's Web site.

It also has an optional camera attachment which takes 320x240 pixel-shots. It might not be of superb quality, but it's great for those who want to take pictures with the device.

All in all, It has everything a busy person or somebody with a massive amount of friends needs. I loved the AIM and Internet connection and used it daily.

The phone experience exceeded what I thought it would. With the volume up its pretty loud and clear for being on T-mobile service. Speakerphone would have made a nice addition but I have noticed in semi quite environments you can put the volume on full and hear some louder callers quite well without holding it to your face.

Innovative device - needs more applications & coverage

Hello eBay members, I owned this device for about a year before selling it on eBay. I cannot comment on it's phone capabilities since I used it primary as a data device to surf the web and receive email. The reason I originally purchased the Sidekick was for its innovative design and ease of use. I really liked the keyboard and flip around screen as well as the rotating wheel to scroll through screens and applications. The unit is well built and I did not have any problems with the hardware. I travelled across the country frequently and it held up well in my attache case through luggage and x-ray machines.

Other strengths of the products included the T-Mobile service cost - $29.95/month for all the data service you can use. I liked the AOL mail client that was on the unit and how email was pushed into the unit. The battery life was decent for 12+ hours of on time use without any voice usage. IM client was good - easy to use and add new members, etc. Web browser wasn't fancy but got the job done - easy to scroll with the scroll wheel and also type in new URL's to connect to. You will need two hands to hold the unit while typing.

The reason I decided to sell the device after my contract expired was (1) very poor T-Mobile service coverage - when I could get coverage with this device the download speeds were o.k. at best. Since the whole point of this device for me was to go to ebay.com as well as get my email, without good service coverage the device was essentially useless. (2) lack of additional productivity applications (3) no integrated camera support and (4) no direct connection to my PC for sync or back up.

All in all, if you can find one cheap on eBay and have good T-Mobile coverage where you live this wouldn't be a bad device to start with. It sure beats spending $500+ for something extravagant when basic IM, e-mail and web surfing is what you need. I'm sure the Sidekick II has improved on the many weaknesses of this original model.

Thanks for reading this review. eBay: travantsystems

Nice mid-line Android with keyboard

This a review for T-Mobile's myTouch 3G Slide by HTC.

It is a nice middle of the line Android phone. You cannot compare the screen estate or raw crunching power to the top of the line Androids, but neither are you paying the premium price with this.

Nice things about it are that T-Mobile has promised to update it to the latest 2.2 version this year, although the 2.1 isn't bad either. And the HTC's Sense UI is actually very responsive. The keyboard is very nice keyboard too, a great improvement from the old G1's keyboard, but not quite at G2's level. The screen is bright and easy to read in the sunlight too. Although it does get greasy quite easily. I don't know how they manage to resist that in the iPhones, but they do it better. Albeit being a capasitive touch screen, its still not in par with the iPhone's, but well above any resistive screens I've tried. The camera is 5 Mpix autofocus with LED-light. It tends to overexpose a bit, which can be compensated manually though. The camera also shoots video at VGA resolution, 30 fps. It has the mandatory three buttons and a genius-button at the front, as well as a touch sensitive navigation butoon also, which I find mostly annoying. Naturally it has the volume-rocker and a dedicated camera button. Latter of which the iPhone is still missing. Unlike early myTouch's this does have a regular 3.5 mm audio jack again, and you charge/connect to computer it through a microUSB.

Like all Androids you have to be carefull what apps you install, as most of them seem to be done by pimple-faced teens who have no knowledge in proper program design. And as such these apps will hung your Android phone usually sooner than later, or simply just make it act funny. But with good quality apps designed and produced by professional crew, the phone is solid and responsive with the Android 2.1.

One gripe I do have about it though is the poor battery management. You have to keep on switching the Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, 3G and syncing on and off manually to make it through a busy work day. This is something the iPhone has done so much better for years! I do hope that 2.2 will bring some sense into this too.

All in all I can recommend this phone as a reasonably priced Android phone. It does everything a high-end phone does at fraction of the cost. And best of all being a late model, it's supported by T-Mobile.

Sidekick 2008 - Improved features/Smaller & $50 Cheaper

The Sidekick 2008 is a much better cell phone that the previous versions of the Sidekick such as the regular Slider LX & ID. It's got quite a few improved features like a 2.0-megapixel camera, a nice 2.6-inch display, video recording/playback, stereo Bluetooth. It is smaller, measuring 4.7 x 2.3 x 0.7 inches and it also comes with much more things on it. The Sidekick 2008 has applications like email, instant messaging, picture messaging & video messaging. It has a standard trackball on the right hand side for scrolling and it also buttons for shortcuts & commands that you can assign.
The call quality is actually pretty good—you can hear loud and clear with minimal background noise/static...it does not take great photos or video but I guess it is something we could live with.
There are a lot of available Applications, Ringtones, Themes, Games etc available to download. Prices vary, but they are affordable. If you want to take advantage of the full potential of this phone, (Web Browsing, Email, IM's, new themes & wallpapers, ringtones, and other applications) you will need the optional Data Service Plan which T-Mobile offers. (Unlimited web access with 400 text messages is about 24.99, Unlimited web access with unlimited text messages is about 34.99) *Prices may vary in your area. Prices are just estimates ONLY.
**The keyboard makes a chicklety sound when you text but you will soon get used to it. It's not that bad thou. However the Keys are far enough apart for ease in texting.
***One thing I found inconvienent is when you are on a call (let's say to one of those dreadful automated systems which ask you questions and in saying to press 1 for yes, 2 for no, yadda yadda), if the flip slider is closed shut, (which is more comfortable) You have to flip it open each time to use the QWERT/numeric pad to press the numbers, then flip it closed again. What a pain!! Overall, I give this phone a 8 or 8.5 out of 10.