Hands-on: T-Mobile Sidekick aka "Gekko"

It's almost time to head back to school, and many of you will be shopping around for a new phone. Lucky for you, T-Mobile just launched a brand new Sidekick that's both affordable and completely customizable. The Sidekick has gone by a few names in the past (LX, Slide, Sidekick 3), but this new model is simply called T-Mobile Sidekick, although many have been calling it "Gekko" since details of its existence hit the Internet.

Why Gekko, you ask? Well, this particular model includes interchangeable outer shells in black and lime green, but you can add more to your collection by simply going to www.sidekickshells.com. Here you can choose from pre-existing designs from Skin It, or create your own with personal photos, school logos, or anything else you can get in digital form. You're really in control here. If you decide to use your own photos, you can choose from those stored in your computer or images from a photo sharing site like Flickr.

Creating my shell was the fun part for me. You can choose from three base colors (white, black, pink), before adding your own designs, text, and shapes. Skin It's customizer tool really lets you resize your graphics, rotate them, add layers, text, fun shapes, and even change the base color of the shell itself should you change your mind (you can only choose from white, black or pink). If you're anything like me (very indecisive) you'll find yourself browsing through Skin It's library for hours, until you find the ones you love. Once you're done, you can preview your shell, and tweak it if necessary. Each shell sells for $14.99, so I'm sure this personalization option will be a hit among the cool kids.

I was eager to get my shell after placing the order, so I'm really glad I got it before publishing this review. I've included a few photos for your viewing pleasure. Doesn't it rock?

Ok, so enough about the shells, let's talk about the phone itself.

Honestly, this phone is not much bigger than the iPhone. It's taller and thicker, but it feels better than the skinny iPhone in my hand. The display itself is only 2.6-inches, which I found really small and a little dim unless you crank up the brightness setting. I really dig the swivel screen, which flips open when you nudge the upper-right corner down, or the lower-left corner up.

I've never been a Sidekick user myself, so I found the controls to be extremely confusing. I've always used smartphones with touchscreens in the past, so there were times when I just wanted to tap the screen to get through the navigation menus which are exhaustive. I think most of the time I was confused as to whether to use the D-pad or the trackball to make my selections.

This device has buttons everywhere so you have to watch how you hold the phone. The top side of the phone you'll find a couple of function buttons, a mini-USB port, and a headphone jack. The bottom of the phone has volume buttons and the power button, which I kept hitting accidentally because it's badly situated. All these buttons are quite small, but also very sensitive to touch which is a nuisance when you keep hitting them by accident.

To the left of the screen is a Menu button, a speaker that doubles as a directional pad, and a Jump button that takes you to the Sidekick's main menu. Underneath the flip screen is a backlit full QWERTY keyboard that's nicely spaced out, and easy to use if you have small fingers. And finally, to the right, you'll find the Cancel, End, Talk, and OK buttons along with a trackball.

The back of the phone has the camera lens, which I thought was also in a very bad spot. Again you have to watch how you hold the phone or you'll end up covering the lens with your fingers. I took several pictures, and wasn't impressed with the quality of the photos. The camera is only two megapixels, and it produces terrible snapshots especially in low light conditions.

Video quality wasn't that great either, but at least it gives you the option to do video, unlike the iPhone. What I do love is how easy it is to check email, send instant messages, customize your backgrounds, organize your contacts, play games, and watch your media. It has an MP3 player, but you'll need more than the included 512MB microSD card to store your tunes. Call quality was good, and I really didn't experience any problems during my hands-on review.

The Sidekick is actually a very cool and fun phone once you get used to it, and I can totally see why it appeals to the younger generation. For the price of $149.99 with a two-year contract, you're actually getting a pretty great phone that has everything you need. Bluetooth, Internet, IM, camera, video camera, email, games, MMS, you name it, it has it.

I'll be playing with the phone for a few more days, so if you have any questions let me know in the comments, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

In the meantime, check out the Flickr gallery to see more pics of this cool phone.