The phone itself (in its fully functional and intact form) got a mediocre review at best. We’re wondering if it was due to limitations in the OS/form factor or if it was a larger issue stemming from economy hardware.
Of course, we didn’t really wonder for very long – we ripped it apart!
As you can probably see from the above diagram – this is not a very complex phone. Sharp really made use of the features embedded within Qualcomm’s renowned 7201A core.
The 7201A is a 15x15mm CSP chip that performs as a Baseband and Applications core and supports WCDMA/HSUPA and EGPRS networks. The Apps side pushes 526MHz and the Baseband hits roughly 256MHz. This package covers a lot of ground with its integrated A-GPS (gpsOne), Camera controller, and Audio Codec. The entire design (PMIC and RF Transceiver) includes Bluetooth connectivity and a USB transceiver.
These all-in-one design solutions are great for ODMs but often do not compete with the highest ranked ICs in terms of end-user functionality. This is perhaps why I had so much difficulty loading up my classical.
The PCB for this device seems to be structural and as such seems a little disorganized. This is only when compared to devices that have much smaller PCBs that pack way more functionality such as the Omnia we previously took apart. In this case, the power amp win goes to Skyworks with the SKY77336. The PMIC and Bluetooth IC both go to Qualcomm with the PM7540 (integrated USB transceiver) and BTS 4020 respectively. The main section of the PCB is shown on the right. Here is an image of the other side where the Bluetooth chip is visible:
As can be seen above, the main memory win went to Samsung with the K5E2GIGACM which features 2Gb of Nand and 1Gb of DRAM. The USB PHY belongs to SMSC and what we believe to be the USB3326 part we’ve previously found in both the X1 and G1.
At the end of the day, the T-mobile Sidekick LX is an average device. It has some powerful hardware but doesn’t exactly innovate or open any new doors.
That said, the device is marketed to young folk who will eventually genetically evolve into beings with massive sidekick worthy texting thumbs. The skin customization tools on T-mobile’s website are nothing short of impressive.
One discussion I feel worth having is about the long-term evolution of device hardware. Are we slowly experiencing a convergence to integrated solutions or is mobile computation infinitely bound to discrete hardware (in the highest level of course). Are integrated solutions cutting costs at the expense of performance? Feel free to share your opinions in the comments below!
Ah, the original sidekick – one of the most revolutionary devices of its time, bringing a full-QWERTY keyboard to the texting masses.
Currently, there is the LX and the standard. In the past, we’ve seen the Tony Hawk edition, the older LX, the Color, the II, the 3, the II Juicy, the D-Wade 3, the Diane von Furstenberg 3, the iD, the Slide, and the original.
That’s a lot of Sidekicks! The bloodlines of this device trace back to 2003 – before Dr.Wreck was barely a twinkle in Mister and Missus Wreck’s eye!
What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is the Sidekick LX. A rehash of the original LX circa 2007. Over the years, the T-Mobile Sidekick seems to have been a very successful handset for the carrier, appearing in the hands of many A-list celebrities. We’re hoping this teardown can get Dr.Wreck into some of those fantastic Hollywood parties.
In popular media, the sidekick has more cameo’s than Will Farrell. Let’s see how it actually stacks up!
The Goods: Sharp has stuck with the classic design. The Sidekick was revolutionary in 2003, and many manufacturers have copied the form factor over the past 6 years.
This is a good thing – they haven’t revolutionized, more or less just modernized something tried and tested.
Moreover, the device isn’t overly heavy (we’ll get to the overall size later…); it feels solid and well-built in our hands. Dr.Wreck has recently been taking measures to boost his testosterone levels – he didn’t manage to break this thing in half during a week of hard use. Consider that a good sign.
The mechanism that slides and rotates is pretty sweet too – once you figure out how to properly use it and not get your fingers in the way – unfortunately, this takes a while.
The screen is also mighty sharp at 854×480 and only 3.2”. That blows away what we’ve seen from the latest gen BlackBerry, and iPhone.
On T-mobile’s 3G network, it feels snappy – it’s just … what is there to do on this device?
The So-so: Dr.Wreck would call this a feature phone (not a smartphone) even though this baby retails for $449.99 without contract. This works out to $174.99 on a standard term. When compared to the 199.99 you’d shell out for the myTouch 3G, this seems a tad much. Especially considering the non-contract hardware only retail cost of that device is $499.99.
Don’t get us wrong, if you want a texting, “browsing”, media, and gaming device that’s simple and doesn’t have a whole whack of flexibility – this device is for you. We’d put it in a similar category with the Motorola Krave or Glyde. The difference, of course, is that these devices have touch-screens and cost the same or less…. bummer.
The keyboard would have to fall under this category as well. Similar to the Palm Pre, the buttons are actually a sticker that goes over the pop keys. There is minimal feedback when they are pressed, and the spacing is big… almost too big. Typing on this thing will really have your fingers stretching all over the place. Thankfully, Dr.Wreck has toe-thumbs and didn’t find it overly strenuous to type.
Based on the size and UI/controls layout, this device has the makings of creating a fabulous gaming experience. Let’s hope some devs take advantage of this and create something fun to keep us entertained.
The Ugly: This device is massive, easily dwarfing the recent BlackBerry Bold in comparison (the biggest device we have). Sure, it’s thin and light but this thing isn’t much smaller than a PSP for gosh sakes!
One really weak point on this device is the calling function. To make a call you have to flip open the screen to dial. Once the screen is open, you punch the numbers in and then put it to your ear. Wait, the screen is in the way. Ok, let’s just close it then. Just as you’re about to close it, it snaps back open again – so you try again – and again – and… oh wait almost got it… again. By this time the person you called is on the line listening to you struggle with your phone. They’ll probably hear a string of curses by the time you even say “Hello?”.
The last thing Dr. Wreck wanted to test on this phone before giving it the teardown was its ability to transfer/play music. The media player is so-so, it works fine. The biggest qualm we ended up having was in the speed of file transfer. Dr.Wreck is a busy person and enjoys his classical like any other. At most, he received 2.9MB/s when transferring a bunch of .mp3’s. Compare that to the BlackBerry Bold at almost 15MB/s – good gravy!
That’s it for the review folks! The results are in, stay tuned for the teardown!
Final Score: 6.25 out of 10 chances you get the screen closed in time to pick up your phone calls.
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Here at phoneWreck, we tear open, break apart, and analyze the latest and greatest handsets on the market. Most importantly, we do this for free. Why?
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The phone itself (in its fully functional and intact form) got a mediocre review at best. We’re wondering if it was due to limitations in the OS/form factor or if it was a larger issue stemming from economy hardware.
Of course, we didn’t really wonder for very long – we ripped it apart!
As you can probably see from the above diagram – this is not a very complex phone. Sharp really made use of the features embedded within Qualcomm’s renowned 7201A core.
The 7201A is a 15x15mm CSP chip that performs as a Baseband and Applications core and supports WCDMA/HSUPA and EGPRS networks. The Apps side pushes 526MHz and the Baseband hits roughly 256MHz. This package covers a lot of ground with its integrated A-GPS (gpsOne), Camera controller, and Audio Codec. The entire design (PMIC and RF Transceiver) includes Bluetooth connectivity and a USB transceiver.
These all-in-one design solutions are great for ODMs but often do not compete with the highest ranked ICs in terms of end-user functionality. This is perhaps why I had so much difficulty loading up my classical.
The PCB for this device seems to be structural and as such seems a little disorganized. This is only when compared to devices that have much smaller PCBs that pack way more functionality such as the Omnia we previously took apart. In this case, the power amp win goes to Skyworks with the SKY77336. The PMIC and Bluetooth IC both go to Qualcomm with the PM7540 (integrated USB transceiver) and BTS 4020 respectively. The main section of the PCB is shown on the right. Here is an image of the other side where the Bluetooth chip is visible:
As can be seen above, the main memory win went to Samsung with the K5E2GIGACM which features 2Gb of Nand and 1Gb of DRAM. The USB PHY belongs to SMSC and what we believe to be the USB3326 part we’ve previously found in both the X1 and G1.
At the end of the day, the T-mobile Sidekick LX is an average device. It has some powerful hardware but doesn’t exactly innovate or open any new doors.
That said, the device is marketed to young folk who will eventually genetically evolve into beings with massive sidekick worthy texting thumbs. The skin customization tools on T-mobile’s website are nothing short of impressive.
One discussion I feel worth having is about the long-term evolution of device hardware. Are we slowly experiencing a convergence to integrated solutions or is mobile computation infinitely bound to discrete hardware (in the highest level of course). Are integrated solutions cutting costs at the expense of performance? Feel free to share your opinions in the comments below!
Ah, the original sidekick – one of the most revolutionary devices of its time, bringing a full-QWERTY keyboard to the texting masses.
Currently, there is the LX and the standard. In the past, we’ve seen the Tony Hawk edition, the older LX, the Color, the II, the 3, the II Juicy, the D-Wade 3, the Diane von Furstenberg 3, the iD, the Slide, and the original.
That’s a lot of Sidekicks! The bloodlines of this device trace back to 2003 – before Dr.Wreck was barely a twinkle in Mister and Missus Wreck’s eye!
What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is the Sidekick LX. A rehash of the original LX circa 2007. Over the years, the T-Mobile Sidekick seems to have been a very successful handset for the carrier, appearing in the hands of many A-list celebrities. We’re hoping this teardown can get Dr.Wreck into some of those fantastic Hollywood parties.
In popular media, the sidekick has more cameo’s than Will Farrell. Let’s see how it actually stacks up!
The Goods: Sharp has stuck with the classic design. The Sidekick was revolutionary in 2003, and many manufacturers have copied the form factor over the past 6 years.
This is a good thing – they haven’t revolutionized, more or less just modernized something tried and tested.
Moreover, the device isn’t overly heavy (we’ll get to the overall size later…); it feels solid and well-built in our hands. Dr.Wreck has recently been taking measures to boost his testosterone levels – he didn’t manage to break this thing in half during a week of hard use. Consider that a good sign.
The mechanism that slides and rotates is pretty sweet too – once you figure out how to properly use it and not get your fingers in the way – unfortunately, this takes a while.
The screen is also mighty sharp at 854×480 and only 3.2”. That blows away what we’ve seen from the latest gen BlackBerry, and iPhone.
On T-mobile’s 3G network, it feels snappy – it’s just … what is there to do on this device?
The So-so: Dr.Wreck would call this a feature phone (not a smartphone) even though this baby retails for $449.99 without contract. This works out to $174.99 on a standard term. When compared to the 199.99 you’d shell out for the myTouch 3G, this seems a tad much. Especially considering the non-contract hardware only retail cost of that device is $499.99.
Don’t get us wrong, if you want a texting, “browsing”, media, and gaming device that’s simple and doesn’t have a whole whack of flexibility – this device is for you. We’d put it in a similar category with the Motorola Krave or Glyde. The difference, of course, is that these devices have touch-screens and cost the same or less…. bummer.
The keyboard would have to fall under this category as well. Similar to the Palm Pre, the buttons are actually a sticker that goes over the pop keys. There is minimal feedback when they are pressed, and the spacing is big… almost too big. Typing on this thing will really have your fingers stretching all over the place. Thankfully, Dr.Wreck has toe-thumbs and didn’t find it overly strenuous to type.
Based on the size and UI/controls layout, this device has the makings of creating a fabulous gaming experience. Let’s hope some devs take advantage of this and create something fun to keep us entertained.
The Ugly: This device is massive, easily dwarfing the recent BlackBerry Bold in comparison (the biggest device we have). Sure, it’s thin and light but this thing isn’t much smaller than a PSP for gosh sakes!
One really weak point on this device is the calling function. To make a call you have to flip open the screen to dial. Once the screen is open, you punch the numbers in and then put it to your ear. Wait, the screen is in the way. Ok, let’s just close it then. Just as you’re about to close it, it snaps back open again – so you try again – and again – and… oh wait almost got it… again. By this time the person you called is on the line listening to you struggle with your phone. They’ll probably hear a string of curses by the time you even say “Hello?”.
The last thing Dr. Wreck wanted to test on this phone before giving it the teardown was its ability to transfer/play music. The media player is so-so, it works fine. The biggest qualm we ended up having was in the speed of file transfer. Dr.Wreck is a busy person and enjoys his classical like any other. At most, he received 2.9MB/s when transferring a bunch of .mp3’s. Compare that to the BlackBerry Bold at almost 15MB/s – good gravy!
That’s it for the review folks! The results are in, stay tuned for the teardown!
Final Score: 6.25 out of 10 chances you get the screen closed in time to pick up your phone calls.