T-Mobile Launches New 3G Sidekick LX

The Sidekick has been an outdated device for some time now, mainly because it hasn’t supported 3G data networks. Even still, that hasn’t held its users back from surfing the Web. T-Mobile claims 3 out of 4 Sidekick owners use it to access social networking sites at least once a week. Today, T-Mobile announced the new and vastly improved Sidekick LX. New features include a 3G radio and a large 3.2-inch display with a nearly netbook-worthy 854 x 480-pixel resolution, which T-Mobile claims is the brightest and largest display on any T-Mobile phone ever. Social network addicts will love the built-in Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and GPS-enabled Live Search support as well. There’s also a 3.2-MP camera that supports video recording. I haven’t known anyone to use Sidekicks as business devices, but Microsoft Exchange support is also included in this model. It looks like there hasn’t been a big change in terms of the actual industrial design, which is both a good and a bad thing. Prior owners will appreciate that the keyboard layout looks fairly similar, and the location of the buttons and scroll wheel haven’t changed much either. The swivel keyboard design remains intact. Still, it looks a bit stale to us, but we’ll hold off our full judgments until we go hands-on. The new phone—available in carbon or orchid colors—will cost $199 after a two-year service agreement and a mail-in rebate, and that price includes a 1GB microSD Card. It will be available starting May 13.