![]() Samsung's never been particularly shy about skinning Android - replacing parts of the stock user interface with ideas of its own design - and for the most part, we've tolerated its TouchWiz skins without really understanding the point. There's not a hint of play in any direction, nor any question about whether the device is fully opened or closed and though we initially missed our spinning screen we eventually had to admit this one is nearly as cool. Push the bottom lip of the display upward roughly a single centimeter, and the mechanism leaps forward with a satisfying snap, propelled by an spring-loaded, all-metal crossbar that simultaneously props up the display at the correct angle and shields its cable ribbon. Historically, the only Hiptop that ever shipped without that trademark swiveling display was dead on arrival, but we can joyously announce that that stigma is no more, as the Sidekick 4G has one of the most ingenious and rock-solid sliding hinges we've seen on a smartphone yet. Landscape mode is where the Sidekick's hardware is obviously designed to shine, as the handset's large, clicky face buttons don't make much sense in the vertical - and of course, once you spin the phone ninety degrees, you'll be able to access the Sidekick's famous QWERTY keyboard, though sans the familiar hinge. It's pretty nice for touchscreen input, though, with a responsive capacitive digitizer (tracking five points of contact) underneath a smooth Gorilla Glass sheet. That said, you're looking at 267 pixels per inch here - which means you're rarely looking at pixels at all - so it's not bad, just not really suited to multimedia. Of course, it's only got 3.5 inches of real estate, which can be quite the adjustment if you're used to 4+ inch slate phones or even 3.7-inch QWERTY sliders like the Droid 2, and there's enough more than enough bezel on the Sidekick 4G to suggest that the smaller screen might be a cost-cutting measure. Samsung may have not seen fit to equip the Sidekick 4G with one of its fancy AMOLED displays, but it certainly dug up a pretty fantastic standard LCD here, which washes out slightly at off-angles but otherwise aquits itself admirably. It's a thick plastic phone in a world that increasingly idolizes supermodels like the iPhone 4 and Xperia Arc, but every part of its shell is purpose-built for tactile control, and we're mostly happy with the trade-offs. ![]() Android's got no shortage of landscape QWERTY sliders, and some of them even boast pretty fancy builds, but the Sidekick 4G's matte, soft-touch plastic frame, accented sparingly with a dark brushed metal trim, manages to simultaneously be stylish and utilitarian. ![]() We're tempted to say "yes" based on looks alone. ![]()
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