A Slim, Smart Sidekick

By Anita Hamilton

While Wall Street types master the universe on their BlackBerries and geeks tinker with their Treos, urban hipsters, students and celebrities like Paris Hilton have flocked to the more laid-back T-Mobile Sidekick. First released in 2002, it was a combination cell phone and e-mail device that was easier to use than most handhelds because of a unique horizontal design that allowed maximum space for its keyboard.

The Sidekick II, unveiled last week and on sale this fall for $299, keeps the same basic shape but improves on the original in several ways, including a built-in digital camera with flash, a sharper display and a better speaker design. It comes preloaded with AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Instant Messenger. Although this version is slimmer than the original, it's slightly longer and weighs about the same. Another thing that has stayed the same is the price. Monthly fees are $20 plus the cost of your TMobile calling plan.