T-Mobile G1 - Sharps Sidekick LX Vs T-Mobile Powered By Android G1 ( HTC DREAM )

Bought the LX within a month of its release. I loved it. Still love it. But the G1 pounds it into the ground.

1) Sidekicks in general proved the concept of a marketplace that downloads applications directly to the phone. However, the LX's Catalog is a joke compared to the Android Market. There's only ONE free app: A basic calculator. Everything else costs, and there's not much worth keeping even if it WAS free. Ringtones cost, too. A ringtone that anyone would actually want costs $2.50. For 20 seconds of a song. You can buy the WHOLE SONG for less than half that price. But Tmobile refused Sidekick owners the right to use custom ringtones. The ONLY ringtones you could use, were the ones that were available on the very limited, expensive catalog.

2) I adored my Sidekick because of its ridiculously cheap data plan. I mean, $20 for unlimited data, texts, email, three very solid IM clients (frankly, even the $10 Hello IM app on the G1 barely stands up to AIM that comes stock on the Sidekick), and MMS was an ENORMOUS selling point for the LX. Seriously, doesn't get much better than that. And after the biggest OTA I've ever witnessed last July, the new browser on the Sidekick was a force to be reckoned with, even if it was just EDGE data service. Not to mention the addition of some fairly decent video recording (for a 1.2 megapixel camera, anyway).

However (and that's a BIG "however"), Sidekick data rates went up in price a few months back. A large amount of the appeal of the phone, for me, is history. There was no better deal anywhere, and everyone I showed my phone to knew it. Everyone was jealous of my $50 phone bill, while their data plans were raising their bills to $70 or more. But that perk is, for all intents and purposes, gone. It will surely be missed.

3) Let's face it: Sidekicks are pretty sweet. I'm sorry, but the swivel screen is pretty awesome. It seems like the phone would be pretty frail because of it, but that's not true at all. The things can take some serious beating, believe it or not. But even so, the G1 has Android. I'm sincerely sorry to Danger (Developer for the Sidekicks' OS's), but for mobile devices, methinks Google has my heart.

4) Even though the LX's camera was only 1.2 megapixels, and the G1's is 3.2, the LX's often took more usable pictures. A couple reasons I say this. One: it has flash. Even in a very dark setting, it's possible to take a picture. Not a pretty one, but the way it looked was signature Sidekick, and that was sweet in itself. Two: Even without the flash, it was still possible to take pictures in low-light settings. The G1's, I'm sorry to admit, has no flash, and requires a VERY bright setting to take a good picture. That being said, if that criteria is met, the G1 takes a very impressive picture.

5) The G1 is (slightly) smaller than the LX. I like that. I love my LX, but it is a fairly bulky phone. The G1 is too, a little, but not quite as much and that's a good thing.

6) One of my biggest complaints about the LX is its speaker. It's very quiet. Not good for speakerphone or listening to music. The G1's is much louder, and I've been loving it. I can hear my phone ring. Also helps that the speaker is located on the back of the phone (On the G1), which is the side that would be facing outward in my pocket considering I don't want the screen facing outward, for obvious reasons.

7) I loved the trackball on the LX. The LEDs under it were spiffy and were useful for knowing the status of my phone. BUT, over time, the trackball gets dirty and its white, clearish pretty design turns dark and opaque. The LEDs underneath can't shine as brightly, and it overall looks dirty. Also, over time, dirt actually gathers underneath the trackball until it's actually rendered useless, because the magnetic rods it's suppose to spin to trigger a direction become soiled to the point that they no longer spin. This is fixable by taking apart your phone and cleaning them, but it's a difficult procedure and voids your warranty. You CAN navigate the phone entirely without the trackball, but you go ahead and try it for a week. You'll want to sell the phone.

With the G1, you don't really have to worry about the trackball looking dirty because it's opaque to begin with. As for dirt gathering underneath being a problem, I don't know as of yet. But I DO know I barely use the thing anyway. I mean, why would I? I have a touchscreen! Speaking of which:

8 ) G1 has touchscreen, which is also slightly bigger than the LX's nontouch screen.

9) Call quality/antenna. G1's overall call quality shines compared to the LX's. I doubt this is because of the speaker. I'm quite positive it's because of its antenna. There's a Wal Mart I go to frequently. When I had my LX, I never had signal in there at all, ever. With my G1, service is sketchy, but I have it.

10) Though the LX's browser is quite good, the G1's is just plain better, in pretty much every way. The G1 has tabbed browsing, while the LX has none. The touchscreen adds to the experience of navigating through web pages. More memory and better processing and faster network speeds also give the G1 a better experience overall.

Anyway, I might think of some more comparisons later, but I hope this info helps. Both are great phones. Even though the LX is a little out of date now, I still consider it better than the majority of junk out there, and just as Santaninja said, I'd use it over the iPhone.