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The Sidekick, the only smartphone with a touch of Hollywood glamour, has been updated with such gotta-have-it features as an MP3 player and Bluetooth support. But the designers have cut corners along the way, saddling the phone with a terrible screen and the worst cell phone camera we've seen in quite a while. We loved the Sidekick 2 when it came out; the Sidekick 3, which feels like a half-hearted Hollywood sequel, we only like.

The Sidekick is just a touch slimmer for this release, measuring 5.1- by 2.3- by 0.9-inches and weighing 6.7 oz. The body feels sleeker, although it's still a large phone. You can fit it in a pants pocket, but not comfortably.

As before, the Sidekick features a screen that swivels up and around to reveal a thumb-operated keyboard underneath. If you're simply using the phone to check e-mail or take a picture, you don't need to swivel the screen, but you'll need for dialing or typing.

The screen measures 240 x 160 pixels with 65,000 colors. It wasn't bright or vivid, even after we'd adjusted the brightness controls. A beautifully rich screen would have gone a long way toward making this phone a more attractive choice.

The Sidekick is made for two-handed operation, and the controls have been modified and improved with this version. You'll now find a thumb-operated clickable trackball on the right side, which you can use to mouse around most screens and select items. It replaces the rocker switch and scroll bar of the Sidekick 2.

Sidekick 3's right side also houses cancel, go back, call start, and call end buttons. The left side has a directional pad, as well as dedicated keys for returning to the main screen (called the Jump Page) and calling up menu options. The new track ball takes a bit of time to master, but provides more functionality.

On the top of the unit, you'll find two buttons that do various duties, such as calling up the camera and taking pictures. On the bottom are volume controls and the power button. All in all, the phone has a few too many buttons spread out over too great a range, and we'd prefer that the physical design was simplified.

The camera lens and flash are on the rear. You'll need to remove the rear cover to access the miniSD card slot (another welcome addition). The phone comes with a 64MB card, which you can use to store about 30 songs or a combination of songs and photos.

On the front, the thumb keyboard is designed for online communications, with dedicated buttons for the "@" sign and for calling up other symbols. We preferred the previous version's keyboard, though, which made it easier to see the number keys.

Interface & Features
Not surprisingly, the Sidekick 3 keeps the fun circular interface of previous versions. You begin on what's called the Jump Page, which presents all of the phones tools in a round menu. Use the directional pad or trackball to scroll through the list, then click to open the one you want.

The Sidekick's strength is that it lets users stay in touch with their friends and colleagues at all times, in several different ways. Besides the phone itself, the Sidekick has instant messaging tools, text messaging, and e-mail. Once you set your accounts, the phone constantly monitors all of these areas, letting you know at a glance who is online for a chat or what new messages you've received.

T-Mobile's latest release adds MSN Messenger and Yahoo Messenger to the phone's IM abilities, which previously only worked with AIM. You can keep track of buddies in all three of the services with ease.

E-mail works with three external POP3 and IMAP accounts, as well as with the default account Sidekick users get. We love that the Sidekick automatically checks for mail in any account, although we wish the phone offered settings for e-mail, so that we could set a schedule.

Instead, it simply checks for new messages on its own schedule, which seems to be several times an hour. It's odd that users can create a detailed schedule of when the phone will ring and when it will be silent (something we'd like to see from other phones), but you can't set when it checks for e-mail.

The Web browser lets you view pages faster with this release, although loading still isn't blazing fast on the T-Mobile EDGE network. Verizon and Sprint both offer faster high-speed networks. Web pages load one column on top of another, so you won't get the same view as on your desktop.

Sidekick 3's browser doesn't load Flash animations. Since the phone doesn't offer Wi-Fi, one of its few omissions, you'll need T-Mobile's $29.99 per month data plan for online access.

Its inclusion of a music player is a great addition, although we're surprised the developers didn't do more with it. You connect the phone to your PC with the included USB cable (thankfully, you don't need to buy a special music kit, as with Verizon phones) and drag in the MP3 tracks that you want. But the phone can't read AAC or WMA tracks, and doesn't work with any protected tracks.

The phone also can't connect to an online music store to download songs. We're surprised, since users can connect to download ringtones, games, and applications.

There's a 1.3 megapixel camera, which is what most cell phones have nowadays, but we were struck by how poor it is. Images were far more grainy than with other 1.3 megapixel phone cameras we've tested, and even at the highest resolutions shots looks terrible.

Using the included flash doesn't help, and there are surprisingly few settings to control the image. There are no options for sepia or black-and-white photos, and no digital zoom. Oddly, there's also no way to shoot video clips.

Performance
We got excellent coverage in our testing, with no missed or dropped calls. If you want to see if T-Mobile works well in your area, look to the reliable coverage check on the company's homepage.

Talk quality wasn't good, however, when we used the included stereo headphones. Calls sounded fine to us, but the people we spoke to complained about an echo on the line. Results were almost as bad when using the speakerphone. Again, calls sounded good to us, but the people we spoke to complained that they had trouble hearing.

The Sidekick now works with Bluetooth, although only with mono Bluetooth earpieces. The phone doesn't support stereo Bluetooth, which shows a lack of commitment to the music market, and you can't use Bluetooth to transfer files to and from a PC. You'll need to use the included online account to transfer information to your Sidekick, which is a hassle.

The Sidekick 3's battery is rated for 4.5 hours of talk or 3 days of standby. Use the various communications features frequently, as we did during testing, and jack up the backlight and those numbers fall. We had to charge the phone every day or two while testing.

It comes with a belt clip case.

The Sidekick 3 is a worthwhile upgrade, keeping the device fresh and up-to-date, but the designers didn't do all they could to make it a blockbuster. Let's hope the next release is more than an uninspired sequel.

T-Mobile sells the Sidekick 3 for $299.99 with a two-year extension, $349.99 with one-year added and $399.99 by itself.

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