Sidephone Review

I received my Sidephone about a month ago now, and I think I'm ready to publish my thoughts about it. I even have a note on it that I've written specially for this post!

As some background, I pre-ordered this phone in December, I believe, after I learned about it from a post in Cyberspace. I have always wanted a phone that has a tactile QWERTY keyboard, just like the Blackberries of yore. While the Sidephone's QWERTY offering is not a full keyboard, it still manages to pull it off. The keyboard tile is supported by software called JakeType. I would have liked a little more clarity on this aspect before buying because the tile can't function properly without it installed (maybe I just overlooked a disclaimer somewhere), but it's not that hard to set it up.

Typing with the keyboard feels great. The keys are rather clicky, so it might annoy other people around you if you're in a quiet setting, but the point of the Sidephone is to not use it in social situations any ways! There are times where I think that using the virtual keyboard would've been faster than using the physical one, but I attribute that mostly to the growing pains of learning how to use it.

The thing is, JakeType predicts what you are typing since each key has at most two letters on it, as well as one or two symbols or numbers. I wouldn't say it's like having auto correct on because the predictions are a lot better than auto correct. Sometimes, though, there are words that JakeType cannot predict or predicts incorrectly (you can always choose different possibilities in a bar that shows up at the bottom of the screen). Fake words like fantasy names or some titles of movies will likely have to be typed manually. It's not that hard to do; you just hold the arrow button (like a shift key) for a couple seconds, which puts you into a traditional handheld typing experience of having to double-tap a key to select the other letter.

One more thing about the keyboard: it has no back light, so it's hard to use in the dark. I haven't found myself in that situation a lot yet, but I guess if you're cave diving or something it will be hard to use the keyboard tile. I haven't really used any of the other tiles (the sundial and default numeric); I honestly think the QWERTY tile is required to have a good experience with the Sidephone. I don't think I would like being forced to use the virtual keyboard on this thing's tiny screen.

That's one con of the Sidephone, but also part of its purpose: the screen is small. Possibly smaller than even the first iPhone. It does not lend itself well to mobile apps that are designed for comparatively massive screens. I'm not a heavy scroller or social media user, so that's not a big problem for me. I have actually been pleasantly surprised to find that some of the apps I used on my previous Samsung phone adapt well to the small screen (thank CSS's responsive design functionality for that), but I have certainly had a fair number of buggy UI experiences with the same apps as well. You could imagine that text can also be hard to read some times.

For me though, that is worth it. I no longer have anything to do on my phone! It is so bad at displaying anything attention grabbing that I only check it occasionally for text messages or emails. The best part is that I can still install and use apps that I need, like my gym app, thanks to the Aurora store. Apps that are restricted to the Google Play store can still be installed on this de-Googled phone. I can still pay my credit card statements and scan into my gym thanks to Aurora. On the other hand, I try to install most of my apps through fDroid, the open-source alternative to the Play Store.

It's a great feeling knowing that my money did not go toward supporting one of the major phone brands. Apple, Google, Samsung, etc all have sort of a stranglehold over smartphones. The Sidephone, and a few other projects out there, are proving that smartphone manufacturing does not have to be limited to a few tech companies. Further, these big companies have stagnated the designs of mobile phones; they are all heavy slabs of screen now - there is no innovation. The Sidephone innovates, presents a new idea to a bloated market.

Anyways, back to the review: I love how tiny this thing is. Did I say that yet? Oh no, I actually said it's difficult to read text on it. A trade-off, I suppose.

After using this for just a few weeks, holding my old phone is like holding a brick. Compared to the Sidephone, other smartphones are wide. This phone rests so well in my hand and slides easily into my pocket. The best part is that it does not weigh down my pants. It's great; I don't know why anyone ever accepted having a bigger smartphone. It just makes more sense to me now to have something lighter.

I think the best way to sum this up is that the Sidephone is what a phone used to be in the 2000s, but with the benefits of today's open-source software. It harkens back to something like the Motorola Droid except it runs Android. You get the normal functionality you would need out of a smartphone today with the distraction-less nature of a "dumb phone." All of that at the price of about $300 (phone + QWERTY tile); far cheaper than any smartphone you'll see on the market today, except for the Motorola G.

The Sidephone is certainly not for everyone. If you use your smartphone a lot, meaning it's the only way you access the internet or you're constantly in calls, you probably shouldn't get it; however, if you want to reduce your reliance on your smartphone more or less cheaply, the Sidephone is a great option. It retains the necessary functionality of a smartphone while being bad enough to be less distracting. Plus, you get to have a tactile keyboard (which comes with a bit of a learning curve).

If you just want something cheap, get the Motorola G. If you want something unique, FOSS and liberating, get the Sidephone.