New T-Mobile Sidekick LX should please virtual socialites

— -- In its heyday just a few years ago, the T-Mobile Sidekick was the hip and quirky handset. It mainly appealed to young people for whom texting and instant messaging were more their speed than e-mail. But now that we're in the smartphone era of slicker BlackBerrys, the iPhone and T-Mobile's own G1, the Sidekick no longer feels fresh.

And still, I kind of like the new, improved T-Mobile Sidekick LX I've been testing — just not enough to make it my regular handset once it makes its debut May 13. Granted, I'm not the target-age customer.

For starters, there's no touch-screen. Instead, you rely on a trackball and PlayStation-like controls to move around.

It's also pricey. At $199 if pre-ordered online, the Sidekick LX is comparable in price with some iPhones and BlackBerrys. But if buying in-store, new customers must pay $250. (All prices are after a mail-in rebate and with a two-year contract.) Some current T-Mobile customers will be able to upgrade at the lower price after the launch.

T-Mobile says the sweet-spot Sidekick customer is a college student, budding professional or anyone who considers themselves a "virtual socialite." This latest Sidekick (which replaces a previous LX model) adds integrated social-networking applications for Facebook, MySpace and Twitter.

While LX remains first and foremost a consumer device, T-Mobile plans to make it work for business, if only to keep existing customers from bailing. In the coming months, Sidekick is adding support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, letting you use the handset to stay on top of work stuff. (The capability was not available for testing.)

T-Mobile has made other improvements. Sidekick can access the faster 3G network and has GPS. It offers a dandy high-resolution display: The hardware is manufactured by Sharp, the folks behind Aquos TVs. Battery life is a bit better: three hours of talk time and six days of standby when using 3G.

Phone-call quality is good, too, but the unconventional design and various controls flanking the screen take some getting used to. I prefer a regular keypad for dialing unfamiliar numbers, even a virtual one such as on the iPhone. You have to flip open the screen on the LX to make such calls.