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I ordered a HipTop (T-Mobile calls it a "SideKick" though) today. For the second time. I spent about ten days with one (thanks to T-Mobile's 14-day return policy) a few months ago, and found the service in this area to be... lacking. It would cut out several times, and often couldn't stay connected at the beach where, unless I'm blind, there really aren't too many tall buildings (probably not too many towers either, I realize). I picked it up this time because of two reasons:
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My Mobile Communicator is used only when I go to WWDC or otherwise travel farther than an hour away. In other words, even with spotty coverage, I'm bound to get more use out of the HipTop than my Mobile Communicator (Anyone want it for $50? eBay, here I come.).

However, the HipTop needs a few things, and it's still a "first-generation" product, which makes me very leery of this purchase. In short, what I'd like to see includes:

• Software improvements need to be made. Zachery Bir posted a mini-review of the HipTop to Omni Group's MacOSX-Talk, and points out some of the flaws and bugs. Will they be addressed soon?
• BlueTooth or at least some way to use iSync to get information to the damn thing. The "Web Desktop" thing is crap.
• Better data plans would allow me to use the darn thing just for data. Do I need 200/1000 minutes? No. Would I want to pay less to lose those? You betcha. $29.99/month for unlimited data instead of the $39.99 I'm paying now with the minutes? Sign me up.
• More carrier support would allow me to ditch T-Mobile and go with Cingular, rolling my two cell phones together (ugh, I don't like having two).
• Different colors or some kind of style element. If they want to sell the thing to "hip" people, well, "hip" teens for example like colors, face plates, etc. The HipTop is surprisingly "uncustomizable."

Beyond that… I just hope that T-Mobile's coverage actually meets my expectations this time. They should: they were substantially lowered after the first go-round. Soon - coverage issues aside - I'll be blogging from all over the place! 🙂

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