Taking the mass market, shotgun approach, T-Mobile has trimmed some features from its Sidekick 3 device to produce the $99 Sidekick iD. The problem is, T-Mobile went too far and took away features that even free phones include. Tsk tsk.Bluetooth? Gone. MP3 playback? Gone. Camera? Gone. Memory card slot? Gone. USB connectivity? Gone. EDGE data? Gone.

It's the last one that sticks in my craw. I mean, c'mon, no EDGE data speeds? EDGE is already slow. Leaving the Sidekick iD - a messaging and browsing device - with only GPRS data capabilities is truly criminal. Browsing the Web will be painful. Equipping a browsing device such as the Sidekick with GPRS is akin to putting a 1.6 liter in-line 4-cylinder engine into a Ferrari. Wait, the Sidekick isn't that sexy. Maybe a Corvette. Yeah, that's a better analogy. But hey, you can spend $19 and buy yourself some colorized pieces of plastic and make the phone more personal looking.

The Sidekick iD does retain the Sidekick 3's big screen, full QWERTY keyboard, instant messaging clients, trackball, ARM9 processor, and bulky size.

If all you do with your phone is instant message and send text messages and you're somewhat budget constrained, then perhaps the Sidekick iD is for you. For an extra Franklin, though, you're better off with the full version of the Sidekick 3, which is more suited to browsing and has a standard set of multimedia capabilities.

I can say with certainty that my id will not be seeking out an iD.