I'm now the happy owner of the just released TMobile Color Sidekick II. If you have no clue what that is, let's just say it's the next significant version of a portable communication tool that no MINI Junkie should be without!

Think of it as a laptop/PDA/phone replacement. It's about the size of a bar of soap with a cool flip out color screen and a full QWERTY keyboard beneath it. Furthermore, it allows you to send/receive emails on 4 accounts, do SMS, and Instant Messaging with Yahoo or AIM, while browsing the web at about 56K from the convenience of ANYWHERE you happen to be motoring. And should you get that sudden inspiration to call up a friend, it's as simple as punching a few letters of their name, and up pops their phone numbers from your address book. Push a button for the speakphone, and voila--you don't even need to hold it up to your ear. See something that you want to share with the world? Snap a picture with the 640x480 color camera. Turn on the flash if you need. Then instantly email that to anybody--even while walking around and shopping at the grocery store!

Data transfer is unlimited, and I just pay $30 additional on my cell phone bill every month. There are many, many, cool features about this communication tool, but this article is more about how I installed it in my MINI so I have convenient access to email during any downtimes while driving, as well as the ability to answer calls with the push of a button.

As you can clearly see, this is my Sidekick II with the screen flipped out
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Now the screen is closed
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This is the new Sidekick Keyboard next to the previous Generation Sidekick
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This is kinda like a flat joystick. On the SKII, it's also the earpiece for the phone.
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You can see that the new SKII is a bit longer and a bit flatter than the CSK.
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Here is the screen in action! The mount I made couldn't interfere with the screen operation.
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To Answer the Phone, I hit the Send Button, then I push the Speakerphone button on the upper right. On the bottom left is the volume control. Again, the mount could not interfere with these buttons.
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Just a couple shots of what the main menu looks like.
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Again, he's the SKII mounted, and you can see what the mount looks like without the SKII. The last picture is the area on the dash that I stick my mount to. I'm using high quality suction cups so that the mount is easily attached or removed. The holder is a modified universal cell phone mount. It's on the small side, and with some grinding and cutting with my Dremel tool, I was able to get everything to work. It was also important to cut the mount so that I could lean the SKII at an angle to my view.
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To Answer the Phone, I hit the Send Button, then I push the Speakerphone button on the upper right. On the bottom left is the volume control. Again, the mount could not interfere with these buttons.
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