Word is out that T-Mobile and Danger, Inc. will be rolling out a new over-the-air (OTA) update for the Sidekick phone. This update, as per the Danger site, is likely to be well-received because it answers several user complaints.
Some of my favorites:
- The Web Browser will now support Javascript, quite an accomplishment for mobile devices. The Hiptop forums are full of posts where the nontechnical users get Java (which powers every application on the device) and Javascript confused- hopefully this will cut down on that noise in addition to making the web browser usable on modern sites. An interesting test will be to use it on AJAX sites and see if it can keep up. I also wonder how the device handles Javascript pop-ups or other annoyances and vulnerabilities. Perhaps they are filtered out at the proxy server.
- Text Editing now has Undo! Such a basic UI refinement on PCs will be welcome on the mobile front, lthough I'm sure the beefier smart phones and PDAs have had this for some time.
- Search text in web pages. I've often loaded large web pages from Google results, only to find myself scrolling... and scrolling... and scrolling to find what specifically I was searching for.
- Camera app now supports slideshows and can rotate your images on the phone.
- Select multiple messages from the email app, allowing them to be moved or deleted.
- Moving contacts between the Sidekick and your SIM card.
Although it's not listed explicitly, there seems to be some kind of contextual menu functionality added. The page refers to default link actions (by hitting enter) versus hitting Menu and having alternative link actions appear.
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