Looks like the FCC docs for a “Slide Dual-band CDMA Phone with Bluetooth/WLAN” made by Sharp have shown up on the FCC site. The model number, PB20ZU, is unsuprisingly close to that of the Turtle.

Of course, nothing juicy like external shots until 180 days after the filing, which would put us out at early August. I imagine the Pink devices will be out by then, or at least for Microsoft’s sake I would hope so.

For the record, the FCC ID is APYNAR0066.

FCC site

It ain’t easy… being Pink. Techeye is reporting that Microsoft’s Project Pink phones are going to be delayed until sometime in April. The reason for the delay? “issues with the European models and roll out,” but that’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the phones which are already done and ready. There’s just some stuff to work out with carriers.

It’s looking like they’ll be available on Verizon here in the states and Vodafone in the UK. Originally there was talk about unveiling the Pink phones (Turtle and Pure) at CeBIT but now it’s looking like Microsoft is going to throw their own events to herald the arrival of the Pink phones and they’re willing to shell out big bucks to make sure it’s something significant..

This one is for all the Sidekick LX 2009 users out there. There’s an OTA update that will be rolling out shortly to help improve 3G connectivity. Personally I haven’t really noticed any bad 3G connectivity, but maybe some of you guys have.

Same old OTA procedure: it’ll download, install and reboot your device. Figured I’d let everyone know so people can stop emailing me about it!

Thanks to everyone that sent this in.

More info on T-Mobile.com

Has the day finally come? T-Mobile appears to have pulled all of the Sidekick models from their site except for the Sidekick LX 2009 Carbon. And even the Sidekick LX 2009 Carbon is listed as “Temporarily Out of Stock”. Is this just a hiccup on T-Mobile’s site or does this mean the end of the Sidekick?

If you’re still dying for a Sidekick, there are other places to get them.

UPDATE: Confirmed via our sources that at least the Sidekick 2008 is discontinued.

UPDATE #2: The Sidekick LX 2009 Carbon has returned to T-Mobile’s site. More info on T-Mo’s forums.

UPDATE #3: It’s official, the 2008 and the LX 09 Orchid are gone according to an official post on the T-Mobile Forums

Looks like the firmware for the new Turtle and Pure phones has leaked and is being picked apart. @Conflipper is posting details about the OS of these two phones and the many clues hidden amongst the code.

Before we dive in, how do we know this firmware is for the Project Pink phones? Well, there’s this string in there:

ProviderName=”Microsoft Pink” USB\PinkUsbDbg.DeviceDesc=”Pink USB Debug”

It looks like there’s going to be possibly four different devices, well kind of. The Turtle and Pride phones are going to be 320×240 pixel screens with UMTS and CDMA radios respectively. The Pure and the Lion will be higher resolution devices at 480×320 pixels and again UMTS and CDMA respectively.

DEVICE_TYPE=TURTLE RADIO_TYPE=UMTS SPLASH= 320_240
DEVICE_TYPE=PRIDE RADIO_TYPE=CDMA SPLASH= 320_240
DEVICE_TYPE=PURE RADIO_TYPE=UMTS SPLASH=480_320
DEVICE_TYPE=LION RADIO_TYPE=CDMA SPLASH= 480_320

Also of note, it looks like they’ll be based on a version of the Windows CE kernel developed for an ARM architecture thanks to this string in the firmware:

Zune Device.K.E.Y.V.A.U.L.T .A.R.M…W.i.n.d.o.w.s. .C.E. .K.e.r.n.e.l. .f.o.r. .A.R.M.

What version of CE? Well, possibly CE 6 since there’s this:

Microsoft Windows CE Ethernet Bootloader v%d.%d for NVIDIA %s Platform. Partition name %s …..CE6.CE6/

. And yes, that’s an NVIDIA you see in there, most likely the NVIDIA Tegra which also runes the Zune HD.

There’s of course all sorts of references to “PMX” which we already know is Microsoft’s Premium Mobile Experience, aka Microsoft + what’s left of Danger. But one mention of PMX is interesting:

PMX2009 = “PMX USB Modem 2009″ PMX2009S = “PMX USB Modem 2009 Standalone” %PMXDevice2009% = QportInstall00, USB\VID_045E&PID_0123&MI_00

Tethering perhaps?

And finally, Conflipper mentions: With reference to Silverlight and Visualizer feeds with a heavy background to social networking I dont think these phone are all that “dumb”

Looks like one of Microsoft’s Pink phones, the “Turtle“, hit the FCC. Model PB10ZU appears to packed with dual-band CDMA, EVDO, Bluetooth, and 802.11b/g. There’s also a reference to PB20ZU (the “Pure” perhaps?) but no details on that one. March 29th is the date to wait till for the rest of the FCC docs to be released. For the record, the FCC ID is APYNAR0067.

FCC Docs via Engadget

The Wall Street Journal and other sources are saying that Microsoft may not be revealing it’s new Pink phone in Barcelona as previously rumored, just the new Windows Mobile OS. However they are saying the rumored Pink phones will be a follow-up to the T-Mobile Sidekick, it will be manufactured by Sharp, and will be heavy on the social networking side. Carriers rumored to carry it? Verizon and Vodafone are said to be carrying it internationally. One has to wonder where T-Mobile is in all of this. Will Sidekick users have to switch carriers to continue with the latest and greatest Sidekick-like device?

Read more at Business Insider because Wall Street Journal has the stupid paywall.

It looks like maybe the Project Pink phones are actually going to see the light of day later this year. In an article on CNET, sources are saying that Microsoft will ship Windows Mobile 7 later this year, but CNET is also saying the “next generation of the Sidekick product line” should ship before Windows Mobile hits the market. If this is true, that means the new Pink devices are coming, and they won’t be running Windows Mobile 7.

The good news is that we’ll know more soon. Microsoft’s Head of Entertainment and Devices, Robbie Bach, said they would have more to tell at the Mobile World Congress in a few weeks.

Is this it, the end of the Sidekick era? BoyGeniusReport posted some rumors they received through a tipster that say T-Mobile will slowly be phasing out the Sidekick line as the new MyTouch Slide approaches. Nobody has confirmed this tip yet, but it’s not too far fetched. We’ll let you know as we hear more.