T-Mobile has hired a third party research firm to question current Sidekick users about what they feel a “Sidekick” really is. The questionnaire asks what defines a Sidekick, what features could or could not be included, and what features/capabilities would be the most satisfying on a device. The features/capabilities in question seem to be:

- D Pad - directional button/keys for navigation
- Easy to hold and type
- Audible sounds when navigating
- Unique, recognizable form factor
- Home key that jumps to the homescreen
- Controls on both the left and right sides
- Phone’s menu is in a “ring” format on the homescreen
- Visual notification of messages and alerts
- Easy to remember shortcut and jump keys
- Big, high definition screen
- QWERTY keyboard
- Unique, recognizable opening mechanism that reveals a keyboard
- Audible opening (aka Hinge sounds)
- Personalizable shells
- Distinctive “look”/silhouette when open
- Flashing/Colorful lights for messages or alerts
- A screen that swivels open to reveal keyboard
- “Best in class” gaming experience
- Fun to use
- An integrated messaging experience (IM, SMS, E-mail)
- Intuitive to use features and functions
- Access to social networking apps
- Ability to have multiple conversations at once
- A download catalog for applications, themes, music
- Desktop PC-like web browsing experience
- Touchscreen
- The ability to quickly navigate through various features and functions
- The ability to “open” the phone with one hand
- Outside dialing without opening the phone
- Wide variety of free and/or paid apps available for dowload
- Single, unlimited data plan
- Secondary display that shows a preview of messages
- Ample storage for messages
- Ability to use a WiFi Internet connection to make phone calls
- Reliable back up of all information on the phone

What do you guys think? Which of these features defines a Sidekick? Which features are important to you? Which ones could be dropped/added to the next Sidekick? If you want to check out all of the pages in the questionnaire, check out the gallery:

[Show as slideshow]

Want to take a peek at Danger’s official Sidekick LX 2009 manual?

Over the past few months most of our Sidekick LX 2009 questions have been answered in one way or another. But now that the device is here and actually in the hands of people it’s time to fill in the holes of the questions that haven’t been answered. Exiva was one of the lucky ones who got his Sidekick LX 2009 early. Because he’s awesome, he has agreed to answer whatever questions you have about the device.  This is your chance to ask someone who is actually holding the new Sidekick in their hands.  Here we go!

How does the keyboard feel?
-It’s a harder rubber than the LX. Same style, feels nice. There’s definitely a difference though.

How does the OS look/perform?
-It looks gorgeous on the new LCD (everything does though.) It performs really well. I haven’t noticed any slowdowns yet.

How does it compare to other sidekicks in all areas?
-It’s much lighter than the LX was, It feels more sturdy than the 08 in the few times I played with it. I haven’t tested battery life yet, so I can’t comment on that. The speaker is significantly louder than the LX’s, which is nice.

If you had ringtones on a previous sidekick, were they transferred over?
-Not sure, I never bought any ringtones.

Can we use sounds as ringtones saved from emails?
-Yes, as long as they are 100kb or less. So to get any length in the mp3 the quality will be pretty crummy. You can record on the device up to 20seconds.
Click through for more questions…

Want to watch a video of the Sidekick LX 2009 that’s totally in focus? Here’s T-Mobile’s official press release video:

There’s also the video of this guy using it:

If you’re one for soundbites too, then there’s also these videos from Emily Blair, the T-Mobile Sidekick Manager talking about the features of the Sidekick LX 2009:

Last night T-Mobile threw a party to celebrate the Sidekick LX 2009. Our invitation must have been lost in the mail on the way to San Francisco, but EngadgetMobile was there. They filmed this video playing with the Sidekick LX 2009:

According to the rep for T-Mobile:
- Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter are built in automatically downloaded and installed. Technically they’re actually catalog apps so you can uninstall them if you don’t want them later though.
- YouTube video streaming looks smooth
- You can capture any length of video, but MMS is limited to 30 seconds

Thanks again to PBD for giving us a video preview of Mood Lights on the new Sidekick LX-09:

http://s581.photobucket.com/albums/ss259/appletech_pbd/?action=view&current=MVI_1944.flv

Thanks to the folks at the official Danger Device Forums, there are a lot more specifics on features thanks to the moderators who actually have been test-driving the devices for several weeks.  Here is the rundown so far (with some more pics!):

• No Shells like the 2008
• 3 mood lights – new locations: 1 on top and bottom of the keyboard

http://www.poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1332&d=1240058761

and 1 long one on the top edge of the screen when opened (bottom of screen when closed)

http://www.poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1333&d=1240058814

• Actual Screen Shot (click for full size)

• no animated gifs
• SDHC Memory – no limit – just what is available on the market (16gb – OK!!)
• Speaker is louder than before
• Video Mode - Low Res is a 176×144 resolution meant for sending via email/mms. This resolution is limited to something like 4 minutes.
• Video taken from an SK09 (Hi-Res Mode – no recording limit!!):

http://s581.photobucket.com/albums/ss259/appletech_pbd/?action=view&current=VID00002.flv

• Photo App  Max size: 2,048 x 1,536

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8283/img00061h.jpg
http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2281/img00062l.jpg
http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7992/img00064l.jpg

• You can Geotag photos with your GPS location.
• It’s a 3.2MP camera with Auto Focus and flash (no zooming).
• There’s an auto focus mode with options distant and macro mode. There’s white balance controls, and B&W, Sepia, Negative effect options.
• Available resolution options are:
  • 2048 x 1536
  • 1600 x 1200
  • 1280 x 960
  • 800 x 600
  • 640 x 480
• YouTube videos work.
• m.break.com videos work (but not smooth)
• Seesmic does not work
• Facebook app seems to be a souped-up mobile version. No videos, apps, etc.
• Internet Radio Works!! (Ex: ShoutCast):
  http://poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1342&d=1240089939
• Yahoo Messenger supports animated buddy icons.
• AIM and Yahoo Messenger now support photo sharing
• You can also upload videos to youtube (or photobucket or myspace) directly
• Web Browser still does not support Flash
• You cannot roam on AT&Ts 3G Network due to the ranges being different:
  The LX09 supports UMTS Bands 2100, 1700, 850.
  T-Mobile uses 1700 and 2100 for 3G, while AT&T uses 1900. So you won’t be able to roam on AT&T 3G.
  As for “Other networks”, it depends on what 3G band they are using.
• Still has chrome around the USB/Charger, but appears to be more sratch-resistant:
  http://poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1338&d=1240087896
• Data plans are grandfathered. T-Mobile will not raise your rates
• When GPS is on, the battery drains faster. (there is an option to turn it on/off)
• Browser is overall the same as the last OTA on the LX. But you have a LOT more room:
  http://poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1319&d=1239974010
• Still 6MB limit on email/ 100+30 limit on SMS (both same as before)
• No confirmation as to “Free Ringtone downloads” still basing it on info already published.
• Themes can still be user-generated like before
• Social apps (Twitter, Myspace, Photobucket, and Facebook) are all FREE – no monthly charges!!!!

We got the below memo from an anonymous T-Mobile employee:

Get Ready for the New Sidekick LX

T-Mobile is preparing to launch the thinnest Sidekick ever, with blazing fast 3G connectivity for customers to connect with friends quickly and easily. The new Sidekick LX will come equipped with GPS enabled Live Search, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and free bundled social networking applications including Facebook, My Space, and Twitter. Customers will also be able to watch and download You Tube videos directly from the device. The new Sidekick LX comes equipped with the features that customers love including a full QWERTY keyboard and an enhanced swivel screen that is larger and sharper than any other Sidekick.

Additional information regarding launch dates, pricing and availablility will be available on the Retail Communication Home Page on April 17.

Action Steps
Check the Retail Communication Home Page on April 17 for additional information regarding the Sidekick LX launch

It basically says what we’ve been saying for months now about the new Sidekick LX 2009. It’s nice to see things confirmed though. It looks like T-Mobile is going to stick the new device under the Sidekick LX line though. So like the Sidekick 2008 is officially just the “Sidekick” then based on this memo the Sidekick LX 2009 will be the “Sidekick LX”. Hopefully we’ll hear more in the way of official news on Friday!

Alright gang, we’ve got some Sidekick 2009 info for you. Here’s the details on the camera that we’ve been able to find out so far.
* It will take photos up to a resolution of 2038 x 1536, meaning 3.2 megapixels.
* There’s a flash, so those grainy shot-in-the-dark photos will be possible.
* There is a new auto-focus feature, so you shouldn’t have to use the jewelry loupe/magnifying glass trick to get up close shots of things.
* Video recording sounds like it’s set to 15 frames per second for now. But might be possible for 30fps.
* You will be able to upload directly to MySpace, Photobucket, and YouTube
* It will support geotagging

All pretty much straight-forward information. For those that don’t know what geotagging is, it means that you can embed location information in the photos you take. So if you take a photo at your friends house and then upload it to a site that supports the geotagging info, it’ll show up on a map at the location you took it. This uses the GPS that’s coming in the Sidekick 2009. It’s all pretty good info, and about what we’d expect from a Sidekick camera.

*GEEK ALERT*
Want more proof of the Sidekick 2009 being out in the wild? Check out this entry in our server’s log files:

216.220.208.186 - - [09/Feb/2009:19:40:34 -0500] “GET / HTTP/1.0″ 200 68967 “-” “Mozilla/5.0 (Danger hiptop 5.0; U; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050920″

What does that mean? Well the User Agent (aka web browser name) of “Danger hiptop 5.0″ means someone with a Sidekick 2009 visited hiptop3.com as recent as Feb 9th. We checked some older logs and there’s a ton of visits in the past few weeks too. Not only does this confirm that there are devices out there, it also confirms that it’s running DangerOS 5.0. If you’re curious about what other Sidekicks report as their User Agent, check out this handy post on PBD.

So Mystery Sidekick 2009 Users, how does the site look on the nice new screen? Want to send us a screenshot?