We got our hands on one of the new Sidekick 2008 (Gekko) devices to check out. Here’s a hands-on video with it:

It’s not like all of us didn’t see this one coming, but it is nice to finally have an official announcement as well as the ability to actually purchase the Sidekick 2008 (Gekko). It’s been a long wait, fraught with name changes, but it looks like it was worth it for those waiting to upgrade. We’ve got a lot more info for you guys that will be posted shortly, but in the meantime, here’s the official word from T-Mobile on features and specs:

The T-Mobile Sidekick will be available July 30 at select T-Mobile retail stores and online at www.sidekick.com for $149.99 with a two-year service agreement. Pricing for the shells is $14.99 for two for $9.99 each.

Additional T-Mobile Sidekick Features Include:
· Easily personalized exterior that provides customers the ability to create “shells” on their own terms.
· Record, play and share videos: record videos using the camera; receive video attachments from e-mail, picture messaging, or side load videos to the microSD card; play video using the built-in media player; share videos via e-mail, Bluetooth or picture messaging
· T-Mobile myFaves-enabled
· Horizontal swivel screen and full QWERTY keyboard (manufactured by Sharp)
· WQVGA screen with high-definition LCD technology
· Personalized Web surfing: PC-like, full-size layout or standard Sidekick screen-size layout to scroll and read a page; use Mini Page to zoom out on an overview of an entire Web page; save images from Web pages to the microSD card
· Customized IM experience: create and join group chats, set custom status messages, search for friends in a buddy list and see who is logged into IM to immediately start a conversation
· Easy downloads: install and use downloads without the need to restart the device; set a theme as the device’s default instantly
· Store more information: Up to 25 ringtones, add up to five slides to multimedia messages, and up to 60-second voice messages
· Quick Find to search across all applications
· Dimensions: 4.7” x 2.3” x 0.7”, 5.3 oz.
· 2.6-inch display, 400×240 pixels
· 2.0 megapixel camera
· Quad-band world phone 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
· GSM,GPRS,EDGE
· 512mb microSD memory card
· 1030mAh Lion battery
· Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP supports stereo Bluetooth and Bluetooth file transfer to other Bluetooth devices including Bluetooth photo printers.

UPDATE: The official press release went out

T-MOBILE TAKES CUSTOMIZATION TO A NEW LEVEL WITH THE LATEST T-MOBILE SIDEKICK

The new T-Mobile® Sidekick® lets customers change the look of their device as often as they change their clothes

BELLEVUE, Wash. – July 30, 2008 – A picture from high school graduation, a favorite sports team logo or a vibrant splash of the hottest fall color – whatever you want to express, you can design it on the new T-Mobile® Sidekick®. Available today, T-Mobile USA, Inc. has added the latest edition to the Sidekick family providing customers with the opportunity to create shells for their Sidekick with the images, colors or designs they choose.

The new Sidekick will ship with two shells: black and metallic green. A variety of pre-designed shell patterns and colors also are readily available for customers to purchase at T-Mobile retail stores or online. Of course, for true individualization, customers can design a completely unique shell unlike any other using a dedicated online Sidekick site via SkinIt at www.sidekickshells.com. Doing so is as simple as uploading a personal photo or graphic design, or selecting your own text, shapes, icons or logos. The final design is custom-printed onto the shell, then shipped. Once the design is complete, customers can share their work of art in a public gallery that will be hosted on www.sidekick.com.

“There is perhaps nothing more important than someone’s individual style and personality. The new

T-Mobile Sidekick, with its customizable shells, lets our customers easily express that unique style directly on their phone,” says Sajal Sahay, director, product marketing, T-Mobile USA. “Providing our customers with options to stand out from the crowd and show a true expression of themselves is what makes this Sidekick such an intriguing, fun device.”

In addition to enhanced personalization, the T-Mobile Sidekick is sporting a slightly smaller, thinner and lighter design than previous Sidekicks. It also comes fully loaded with the latest Sidekick features including video capture and playback ability, so customers can record and watch spontaneous and memorable moments, whether at a football game or a music concert.

The new Sidekick also features an integrated Spanish user interface – the first for a Sidekick device. Other features include first-rate messaging with IM, text and e-mail, as well as stereo Bluetooth® for easy photo and file transfers and a 2.0 megapixel camera. The Sidekick also is equipped with customizable Web surfing and more internal memory for storage of ringtones and multimedia messages.

T-Mobile Sidekick Features Include:
· Exterior shells that can be personalized
· Capability to record, play and share videos: record videos using the camera; receive video attachments from e-mail, picture messaging, or side load videos to the microSD card; play video using the built-in media player; share videos via e-mail, Bluetooth or picture messaging
· Horizontal swivel screen and full QWERTY keyboard (manufactured by Sharp)
· WQVGA screen with high-definition LCD technology
· Enhanced Web surfing: PC-like, full-size layout or standard Sidekick screen-size layout to scroll and read a page; use Mini Page to zoom out on an overview of an entire Web page; save images from Web pages to the microSD card
· Customizable IM experience: create and join group chats, set custom status messages, search for friends in a buddy list and see who is logged into IM to immediately start a conversation
· Easy download capability: install and use downloads without the need to restart the device; set a theme as the device’s default instantly
· Bluetooth 2.0 with A2DP supports stereo Bluetooth and Bluetooth file transfer to other Bluetooth devices including Bluetooth photo printers
· 2.0 megapixel camera
· Included 512MB microSD memory card
· More storage: Up to 25 ringtones, add up to five slides to multimedia messages, and up to 60-second voice messages
· Quick Find to search across all applications
· T-Mobile myFaves® enabled
· Dimensions: 4.7” x 2.3” x 0.7”, 5.3 oz.
· 2.6-inch display, 400×240 pixels
· Quad-band world phone 850/900/1800/1900 MHz; GSM,GPRS,EDGE
· 1030mAh Lion battery

The new T-Mobile Sidekick is available today at select T-Mobile retail stores and online at www.t-mobile.com. Please visit www.sidekick.com for T-Mobile Sidekick news and updates.

If you hadn’t heard, it’s finally time for the Sidekick LX Video OTA to roll out to everyone. Over the last week or two the update has been slowly rolling out. The pioneer people that got the users should also receive a new update that brings them up to the latest version. So yes, it’s finally here guys. It’s rolling out randomly, not based on location at all. Good luck trying to guess when you’ll get the OTA. Just sit tight and we’ll all be enjoying the new video and browser goodness before too long.

Before you get all excited, chances are this is just someone with Photoshop that got told “Hey, I need a phone that looks like it has GPS on it” by their boss, so they whipped something up. But we can’t help wonder why the model in the photo accompanying this article is holding the Sidekick 3 so oddly. Then again she is in a mall, and why would you need GPS (let alone being to get a signal) when you’re looking for a new pair of shoes? Regardless, there have been bits and pieces about GPS getting incorporated into a future Sidekick in some way for awhile. Remember that old job posting? From a technical standpoint it would probably be possible to interface a Sidekick with a Bluetooth GPS as it stands now, it would just be a matter of getting a mapping solution on the Sidekick that’s powerful enough. Maybe with Apple’s new iPhone 3G, Danger Microsoft will have some motivation to upgrade some of the hardware capabilities of the Sidekick to keep up with the location-aware mobile computing that is bound to happen in the very near future.

Looks like Rockstar21 over on the PoweredByDanger forums got ahold of some information that maybe he shouldn’t have. He’s posted some blurry pics of a folder of info on the new Sidekick Gekko/2008/Aspen, slated for release at the end of July. He’s also transcribed the contents of the folder for your information:

Pricing: Get yourself a sidekick at an Affordable price. =)

Catalog: Download more apps, themes and games faster from the catalog

Address book: improved intergration. see what friends are online and immediately start chatting. activity logs. easier dialing for phone calls. improved interface.

Shortcuts: QuickFind, SpellCheck, Shortcut key strokes, and QuickJump(unified inbox and recent applications list)

Headset jack: 3.5 standard audio headphone jack

External memory: 512 mb for videos, pictures and music. can take up to 4 gb card.

Notifications: sounds, vibrations and multi colored trackball.

SMS: yes

MMS: yes

MyFaves: capable

Target Customer: Young fashionable, predominantly female who likes to express themselves and be creative.

Demensions: 120×57.5×18 mm “slightly wider, yet shorter slightly thicker than the sidekick slide”

Weight: 140 g lighter than both slide, and lx

Display: 2.6 diagonal viewing “400×240 pixel WQVGA” Mobile advanced Super V LCD (.4 inches smaller than LX)

Camera: 2.0 Mp still camera and video recorder (should be obviously noticable difference in quality of pictures and video recordings)

Instant Messaging: AIM, MSN, Yahoo. with group chat, stealth mode, and links to profiles.

Media Player: video and music player. 3gp and MPEG 4 with WMA and ACC formats.

Web Browser: yes, with zoom, pan, and scan.

Bluetooth: yes, stereo, phone calls, watching/listening to music and vidoes, sending and recieving media files.

standby time for battery: 10 days
talk time: 5 hours
128 mb ram
64 mb flash rom

Want to know what the full specs on the T-Mobile Sidekick 2008 are? BreatheTmobile has them for you and we’re reposting below:

T-Mobile Sidekick (2008) Specs:

2mp camera w/video
Media Player
Pc-like HTML web browser
Instant Msg
Email
Automatic Backup
Removable Faceplates (customizable at sidekick.com w/your own art or pix!)
2.6″ high resolution wQVGA screen w/ micro-reflective tft lcd
Bluetooth 2.0 w/file transfer
QWERTY keyboard
Trackball
3.5mm headjack
Mirco SD slot w/ 4gb support

Quadband 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
size: 120 x 57.5 x 18 mm!!!!!!
weight: 140 g
standby: 10 days
talk time: 5 hours
Display: 400 x 240 pixel
ram: 128 mb
Flash ROM: 64 mb

It looks like this device is going to be pretty similar to the Sidekick LX, which is no surprise. He also mentions that the device will be “affordable”, although noone is tossing around a price tag yet. His original post can be found on the TmoNews forums.

One of the new features that comes with the 4.6 OTA for the Sidekick LX is the “Quick Find”. Basically this is a super quick way to search your entire Sidekick for something. Here’s a quick video of it in action:

Sidekick LX Quickfind feature

So everyone has seen the video recording capabilities of the Sidekick LX, but what about video playback? We converted a video into .3gp and tossed it on the Sidekick to see how it looked. Surprisingly it turned out pretty good! It’s not unreasonable to think that people could be watching TV shows and music videos on their Sidekick. We won’t say movies are a possibility because we haven’t done any testing to see just how much of an impact this has on battery life. Anyways, enough talk, here’s the video:

Sidekick LX Video Playback from HiptopVideos on Vimeo.

Sidekick LX New Browser Features

I’m sure everyone is clamoring to see more samples of what video from the Sidekick LX looks like. We’ve got another for you. This is what it looks like when uploaded to YouTube and re-encoded:

Here’s the original video that will play if you have Quicktime installed:

If you want to see the original .3gp file that was recorded, click here to download.