Archive for the 'Sidekick LX 2009' Category

Sidekick LX 2009 OTA Rolling Out

Monday, December 7th, 2009
Mobile Backup

I woke up this morning to several reports from people saying they had gotten an OTA for their Sidekick LX 2009. It’s looking like this update is a combination of the bug fix OTA I mentioned awhile back and the new Mobile Backup support. You should hopefully see less crashes in your Sidekick LX 2009 once this update is applied. The OTA may cause your device to hard reset. Don’t freak out though, all your data should be backed up to Danger’s servers, so it’ll come back. And once you have Mobile Backup, your address book will be backed up to T-Mobile’s servers as well! Hooray for backup!

For those hardcore geeks, the new OS version is 5.0/270115. A couple more screenshots:

Mobile BackupMobile Backup

Sidekick Sync Price Drop

Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Sidekick Sync

T-Mobile has dropped the price of Sidekick Sync down to $2.99 a month. If you already bought Sidekick Sync you should go into the Catalog and upgrade in order to get the lower monthly price.

What is Sidekick Sync?

Sidekick Sync provides secure access to your Exchange Active Sync (Outlook) e-mail. calendar events, corporate directory and contacts on your Sidekick LX 2009. Read, reply and forward your e-mail, and accept calendar invitations just as you would on your PC.

Mobile Backup For Sidekick LX 2009 Coming in OTA

Wednesday, November 18th, 2009

It took a large scale data disaster, but looks like Microsoft/Danger/T-Mobile will finally be giving Sidekick users a way to backup their data to something other than Danger’s servers. An OTA is rolling out to users that will allow you to backup your Address Book to T-Mobile’s Mobile Backup service. The announcement on the T-Mobile forums makes it look like this might only be for Sidekick LX 2009 users, which is a little worrisome for people with other devices.

Here’s what T-Mobile is saying:

T-Mobile will begin rolling out Mobile Backup for Sidekick LX 2009 customers via an Over The Air (OTA) process. All Sidekick LX 2009 customers should receive the OTA in the next few weeks.

What is Mobile Back up?
Mobile Backup is a free service via My T-Mobile that allows you to avoid manually re-entering contacts into a device in the event you need to replace it or in the event it’s lost or stolen.

How will I know I have it?
T-Mobile will send an Over The Air (OTA) update in phases over the next several weeks. You will receive a message that says “System Update Notice”. Once you receive the message, please accept it. Upon successful receipt of your OTA, you will receive a T-Mail confirming that you have Mobile Backup.
Another way to verify receipt of the OTA is to navigate to your device’s Address Book and select Menu. Under the drop down you will see Mobile Backup.

What if I don’t have it right now?
Don’t worry. T-Mobile is rolling this update to our customers in phases. All LX 09 customers should have it by Dec 10, 2009.

So am I at risk of losing my data again until I have the update?
Microsoft/Danger has taken steps to help ensure all data is readily available. This is an additional enhancement to backup your contact data should you change your device in the future.

For more info on Mobile backup check out https://support.t-mobile.com/doc/tm23951.xml

Catalog is Back and Sidekicks For Sale On T-Mobile Again

Tuesday, November 17th, 2009

Good news! As we posted on our Twitter account (@hiptop3), the Download Catalog came back online this weekend. There was much rejoicing.

Also, we heard from T-Mobile directly and they were very happy I’m sure to be announcing that Sidekicks were no longer “Temporarily Out Of Stock” and were up for sale on T-Mobile.com again! You can snag a Sidekick LX 2009 for $149.99 or a Sidekick 2008 for $49.99. And if that’s not cheap enough, you can even get an open box Sidekick 2008 for $34.99. (All with 2 year contracts of course)

Sidekick Catalog Remains Down / Where To Get Ringtones & Themes

Monday, November 9th, 2009
Fetching Catalog contents

Life as a Sidekick user is starting to return to normal as T-Mobile/Microsoft/Danger slowly announce each piece of data that is restorable as they make progress. We’ve gotten back Address Books, Calendars, To Do Lists, Notes, and most recently Photos. I know a lot of people are still waiting on Bookmarks and I imagine that will be next in line. However one of the hallmarks of the Sidekick is still missing and we haven’t heard any word on when it will return.

I’m of course talking about the Download Catalog, aka the first App Store. The Catalog has been down for over a month and this sucks both for Sidekick users as well as Sidekick Developers. I’m sure T-Mobile is feeling the hurt too as a large source of their income from Sidekick users comes from selling applications, ringtones and themes.

While there are no other ways to get applications (save having a developer key), it is possible to get ringtones and themes while the catalog is down from unofficial sites. Themes for most Sidekicks can be found at Sidekick Themes and if you have a Sidekick LX 2009 you can get free ringtones at Skringers.com.

UPDATE (2009-11-11): We’re hearing through the grapevine that the Download Catalog may be up by Saturday if things go well! Keep your fingers crossed.

Sidekick OTAs Rolling Out

Monday, November 2nd, 2009
Danger OTAs

Microsoft/Danger has started rolling out an OTA (Over-The-Air) update to all Sidekick users. This update will not make any changes to your device that you’ll be able to see. It’s intended to fix some behind the scenes stuff so that “all Catalog application data will now be more securely backed up in the Microsoft / Danger systems.” This is NOT the Sidekick LX 2009 OTA I posted about earlier, which I assume is on indefinite hold until everything gets sorted out. It’s assumed that this OTA is rolling out to all Sidekick devices. Let us know in the comments if you received the OTA, which device you’ve got, and when you got the update.

T-Mobile posted an update over on their forums and we’ve archived a copy over on skfail.com since the forum updates aren’t permanent.

New OTA Update for Sidekick LX 2009 Coming Soon..

Friday, October 2nd, 2009
Sidekick LX 2009 Orchid

A little birdie told me that there’s a new OTA (Over-The-Air) Update that should be coming soon for all you Sidekick LX 2009 owners. It’s currently being tested by the super secret trial users. Once all the bugs get squashed it will start rolling out to the general public in the typical Sidekick fashion (randomly and only a few people at first). No word on exactly what bugs have been squashed, but I imagine it’s going to help with the crashing and freezing that many users (including yours truly) have reported on their Sidekick LX 2009.

Twitter and Facebook available for Older Sidekicks

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

sklx2009_orchid_closed_facebook

Don’t have a Sidekick LX 2009 yet and you’re stuck with an older device? Well if you’re a Twitter or Facebook addict, you’re in luck! T-Mobile has released the Twitter and Facebooks apps in the Download Catalog for the Sidekick 2008, the original LX, and the Sidekick Slide. The Facebook app is totally free, but the Twitter app will set you back $1.99 every month. Both of these apps will remain free for the Sidekick LX 2009 users though.

Are you on Twitter? Follow us! @hiptop3

Tokidoki Sidekick LX 2009 Shells

Tuesday, September 15th, 2009

tokidoki-shell
If you’ve been to your local T-Mobile store recently then you probably already know that Tokidoki shells for the Sidekick LX 2009 and Sidekick 2008 are out. There are 4 different shells for the LX 2009 and 3 different ones for the Sidekick 2008. You can pick them up for $14.99-19.99 from T-Mobile stores along with a bunch of other Tokidoki accessories or you can score them online as well via sidekick.com. If you’re cheap, you might have luck finding Sidekick LX shells on SidekickShopper too. You can also pick up some themes in the Download Catalog that match your new Tokidoki shells!

If you’re wondering what the heck Tokidoki is, check them out at www.tokidoki.it.

New T-Mobile Sidekick Commercial

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

We’re a sucker for a well-done commercial and it’s not often T-Mobile has one. But this time they pulled one out with their new Sidekick LX 2009 dance-off commercial. I’m really not sure how these people in the video do the things they do with their bodies.

For more behind the scenes of the making of this commercial and even more crazy dance moves, check out T-Mobile’s YouTube channel.