Engadget is running their 2006 awards right now. The Danger Sidekick 3 is up for Best Cellphone of 2006. Go over and vote here.

Our favorite Sidekick theme site has somehow uncovered a hidden feature on the Sidekick themes, video themes. They’ve posted a few video themes already. Basically they act like normal themes, changing backgrounds, bubbles, and icons, but instead of playing a sound when you flip open the screen, it plays a video in the background. There are only a couple up right now, but they’re very cool to see in action.
Hope you had a HAPPY APRIL FOOLS DAY!

Looks like the OTA is upon us. A couple of good ones in this update. Character count is back in SMS messages, MyFaves support, saving photos, and the ability to download themes from the catalog. Free themes are still possible though.

From Danger’s Help page:
Release 3.4 Over-the-Air Update for Sidekick 3 Users

This Over-the-Air Update contains the following new device features:

* Support for myFaves phone plan - If you sign up for T-Mobile’s myFaves plan, you will see a new “myFaves” application on your device. To add myFaves contacts, go into the application, press MENU and select either Add myFaves Contact (to add a new contact) or Add from Address Book (to add an existing contact). Read more in the myFaves help page.
* Download “themes” from the Catalog - You can use the themes you download as backgrounds to your application splash screens. To apply a downloaded theme as your background, press JUMP to go to the Jump screen. Then press MENU and select Backgrounds. In the submenu that opens, your downloaded themes will appear at the top of the list.
* Save photo attachments - You can save Email photo attachments to your device. To save a photo, open the message then scroll down to the photo attachment you want to save. Scroll down to just below the photo and select the Save to Album button. Your photo is saved to the Device Album in the Camera application.
* Text message character counter - As you compose a text message, you can see a running count of the characters you’ve typed against the message character limit. You’ll also see the number of SMS messages required to send what you’ve typed. For example, if you see “2 140/146″ below the message you’re composing, it means you’ve typed enough characters to require two text messages. It also tells you that in the second message you’ve typed 140 characters against the limit of 146 characters.

Note: Not all characters count the same. Some characters count as two and therefore decrease how many characters you’re allowed in any one message. Also, the message limit varies depending on how many messages you’ve typed. Check the count/limit indicator (e.g., 140/146) to see where you stand.

Thanks to Brandon for the heads-up

For those that were wondering, it looks like (some) 4gb miniSD cards will work on the Sidekick 3. Of course, YMMV, but we’ve heard reports of people dropping in 4gig cards and having them work. Brandon provided the screenshot above for proof.

We’ve been hearing a couple rumors about an OTA for the Sidekick 3 coming soon. No definite dates, but then again it doesn’t really matter as we’ll go through the same old roll-out sequence of a few at a time. We’ve heard that maybe this OTA brings MyFaves support, but haven’t been able to confirm that. We heard that MyFaves support was coming out, but you would only get the update if you called and requested it. That’s highly unlikely, so don’t bother picking up the phone and bothering TMobile.

We also heard that the Sidekick 4 was coming out soon, but we know that’s bunk. The PV-150 is next on the list, sometime in the next two months or so. We know it’s not the “Sidekick 4″ but it is another Sidekick model. We’ll get more details on it as soon as the FCC docs are released into the wild. From all we’ve heard it looks like this won’t be a device for the hardcore Sidekickers, but will be a highly affordable internet enabled phone for everyone else. Tmobile/Danger are skimping on the features in order to offer a low-cost phone with internet and AIM. If you debating on whether you should wait for the PV-150, don’t. Go ahead and get a Sidekick III, or settle in for the long wait for the Sidekick RAZR that may grace us who-knows-when.

Just a couple of stories we’ve seen in passing that we thought you might be interested in:

The first “doll” with his own Sidekick - of course coming from Mister Cartoon
Pass Da Chutney Or, OMFG this POS!! - A funny article about the frustrations one user has with his Sidekick II
GPhone Kinda, Sorta Confirmed by Google Spain, But Not Really - Should we start tossing the “sidekick-killer” term around yet?
Driving While Texting May Be Illegal in Oregon, Washington - Gizmodo wins best article picture of the year. Hiptop3 shamelessly steals it.

It’s 2007, 3 months away from June. If TMobile is on track with the (seemingly more and more confirmed) roadmap, then we wouldn’t be surprised to see a prototype Sidekick NG, aka Sidekick 3 RAZR, out in the field. “Moonrock” wrote us today to tell us that she may have seen one. She was on a ferry, coming into Seattle (near Bellevue, WA which is TMobile headquarters!) when she saw what she thought was a black Sidekick 3 at first. She writes “I saw two girls leaving the ferry, one had a sk3, the other looked like it was just a black sk3, then I was trying to get a better look cause I realized there ISNT a black sk3 and realized it was a sk looking device that was super small.” She says it was “black, small, looked like the drawing.” We asked her if she might have mistaken it for a Diane Von Furstenberg Limited Edition, and she said that it wasn’t, because “it was very small.” Unfortunately she didn’t get any pictures and didn’t bother the girl with the device for more details, but says she will keep an eye out for it. We’ll let you know if we hear anything else of course.

The men who police said raided a Queens home on Wednesday came armed with pistols, but they didn’t count on facing a quick-thinking 12-year-old and her new cell phone.

“I dialed 911 but I hit the ‘check’ button instead of ‘call,’ said Katie Ruiz, describing the nervous call she made on her week-old Sidekick 3, which foiled the violent home invasion. “I had to redial it.”

via AM NY

The Sidekick Wiki is running a sweepstakes where one lucky winner will get a brand new, sparkling white, D-Wade Sidekick 3. It has to be one of the simplest contests out there. Just sign up for the wiki, upload a picture, and post a comment letting them know what your current ringtone is. If you’re the winner, they’ll hook you up with the $399 D-Wade Sidekick 3 (service not included).

This sweepstakes begins at 12:00:01 a.m., Pacific Time (“PT”), on Wednesday, February 28, 2007, and ends at 11:59:59 p.m. PT on Saturday, March 10, 2007. The contest page with more details can be found here.

On second thought, entering this contest is a bad idea. The less people that enter the better the chance for us to win!

Looks like GeekSugar has some photos from the DWade release party fun in Las Vegas. Several hip hop stars were there, including Will.i.am, Ciara, Luda, Kelis and DJ AM, as well as other celebrities. Yes, probably another great party that you weren’t invited to. (Don’t worry, neither were we)

While we have heard of the dreaded “Sidekick-thumb” disorder, the jury is still out on whether or not D-Wade’s excessive Sidekick usage had anything to do with the dislocation of his shoulder on Wednesday night. Ouch. We couldn’t help but notice the indirect reference to D-Wade’s Sidekick from head coach, Pat Riley:

Riley said he would talk with Wade about the decision in the next couple of days.

“I don’t have any anticipation,” Riley said Thursday night before an NBA finals rematch against Dallas. “I wrote him a letter today — FedExed it, because his mailbox was loaded on his phone.”

Hey guys, maybe it’s time to bump up the size of the mailbox?