Oh, how we love rumors with nothing to back it up save for a post on one of the countless forums out there. But hey, that’s how so many things start, right? The latest rumor on the forums out there is that the Sidekick 3 is slated to arrive in the UK in December, on TMobile as usual. So, make sure you add a Sidekick 3 to your Wish List if you’re one of our friends across the ocean.

via Slashgear

We’ve been waiting and waiting for an official changelog for the 3.1 OS, but haven’t seen anything official yet. However, on the Hiptop.com forums (not associated with hiptop3.com) jenniferkvm posted the following:

The list updates I have handed down from my bosses include:

Correction to the battery level indicator.

Correction to battery charging icon. Previously the icon displayed charging even when th battery was fully charged. The OTA fixes this.

Previously the device might have had problems with powering on when the power button was used to power off. The OTA fixes this.

Previously, the clicking DONE in the address book will not save/close an address book edit. The OTA fixes that.

Som beeps in the sounds profile did not also flash the trackball. OTA fixes.

OTA will ensure that redialing occurs when button on headset is pushed after busy signal.

Added Menu + Cancel shortcut in Music Player to remove menu item in playlist editing menu.

Media Player used to be case sensitive when sorting playlists. After OTA, it is not case sensitive when sorting alphabetically.

OTA will allow deletion of multiple selections from a playlist.

Device locking up after going to “sleep”. OTA fixes that.

Fixes echo in Speaker mode.

Battery Cover Notification is noticable when keyguard is activated.

AND Lastly ( I know I saw a couple of threads on this):

Ya know how when you answered a call and the person on the other end couldn’t hear you for a few seconds? Drove ya NUTS!
Yeah, the OTA fixes that……

There’s your list kids……

For those that care about the celebrity crap (count us out), last week was the Sidekick 3 Limited Edition Release Party. E! Online has all the gossipy crap you could ever want on who was there.

Gadget Candy (a site for girls that like gadgets that makes us swoon to think that such girls are out there) got a shot of the backside of the Dian Von Furstenberg Sidekick 3. Nothing exciting, just DVF’s signature. For those guys out there who want a black Sidekick 3, but don’t want a “girly” phone with it, you’ll have to bust out the electrical tape to cover up the back too I guess.

Add another Limited Edition Sidekick 3 to the list! We knew about the LRG green Sidekick 3, but now there’s a black one to go with it. TMobile just announced the upcoming limited edition device from fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg. The devices will have all the same features as the Sidekick 3, so the drawing power will be the appearance. We do have to say, the black one looks a lot nicer than the green one!
Oh, and the info you’ve all been waiting for?
The new limited edition T-Mobile Sidekicks will be available in limited quantities at select T-Mobile retail stores and online beginning Oct. 30.

Press Release

Is video on the Sidekick finally coming?! A recent surf of Danger’s job page has given us an insight as to what the next generation Sidekick might have instore. With the combination of TMo’s EDGE and the eventual roll out of UTMS, it seems that broadband video could become a reality on everyone’s favorite device! As always, this is just speculation at this point, but it sounds like the Sidekick 3/4 might handle MPEG-4, H.263, H.264/AVC, WMV 7/8, VC-1/WMV9 codecs.

For those interested (and hopefully someone qualified) here is the job description:

Senior Video Software Engineer
Department: Library
Location: Palo Alto, California

As a Senior Video Software Engineer, you will be responsible for moving Danger’s hiptop platform into the video age. We already have the best audio system in the mobile industry; now leverage your deep knowledge of video to take our multimedia architecture to the next level.

Responsibilities

* Help craft the video strategy for Danger’s hiptop platform, including evaluating various 3rd-party video solutions, and recommending hardware changes for future devices.
* Integrate 3rd-party video software into the existing platform and audio engine. Optimize, debug, and maintain this code. Most of this work will be done in straight C, but some inline ARM assembly and DSP coding will be required.
* Expose video features through an extensible and customizable Java library API. Tutor application-level Java engineers, both internal and external, on this API, and help them make best use of it in their code.
* Search for innovative ways to incorporate video into the hiptop experience, including leveraging the unique Danger service architecture.
* Create test suites and work with QA to deliver the highest quality mobile video applications in the industry.

Qualifications
* BSCS/BSCE/BSEE degree and 8 + years continuous experience developing in C/C++, preferably in a technical lead role for some of this time
* 2 years experience developing in Java, preferably with some object-oriented library and API development
* 2 years experience focused on video record and playback, including codec and DSP experience
* Familiarity with popular video codec formats, such as: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264/AVC, WMV 7/8, VC-1/WMV9, etc.
* Familiarity with popular video file formats, such as MP4, AVI, etc.
* Experience integrating and debugging 3rd-party source and object code
* A solid understanding of multithreaded programming concepts
* Experience with ARM9 and ARM11 assembly language programming in an embedded environment, and TI OMAP DSP programming, is highly desirable

October is a great month in the Hiptop / Sidekick community. Watch the video for more info on two of the contests going on this month:

Then follow the links:
HiptopHunt Halloween Hunt!
sk3themes theme contest
Cash and Prizes await the winners!

Wow, shortly after posting the announcment it looks like some people are already getting the OTA! As normal, it is being rolled out to a pioneer group of 1000 people for testing. There’s no way to tell if you’re one of those few, it’s random. R-A-N-D-O-M. So don’t bother sacrificing that chicken, it won’t help. So far it looks like no significant changes, and yes the themes are still intact.

discussion on hiptop.com/forums

The Sidekick 3 online manual has been updated to reflect the 3.1 Over-The-Air update of the Sidekick OS. While the Suncom Hiptop 3 is supposedly running on 3.1 already, all the TMobile Sidekick customers are currently stuck with OS 3.0 with the battery issues. This update will fix the common battery issues but hopefully not lock off the Sidekick themes. We’re keeping our fingers crossed!

From the manual:

Release 3.1 Over-the-Air Update for Sidekick 3 Users

This update arrives in two parts: first the operating system, then the firmware. Together, the update delivers overall performance enhancements to your Sidekick 3, including a correction to the battery charge readings.

Andy writes to let us know that there is a picture of the LRG limited edition Sidekick 3 in the November edition of XXL Magazine (page 138 if you want to check). For those wondering, LRG stands for Lifted Research Group. There’s not much info in the magazine, but it looks like this just might be one of those limited edition Sidekicks. So if you’ve been waiting for the name-branded Sidekick in green, maybe you won’t have to wait much longer.