So, what does NetBSD mean for you?

OK, I felt the need to clear some things up regarding NetBSD being used for the m3/Sidekick Blade/Sidekick LX 2009.

What does it mean for you? Nothing. You still won’t see any Non-Catalog 3rd party applications, you won’t see a “Jailbreak”, you won’t see free rangt0n3z… none of this will happen with the Blade running NetBSD as it’s foundation. Sorry to burst any bubbles.

What you might and probably see however… is a more stable, reliable and powerful device. NetBSD/*nix is a rock solid foundation to build on top of (Bravo Danger for the choice) and I’m going to bet you as the end user will see a much more stable device that doesn’t crash and reboot nearly as much as previously (Although for us the LX was/is a very stable and reliable device).

So, let’s break this down again. No free applications or ringtones outside of the catalog on the blade.

41 Responses to “So, what does NetBSD mean for you?”

  1. meme Says:

    Interesting… I’m going with the G2. I can handle another locked down phone.

  2. Spencer Says:

    So this is defeinetly not gonna be able to work with ATT?

  3. Anonymous Says:

    Spencer on January 31, 2009 at 3:46 pm said:

    So this is defeinetly not gonna be able to work with ATT?

    Unless one is released for AT&T, no. You cannot unlock Sidekicks for different data networks.

  4. Adrian Says:

    Get the G1. Who wants a locked down phone. I had a sidekick lx until I saw the G1. It was a major upgrade. But the desing is really awesome on this sidekick no doubt about it.

  5. AcidAngel Says:

    I like how all the retards on poweredbydanger thought they’d now have an open source phone, even though none of those hollas could code themselves a helloworld yet alone make use of an open source device. And don’t forget the people going LOL HIPTOP3 ISN’T TOO RELIABLE, too bad it really does run netbsd.

    Also newsflash, the G1 is locked down too unless you buy a Dev Phone 1 from google which allows you to flash unsigned android builds, and costs you a pretty penny.

  6. stephy Says:

    i just really hope they dont take the mood lights away they are really cool

  7. Robert Barrett Says:

    I do not understand why they would limit the money they could make off more programd for sale in the catalog. I have the Sidekick 3 and the catalog sucks! No Bible programs or any worthwhile programs. Will for sure wait and get a Android phone. I get way more programs on my Ipod Touch in which I use way more the my Sidekick.

  8. Atlantiz Says:

    How, can hiptop3 know so much? You obviousely work for danger. How do u know the new os will be so locked down? You do realize that the sk platform is losing it’s luster. You need to supply peoples demands. They want free ringtones, and as far as apps goes, the other dude has a point , my iPod has hundreds of free applications, and a touch screen and cost me a little over 200 bucks. The sk is dying….

  9. Anonymous Says:

    Robert Barrett on January 31, 2009 at 9:35 pm said:

    I do not understand why they would limit the money they could make off more programd for sale in the catalog. I have the Sidekick 3 and the catalog sucks! No Bible programs or any worthwhile programs. Will for sure wait and get a Android phone. I get way more programs on my Ipod Touch in which I use way more the my Sidekick.

    Sidekick 3’s catalog is no longer updated anymore. If you are interested in a Bible E-Book might I suggest contacting Ridiculous Software (https://www.ridic.com/) as they seem to do quite a bit of eBooks on the hiptop.

    Atlantiz on January 31, 2009 at 10:05 pm said:

    How, can hiptop3 know so much? You obviousely work for danger. How do u know the new os will be so locked down? You do realize that the sk platform is losing it’s luster. You need to supply peoples demands. They want free ringtones, and as far as apps goes, the other dude has a point , my iPod has hundreds of free applications, and a touch screen and cost me a little over 200 bucks. The sk is dying….

    It’s going to stay locked down, I’m sorry. Just because you want free Ringtones doesn’t mean you’re going to get it no matter how much you whine and kick and scream and bitch to T-Mobile. (It’s not Danger who restricts Ringtones, it’s done at Carriers request.) The iPhone just has a larger developer base. That has nothing to do with people being able to install apps for free. Why are there so many more apps for iPhone than Sidekick, who knows. Device appeal? Audience numbers? Media attention? Programming Language? It’s a mystery. There’s money to be made on the platform for sure, so that’s not it.

  10. g1 user Says:

    And that’s why the sk isn’t that great anymore….*types with his g1*

  11. Rosario Says:

    I think the thing that got everyone excited was that they were hoping for more exciting apps. And even though this isn’t open source, its still very possible we can get them.

    The problem with the catalogue isn’t that people don’t want to make some great apps for it, its just that with the sidekicks limitations there’s not much they can do. You can see that they were trying with some apps, like nuTsie and mobilecast but they just aren’t they great with Edge, plus they couldn’t be played in the background. But if everything goes right, 3G, NetBSD, possibly flash (just throwing it out there), we can probably see more pretty good apps coming along.

  12. Anonymous Says:

    g1 user on January 31, 2009 at 10:19 pm said:

    And that’s why the sk isn’t that great anymore….*types with his g1*

    Your G1 is still locked down. Shut up already.

  13. AcidAngel Says:

    true story, theres plenty of great sidekick applications but most of them aren’t in the catalog, join the developer program.

  14. Lstrike Says:

    @AcidAngel

    AcidAngel on January 31, 2009 at 6:44 pm said:

    I like how all the retards on poweredbydanger thought they’d now have an open source phone, even though none of those hollas could code themselves a helloworld yet alone make use of an open source device. And don’t forget the people going LOL HIPTOP3 ISN’T TOO RELIABLE, too bad it really does run netbsd.

    Also newsflash, the G1 is locked down too unless you buy a Dev Phone 1 from google which allows you to flash unsigned android builds, and costs you a pretty penny.

    You can (and I have) setup any G1 to run ADP1.1 etc without having to purchase the pricey DEV edition. XDA-Developers has all types of easy to follow walk throughs. The G1 is in no way shape or form locked down like the SK’s.

  15. sean h Says:

    Will the SKLX HAVE THIS OTA?

  16. kcoury Says:

    The G1 is locked down but with current exploits you can downgrade your firmware and flash the bootloader the Dev Phone ships with and therefore have a completely unlocked device and be able to flash any custom firmware. Even still, the G1 with stock firmware is way less restricted than the SIdekick and a lot more open.

    The Android Market is currently a free for all where applications don’t have to pass any requirements whereas an application for the Sidekick must be QA tested, approved by Danger, and be approved by T-Mobile. This process weeds out a lot of the great software for the Sidekick that end users will never see.

  17. employee Says:

    If you think the G1 is locked down.Then you need to stop smoking. What makes you think you need to buy another phone to make a App? Maybe a couple of months ago, but not now. PoweredbyDanger is run by stuck up snobs that think they know it all.

  18. Anonymous Says:

    sean h on February 1, 2009 at 9:55 am said:

    Will the SKLX HAVE THIS OTA?

    No.

    employee on February 1, 2009 at 3:10 pm said:

    If you think the G1 is locked down.Then you need to stop smoking. What makes you think you need to buy another phone to make a App? Maybe a couple of months ago, but not now. PoweredbyDanger is run by stuck up snobs that think they know it all.

    Butthurt much?

  19. Atlantiz Says:

    employee on February 1, 2009 at 3:10 pm said:

    If you think the G1 is locked down.Then you need to stop smoking. What makes you think you need to buy another phone to make a App? Maybe a couple of months ago, but not now. PoweredbyDanger is run by stuck up snobs that think they know it all.

    I So agree!

    Danger folks are super Stuck up!
    Especially that Joe fellow that heads up the dev community.

    Its funny cuz most of the Danger dev community does not use an SK as their everyday phone, they basically just create apps to make money. Most of the community has gone over to the G1, or the Iphone.

    You guys can talk crap about the rintone and background situation all you want, but that is the most requested thing its users want.

    If they gave them a couple slots for custom ringtones, you would not only satisfy your customer base, but you would become more appealing to new customers.

    And don’t tell me that T-mobile restricts rigntones, that is a load of crap, because 99% of their phones have customizable ringers. Danger wants to make money to pay for that backend of theirs. G1 and Iphone have hundreds of free apps and demos, SK has one free application a calculator.

    All the smart SK users have moved on. All that is left are the Ghetto kids, and teenyboppers.

    RIP SK, the SK is DEAD!

  20. AcidAngel Says:

    most of the danger dev community I gave a shit about already left the platform thanks to danger stifling creative applications making it to the catalog

  21. AcidAngel Says:

    also I hate the g1 keyboard

  22. Sandra Says:

    I’ve been a HUGE sidekick fan almost from the start…I can tell you now…I’m tired of it. The applications are stupid, the internet works only when it feels like working, and everything is just not entertaining me anymore. I’m moving on to the Blackberry Curve 8900 when it comes out, because the Sidekicks aren’t getting ANY major upgrades and I wont really be missing much…

  23. kenneth alan Says:

    If we really can’t add our own ringtones then I’m done with the sidekicks. The phones just aren’t good enough compared to what else is out. And this sidekick looks very ugly. I’ll wait for more pictures and information on it, but I think it’s time I leave the sidekick family.

  24. captain jackk Says:

    why can’t anyone just be happy with what they have?
    like seriously.

  25. Tony Says:

    The Danger OS, although outdated, is much more stable and clean than Android now. I don’t care what the next Danger OS runs on, but they better update the UI and the Desktop Interface.

  26. Rob Says:

    I really hope, for the sake of the profiters from the sidekick devices, that the screen isnt off centered as pictured above. This little detail with hurt sales tremendously, TRUST ME. I know i wont spend 300 or 400 dollars on a device if its not perfect to me. There are a lot of people like me who wont make the purchase if there is something like that. I urge everyone not to buy this device if the screen is in fact off centered, I mean, how stupid do you have to be to do something like that, who designed that and thought that was ok, I really hope that this is just a rough draft and that its perfected before distribution. If anyone at Danger sees my comment. Please, Please, do something about this.

  27. sidekick killer Says:

    I think sidekickz r dead

    rip sidekick

  28. brandon Says:

    Rob on February 3, 2009 at 9:09 pm said:

    I really hope, for the sake of the profiters from the sidekick devices, that the screen isnt off centered as pictured above. This little detail with hurt sales tremendously, TRUST ME. I know i wont spend 300 or 400 dollars on a device if its not perfect to me. There are a lot of people like me who wont make the purchase if there is something like that. I urge everyone not to buy this device if the screen is in fact off centered, I mean, how stupid do you have to be to do something like that, who designed that and thought that was ok, I really hope that this is just a rough draft and that its perfected before distribution. If anyone at Danger sees my comment. Please, Please, do something about this.

    I see your point, but the Brown/blue LX’s screens arent center because of the tmobile logo side is bigger. It doesnt bug me nor does it look bad. i just think that that picture isnt really going to be that bad in real life.. lets hope lol

  29. upritelazy Says:

    This is probably going to be my first Sidekick in my entire life haha. Finally the Sidekick is catching up to the rest of the phones. And if anyone says that it’s not that advanced or whatever I just want to let everyone know that I don’t care because this would be my first Smart Phone and I really don’t care about Touch Screens, Iphones, Blackberries.etc. I like a full Qwerty Keyboard and that’s it!

  30. Donovan Says:

    TI SDP2430 – this is a serious ARM 1136 chipset.
    https://focus.ti.com/general/docs/wtbu/wtbugencontent.tsp?contentId=14645&navigationId=12013&templateId=6123

    512Mb for STrata Flash
    512Mb NAND Flash
    TouchScreen Support direct from CPU
    1.8/1.3V MMC/MicroSD/SD/SDIO/MS/MS-Pro
    AGPS
    WLAN
    Bluetooth
    DSP
    TV Video/Audio via 3.5 mm cable
    Full-Speed USB2.0

    This is a serious, but old chipset. Similar in power to what the Nokia N95-1/2/3/4 have. So with Unix core and Danger, Inc’s J2ME layer this could have serious potential.

  31. Does_It_Matter Says:

    wow thats not really much of an upgrade. only minor upgrades are GPS, a bit better camera, and finally…..3G! finall danger caught on. there are FREE phones with 3G. i used to be a huge fan of the SK. i had one since the colorless SK1 and i ended it with the LX. i had an ipod touch and i loved how i can get so many free apps and i hated how the SK couldnt. so i left and got the iphone…..yes talk all the **** you want on the iphone but the iphone is the ****. it may crash here and there for me but the SK did too. i get free ringtones, free apps, better apps, texting on the touching screen is easy (i have unlimited texting so yea its really easy) and i have big thumbs and still easy. i love how i could listen to music and do other things while it runs smoothly. like how the battery lasts me. its perfect. it was a huge upgrade from the sidekick. and i bought my 16gb iphone for as much as i bought my LX for so for the price the SK is at, it ant worth it. i dunno how much this SK will be but i hope it aint that much because phones that are at equal or less price are better and the consumer these days with the economy will want more bang for their buck, which they wont really get with the SK. i agree, the SK is dying. i see very little people with it now. most people i know who had a SK, moved on to iPhones, G1s, Blackberries, better phones. Danger really needs to step it up. i bet they arent even doing that good. if this SK doesnt do great, this might be the last SK we might ever see. and yes, i do think the G1 is better than this. the SK used to be the featured phone for T-Mobile….not anymore, the G1 is. yes i know im really getting at the SK and some of yall dont care or dont like it and i dont care but i hate that i used to be stuck on the SK for nothing because the SK is just like the SK that came out before that. they are just too strict. no apps free or free ringtones like these other phones. Danger needs to get with the game. i finally had broken free from the Sidekick Curse and moved on to the iPhone. if other people break free from the Sidekick Curse, then they too will be happy with a phone better than the Sidekick. so yes, im more than sure the sidekick is dead. it died at the LX. ~R.I.P. Sidekick~ you MIGHT be missed….

  32. employee Says:

    Does_It_Matter on February 8, 2009 at 10:48 am said:

    wow thats not really much of an upgrade. only minor upgrades are GPS, a bit better camera, and finally…..3G! finall danger caught on. there are FREE phones with 3G. i used to be a huge fan of the SK. i had one since the colorless SK1 and i ended it with the LX. i had an ipod touch and i loved how i can get so many free apps and i hated how the SK couldnt. so i left and got the iphone…..yes talk all the **** you want on the iphone but the iphone is the ****. it may crash here and there for me but the SK did too. i get free ringtones, free apps, better apps, texting on the touching screen is easy (i have unlimited texting so yea its really easy) and i have big thumbs and still easy. i love how i could listen to music and do other things while it runs smoothly. like how the battery lasts me. its perfect. it was a huge upgrade from the sidekick. and i bought my 16gb iphone for as much as i bought my LX for so for the price the SK is at, it ant worth it. i dunno how much this SK will be but i hope it aint that much because phones that are at equal or less price are better and the consumer these days with the economy will want more bang for their buck, which they wont really get with the SK. i agree, the SK is dying. i see very little people with it now. most people i know who had a SK, moved on to iPhones, G1s, Blackberries, better phones. Danger really needs to step it up. i bet they arent even doing that good. if this SK doesnt do great, this might be the last SK we might ever see. and yes, i do think the G1 is better than this. the SK used to be the featured phone for T-Mobile….not anymore, the G1 is. yes i know im really getting at the SK and some of yall dont care or dont like it and i dont care but i hate that i used to be stuck on the SK for nothing because the SK is just like the SK that came out before that. they are just too strict. no apps free or free ringtones like these other phones. Danger needs to get with the game. i finally had broken free from the Sidekick Curse and moved on to the iPhone. if other people break free from the Sidekick Curse, then they too will be happy with a phone better than the Sidekick. so yes, im more than sure the sidekick is dead. it died at the LX. ~R.I.P. Sidekick~ you MIGHT be missed….

    You guys better listen to us and save your hard earned money.I’m not a hater. I just don’t want to see people dissapointed when this phone dosnt fill all there needs. Especially when you compete with your friends on who has the tightest phone. Think of what you can get for the same price as this phone. DO YOUR RESEARCH PEOPLE!!!!

  33. Aythadis Says:

    All I can say is that, I owned a SK 3, id, Slide, and now an LX. I bought a used LX when I needed a fast cheep phone with a qwerty when my G1 took a nasty spill. Over all, if the instant messaging worked better (I’d get lock up when the phone went into sleep mode and would sign me out and freeze if I tried to go back in). After using this…piece of some cell phone abomination, I wonder every day how did I ever think this being the cream of the crop. I tired the iPhones touch screen and it had nothing on a real keyboard.

    I don’t wanna do a wall of text but, I feel underwelmed by this phone. I feel underwhelmed that this LX won’t update. No video. But I got mood lights. Looks nice but, when it comes to cutting the chedder, what does this series of phone have left. Speed in doing things and a wicked keyboard. Grade A keyboard. Wow…. with some time I was able to type on the G1 with out looking. Took a few weeks but hell worth the relearning. That and the flat keys. That made me mad. But we could bicker for weeks on who’s on top and what not but lets be serious.

    Why so long for all of this, why so little extras so late, you can get a G1 in minutes, and there’s so much out there, why didn’t I just save up the cash and get the G1 replacement program.

    We can play a great game here, dev side of things.

    G1 is open sourced and they practically hold your hand in making apps for it. SK. You damn near need to submit an IQ test, you mental state of health and you mothers maiden name and don’t for get shoe size to even get a glimps of the SDK. Oh and you need to submit work showing you know what to do.

    G1. Press a down load button. Oh and videos on it.

    Last rant.

    Free apps, a down load a way and you get an app to make your own ring tones.

    It was once a great phone, but with equal priced phones out there, why not bring out some big guns for this series of phones or let the sands of time find its nother victim.

    Saddly this long and broken up post was written on a **sigh** SK LX

    RIP SideKick

  34. Aythadis Says:

    Oh and since this is BSD, which is basicly derived from AT&T unix, which is basicly the father to Linux, oh and this is now a Micro$oft product, would this show some threat to unix based systems? What about Microcrap and aquiring Novel and its Linux destro. Is it actually using the unix kernel? What’s going on here??!! I feel a chopped NT kernel coming into play here with the same old aging GUI.

    But there’s a heavy chance of if some god given way it is a *nix based system there could be some rise in stability if the hardware can handle all of this.

    Also since I can’t stop kissing the G1’s every so loving buttox, its based around the Linux kernel. Have fun guys, your using geek hardware.

  35. Chantyy Says:

    oh screw that. the ringtones & applications suck on this. i waste way too much money cuz of my curiosity>=[.

  36. Anonymous Says:

    AcidAngel on January 31, 2009 at 6:44 pm said:

    I like how all the retards on poweredbydanger thought they’d now have an open source phone, even though none of those hollas could code themselves a helloworld yet alone make use of an open source device. And don’t forget the people going LOL HIPTOP3 ISN’T TOO RELIABLE, too bad it really does run netbsd.

    Also newsflash, the G1 is locked down too unless you buy a Dev Phone 1 from google which allows you to flash unsigned android builds, and costs you a pretty penny.

    I have news for you. The G1 is NOT locked down.

    For starters, we have a means to “root” the phone. Secondly, we can “build” our own version of Android, which I already have.

    Before you spout off information, you would be wise to do more research on AndroidOS before you start shooting off your mouth of what is and isn’t locked down.

    JesusFreake

  37. Paper Says:

    Ummm just wanted to let everyone ranting about ringtones that the Blade will let you use your own MP3 files [I assume] as ringtones

    Source:

    I know on past Sidekicks, you haven’t allowed customers to add their own ring tones. Is this still the case?

    No, this has been opened up now. Customers can add their own ring tones in addition to those available in the download catalogue.

  38. twonn Says:

    ok well ive had a dash that ran on windows and i absolutely hated it! it froze sooo much…i hope windows buying danger wont do the same to the sidekick lx 09

  39. Marko Says:

    I have been running NetBSD on all my laptops and desktops as the sole OS since 2002. So, yes, I’d love to have a phone running NetBSD.

    But locked: no way!

    What’s more: the competition is strong Android and IPhone, both have a large user base, a large developer base, and can be opened.

    I would suspect that the people who consider this an issue are to a larger portion “smartphone mavens” and their opinion will influence a great number of customers…

  40. AT&T ME Says:

    T-Mobile is just done they can’t make a better phone then the iphone and when they do Att will have something better to offer

  41. Tristan Smith Says:

    A locked down phone with an Open Source base. What is this, OS X?



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