John Biggs over at CrunchGear has a video showing off the swappable bumper covers on the new Sidekick iD.

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.

When we heard there was a cradle for the Sidekick 3 available from Monaco Wireless, so we figured we’d give it a try. Like many people, our first thought was “Aren’t these for handhelds that can’t sync wirelessly?” and we figured it seemed a little silly. But then we actually got it, and it turns out it’s quite convenient.

The Sidekick 3 cradle is not really geared towards syncing data even though there is a USB cable for connecting to your computer to transfer mp3s and themes. It’s more about charging your Sidekick 3 and/or an extra battery. The Sidekick obviously sits in the cradle as expected, and there’s a convenient spot for charging a battery behind it. So while you’re out running around all day, draining your battery sending IMs to all the ladies, you can be charging your second battery so it’s ready to go when it’s time to go out for the night. And yes, you can charge the Sidekick and an extra battery at the same time thanks to design of the cradle.

One other nice feature about the cradle is the angle that it’s tilted at. Instead of letting your Sidekick sit flat on your desk and having to pick it up everytime you want to check something, the cradle tilts it at a comfortable viewing angle while it charges. Great for those of us that work desk jobs and want to keep an eye on incoming messages but still look like we’re working. You can also flip the screen open while the Sidekick is in the cradle for quick access to the keyboard. The only buttons you can’t get to are the power and volume buttons on the bottom.

There was only one thing that we didn’t care much for on the Sidekick 3 cradle. There’s a small LED light on the front that indicates the charging, which would be great. However, if you don’t have an extra Sidekick battery in, it alternates flashing red and green, which can be a bit distracting. We asked about this and were told it was by design because there was no other way to determine if a battery was charging if the Sidekick 3 was in the cradle. With a battery in the dock, it should stay a solid red. Like most people, we’ll be keeping the battery in the cradle until it’s needed to avoid the flashing.

If you’re looking for one of these Sidekick 3 cradles, Wireless Ground has them for sale in their online store.

For those looking to add a little bit of customization to their Sidekick 3 without having to buy a limited edition device or deal with the task of disassembling and spray painting their device there is now an option. Colorware, the company probably best known for giving Apple users a choice other than black and white, is now coloring Sidekick 3s. You’ll have a huge choice of colors that you can mix and match at your command. It’ll only cost you $99-$129 depending on your color choices, and you’ll have to send in your Sidekick 3 and wait about a week. Not only will you have new colors, but you’ll get some additional scratch protection and color that won’t fade. All the more reason to buy a Sidekick 3 and make it your own.

Thanks to everyone submitting this, sorry it didn’t go up earlier. We were in the process of moving to California to get closer to Danger headquarters. 😉

First off, THESE PROBABLY WON’T WORK WITH THE EXISTING SIDEKICK 3. There, now that that is out of the way: Mobility Site is reporting that SanDisk announced a new 4gb miniSD card at the CTIA Wireless show.

The 4GB SanDisk miniSDHC card will be able to provide the fast speed and large capacity required to support increasingly popular but storage-intensive applications such as digital imaging, music and video record/playback functions as well as mobile television and videogames. The 4GB capacity can store more than 2,000 high-resolution pictures, more than 1,000 digital songs or up to 8 hours of MPEG 4 video.

The downside of this is that the miniSDHC cards are not compatible with existing miniSD card readers. But the good news is it sounds like all that will be required is a firmware upgrade to support these. This could be delivered in an Over-The-Air update (OTAu) to the Sidekick 3 quite easily one would expect. And Danger has until 2007 to get that update ready, as that is the projected release of these cards in the retail world.
More detailed info can be found in the press release here.

This case rocks! WirelessGround sent us over one of their brand new aluminum cases for the Sidekick 3 to check out. This thing was well designed and feels like it would protect your Sidekick 3 incredibly well. The outside of the case is obviously aluminum but inside there is a nice layer of neoprene that keeps your Sidekick snug and cushions it from any unexpected blows.

Squeezing it into the snug fit, we had to be careful not to push any buttons, but once it was in there, it wasn’t going anywhere no matter how much we shook it. The top flips down and over the screen, latching it closed. There’s a great screen protector that will protect your screen from getting any scratches. All the openings for the buttons are the perfect size, even for me with my big thumbs. I was able to pick up my Sidekick and browse around just like normal.

For those that are fans of belt clipped cases this is a great one. There’s an extra piece that you screw into the hole that you see on the back and attach the strongest swivel belt clip I’ve ever seen.

If you’re not a fan of belt clips, then you can just leave it off. The case is still slim enough to toss into a pocket without it being bulky. And the best things about it riding in your pocket is now the screen is protected and no more accidental button pushes! No longer will your friends get calls from your pants.

After browsing around a bit with the Sidekick 3 in the case I soon needed to respond to an IM and went to flip the screen like I normally do. Of course this wasn’t possible and I thought “Oh great, here’s the downside to this case, I have to take it out to type!” But the design of this case allows you to flip the top, and flip the screen without removing the Sidekick from the case! When you’re done typing, flip the screen and flip the top closed. Quick and easy and your Sidekick never leaves the case so it’s always protected.

All in all we give this case two big thumbs up. If you’re looking for a stylish case that will protect your device better than anything else out there, you can’t beat this one. If you want to check out more info and order one, check them out: Sidekick 3 Aluminum Cases

Looking for an extra battery? Looks like TMobile has started selling them for $69.99. A bit pricey, but if you need one, you need one. Looks like these are fresh on the site, as they’re giving a processing errors when trying to select them. By the time you read this, it’ll probably be fixed though.

We took a quick look for some new Sidekick 3 skins and found a ton of them that are available now! As always, all the skins on one page can be found on our Sidekick 3 Skins page. Here’s the new stuff we’ve found:

Sidekick 3 Ace heart Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Ace Heart S. Rhinestone Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Ace Spade S. Rhinestone Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Black & White Heart pattern Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Basketball Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Black Dice Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Blue Glitter Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Bright Orange Glitter Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Bright Purple Heart Pattern Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Carbon Fiber Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Carbon Fiber Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Colorful Arygle Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Colorful Pattern Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Fashion patter Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Fashion Pattern Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Fashion Pattern Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Fashion Pattern Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Fashion Pattern Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Fashion Pattern Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Fashion Pattern Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Flame Mustang Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Flame Tribal Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Flower & Butterfly Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Flower Friendship Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Flower Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Flower Glitter & S. Rhinestone Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Flower Pattern S. Rhinestone Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Gel Balck S. Rhinestone Skin
Sidekick 3 Heart Pattern Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Hot Pink S. Rhinestone Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Pink Buterfy Rhinestone Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Radiation sign Gel Skin

Thanks to the fine folk at Incipio for hooking us up with a prototype of the new Sidekick 3 carrying case they’re coming out with. I dropped my Sidekick 3 into it right away to give it a try.

Let me start by saying I’m not normally a “carrying case person.” My Sidekick usually rides in my pocket, with a screen protector (after I make sure to lock it so noone gets a call from my pants). As far as cases go, I liked the Incipio design. It’s a horizontal case, made of leather, with contrasting stitching and a magnetic clasp. The magnetic clasp is so much better than velcro, especially when you’re in a meeting and sneaking the Sidekick out. The magnet isn’t super strong, so it’s easy to undo, but strong enough to keep your SK3 well situated should you bend down or something.

The prototype has a nice snug fit, but not too tight. Anyone that got the OEM Sidekick II cases knows how much of a pain it is when your phone doesn’t slide in and out easily. These cases were custom designed around the Sidekick 3 so the case takes into account the form factor of the device. One small detail that pointed this out to me was the ease it was to quickly “thumb” the device out through the hole in the bottom. As I mentioned, this was a prototype and I was told the fit wasn’t perfect yet so they were still tweaking it. Seemed pretty good to me, so I can only imagine the final product is better.

The carrying case also comes with two small pockets on the inside for carrying extra miniSD cards. So for those that can’t fit all their music on a 2gb card, you can carry an extra 4gb (or 8gb when the 4gb miniSDs arrive) waiting to be swapped out.

Do you remember how the Sidekick II had the rubber bumpers? This made it excellent for leaning up against things. At work I would always set my Sidekick II upright, leaning against my monitor so I knew if I got a message when it was on silent. The rubber bumpers were just enough resistance to keep it upright. I was disappointed when I found that my Sidekick 3 was not so easy to keep upright like this. With Incipio’s case, problem solved! Remove your Sidekick 3 and flip the screen, tuck the magnetic clasp and slide it back in as shown in the photo. the angle of the belt clip keeps it upright stylishly. I’m hoping they’re all like this, but if not all it should take is a small bend in the end of the belt clip with a pair of plyers.

The only downside, and it was just me being picky, I found to the carrying case was the location of the charging plug. When the device is all the way in the case, the side blocks access to the plug. Simple enough fix though, simply slide the device up a millimeter or two, and easy access. Alternatively, slide it into the case upside down. The USB port is easily accessible though, for when you need to dump some new MP3s onto your Sidekick.

The Sidekick II cases from Incipio are already available and are the same quality. The Sidekick 3 actually fits in them, but is a bit harder to get out without hitting the shoulder buttons. The Sidekick 3 carrying cases should be available soon. They’ll come in an assortment of colors, so you’re not necessarily stuck with black. We’ve been told to expect Black, Red, Pink,
Grey, and Bone White. Click to jump to Incipio’s Sidekick Case page and check them out.

Now that everyone and their brother is getting a Sidekick 3, it’s time to customize yours! Skins for the Sidekick 3 are already out on the market. If you are or know someone that’s making skins, cases, accessories, etc for the Sidekick 3, drop us an email at admin@hiptop3.com. Here are some skins we found on Amazon:

Sidekick 3 T.M. Gel Skin (Scarface)	Sidekick 3 Tiger & Dragon Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Flame Tribal Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Pink Cat Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Blue Cute Monkey Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Pink Cute Monkey Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 America Eagle Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 America Flag & Eagle Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Baby Pink Glitter Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Hot Pink Princess Gel Skin
Sidekick 3 Matelic Rose Glitter Gel Skin	Sidekick 3 Pink Buterfy Rhinestone Gel Skin