Looks like sidekick3.blogspot.com has received some screenshots from the Hiptop SDK that may be the new OS. We did receive an email from someone stating “My friend who works on the design team for Hiptop has seen this and confirmed that it is fake.” in regards to the Instant Messaging screenshot, but we think that the artifacts in the screenshots are just a result of watermarking using Paint. We’re hoping that this isn’t the final OS, as it looks a little too Fisher-Price for us, but chances are this is at least from a developer kit that was given out prior to a public release in order to get applications running on the new OS.

We received the following from a reader:

Hello – I work for T-Mobile Publications. I can’t say much about the picture I’ve sent you, except that it SHOULD appear in the bottom left corner of a Sidekick 3 ad in People Magazine in July. It was the best photo I could get with my “status” here at T-Mobile, this picture is on our private server site (It’s classified, also you need a staff password to enter anyway).

The image looks like it’s for Hiptunes, which is the Music OS for the Sidekick 3. The file name under the server was placement_Bottomleft86 – I’m not sure what the 86 is, tags don’t usually have numbers but it could be an indication to the page number. Noticing two new “slogans”, “get hip, be hip” and “music with a kick” – these are in fact registered with USPTO (www.uspto.gov) Looks like Hiptunes

We’re not sure what they mean by “Music OS” as we have heard different names for the music capabilities of the Sidekick 3. We haven’t reported those findings because we want to confirm them as truth first. On a related note, there’s already a site called Hiptunes.info where you can get songs sent to you to listen to on your Sidekick already.

It’s not there yet, but Danger has a placeholder for the Sidekick 3 manual for the new operating system. And based on the date, it’s been there awhile. It looks like we’re going to jump from v2.3 on the Sidekick II to v3.0 on the Sidekick 3. No word on whether there will be an OTA for the Sidekick II yet, and we’d be willing to bet not since the changes in hardware seem to be significant.
The only thing the page says is:
This is a placeholder for the R3.0 Owner’s Manual contents page.
Sept 29 , 2005. Release 3.0 © 2002-2005. Danger, Inc. All rights reserved.

So don’t bother flooding Danger’s servers with clicks just yet.
Keep an eye on it here:
https://help.sidekick.dngr.com/en-us/HT3manual/m2/R3.0/Desktop/ (remove the “HT3”).

Just like with the Sidekick II, once this goes live we’ll finally get a chance to see what to expect when this finally releases in late June. Big thanks to our source for hooking us up with this info yesterday!

We received the following pictures from a source who wishes to remain anonymous with the following statement:

Unlike like previous reports, the SK3 doesn’t have a “nub” like a laptop.
But a 3D trackball that will light up instead of the D-pad like the SK2.

It’s official, at least as far as the FCC is concerned. The filings for the Sidekick III showed up on the FCC’s website. We’re not sure why they didn’t document the feline behavior modification chip, but we’re sure that’s still being kept under wraps. It’s going to blow the market open for pet control like no other device we’ve seen. The previous pics were legit (to some extent) and we now have the newest pics for your viewing pleasure. Some of the rumours that are confirmed: Bluetooth (for all you lexus drivers), miniSD for expandable memory, and a 1.3 megapixel camera. Many are assuming the miniSD is meant for expansion for multimedia playback, meaning video and MP3. This hasn’t been confirmed yet, so stay tuned for the exact details. At this point we can only guess at some of the software features based on the capabilities of the hardware. Still no release date though, but we assume it can’t be far off if this information is now public.

From Engadget

Danger Press release:

The program will enable Danger’s mobile Internet platform to deliver innovative solutions that extend MSN services.

Palo Alto, CA — April 4, 2006 — Danger, Inc., a mobile Internet software and services company, today announced it has joined the MSN Mobile Developer Program, which provides broad support for independent software vendors and other developers to build innovative solutions on the MSN network of Internet services. These resources will allow Danger to extend services such as MSN Messenger to its mobile consumers through Danger’s mobile Internet platform.

“Having the support and assets of the MSN Mobile Developer Program behind us will help make our next generation of mobile solutions even more attractive and feature-rich for consumers,” said Mark Fisher, SVP of Marketing and Business Development, Danger, Inc. “We’re excited about the opportunities that this program will open up for our development teams.”

Launched in July 2005, the MSN Mobile Developer Program delivers extensive information, tools and expertise to help participants successfully design, develop and market new solutions that extend MSN services to mobile devices.

We’re not sure where the cat being controlled by this cat remote is, but we’ve got some new pics for you. It looks like these were recently leaked on Howard Forums, mobilehipster, hiptop.com (removed by mods), and probably elsewhere. Looks like we’ll be seeing a Sidekick III soon as these look like they could be a finished production device. At first look it seems like it is going to be a little thicker than the Sidekick II. No official word on features, specs, etc. But here are some more rumours we’ve heard:
Upgrades:
Edge/Wi-Fi
Detachable battery
Mini sd card
Music player
Video
Instead of the scroll wheel there is a ball.
It is slimer and no rubber bumpers.
Special catnip storage slot.

Chat about it here…

We recently received the following question and answer between a hiptop3.com reader and someone who “works for a company, that noes der stuff.” Believe what you will.

>> When will sk3 be out?
“May-april 2006 around spring season”

>> Will it have music?
“Yea its gonna have other features other data, don’t really noe specific stuff”

>> How much music?
“Don’t know but should support mp3”

>> Will it have bluetooth?
“Yes it will, should be up to date with other devices, and should have memory stick, wait he told me it will have a memory stick, yea dats right”

>> Better camera?
“More advance camera, and should have mp3 capabilities bcuz what they said is it suppose to be up to date with other devices”

>> What bout razor sidekick?
“September 2007, it will be released”

>> Does the sk3 look like the one in the picture?
“Yea it does”

>> Will the OS/jump screen look the same?
“Should be, same format and jump screens”

>> Will the internet be faster? Better?
“Internet, and should be more advance”

>> Will it have EDGE?
“maybe, not really sure, I’ll ask

>> What about flash? Will it have flash?
“I don’t know”

>> Will it support video?
“Pretty sure it will have video.

>> Video camera?
“Only video recording, I’ll need to look that up”

via Gizmodo
What have we here? Reader BA sent us this little tidbit from T-Mobile describing the Sidekick timeline out to 2007. We can expect the SK III in Spring 2006 and some kind of insane RAZR/Sidekick/Video Player in 2007. Then what’s all this with the Unlicensed Mobile Access (UMA) stuff? WiFi? Bluetooth? Oh, what delectable anticipation!

Will all this rumor and conjecture come to fruition? Who knows, but now we can safely assume that the SK III will be not-so-available this holiday season.

Larger pic after the jump. Forensics, anyone?

vie Engadget

Not sure where it was taken or if this is even legit, but supposedly someone out there sneakily snapped this pic of T-Mobile’s Sidekick roadmap, possibly revealing that they’re planning to introduce a music-centric Sidekick III in April of next year and a second version with support for UMA (aka Unlicensed Mobile Access, a standard for seamlessly roaming back and forth between GSM cellular and WiFi networks — it sounds like T-Mob might be taking advantage of all their hotspots) in September of 2006, with Sidekick III limited editions to follow a month later (just like how they intro’d two limited edition versions of the Sidekick II last month). The next Sidekick after that, which is supposedly code-named the “Sidekick NG”, is listed as being set to drop in June of 2007. The Sidekick NG will supposedly have support for music, video, and UMA, but what’s really baffling us is that there’s also mention of the word “RAZR” in there. Is Danger fixing to come out with a more RAZR-styled Sidekick? Or is this proof that this is a fake?