Thanks to the folks at the official Danger Device Forums, there are a lot more specifics on features thanks to the moderators who actually have been test-driving the devices for several weeks.  Here is the rundown so far (with some more pics!):

• No Shells like the 2008
• 3 mood lights – new locations: 1 on top and bottom of the keyboard

https://www.poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1332&d=1240058761

and 1 long one on the top edge of the screen when opened (bottom of screen when closed)

https://www.poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1333&d=1240058814

• Actual Screen Shot (click for full size)

• no animated gifs
• SDHC Memory – no limit – just what is available on the market (16gb – OK!!)
• Speaker is louder than before
• Video Mode – Low Res is a 176×144 resolution meant for sending via email/mms. This resolution is limited to something like 4 minutes.
• Video taken from an SK09 (Hi-Res Mode – no recording limit!!):

https://s581.photobucket.com/albums/ss259/appletech_pbd/?action=view&current=VID00002.flv

• Photo App  Max size: 2,048 x 1,536

https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/8283/img00061h.jpg
https://img12.imageshack.us/img12/2281/img00062l.jpg
https://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7992/img00064l.jpg

• You can Geotag photos with your GPS location.
• It’s a 3.2MP camera with Auto Focus and flash (no zooming).
• There’s an auto focus mode with options distant and macro mode. There’s white balance controls, and B&W, Sepia, Negative effect options.
• Available resolution options are:
  • 2048 x 1536
  • 1600 x 1200
  • 1280 x 960
  • 800 x 600
  • 640 x 480
• YouTube videos work.
• m.break.com videos work (but not smooth)
• Seesmic does not work
• Facebook app seems to be a souped-up mobile version. No videos, apps, etc.
• Internet Radio Works!! (Ex: ShoutCast):
  https://poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1342&d=1240089939
• Yahoo Messenger supports animated buddy icons.
• AIM and Yahoo Messenger now support photo sharing
• You can also upload videos to youtube (or photobucket or myspace) directly
• Web Browser still does not support Flash
• You cannot roam on AT&Ts 3G Network due to the ranges being different:
  The LX09 supports UMTS Bands 2100, 1700, 850.
  T-Mobile uses 1700 and 2100 for 3G, while AT&T uses 1900. So you won’t be able to roam on AT&T 3G.
  As for “Other networks”, it depends on what 3G band they are using.
• Still has chrome around the USB/Charger, but appears to be more sratch-resistant:
  https://poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1338&d=1240087896
• Data plans are grandfathered. T-Mobile will not raise your rates
• When GPS is on, the battery drains faster. (there is an option to turn it on/off)
• Browser is overall the same as the last OTA on the LX. But you have a LOT more room:
  https://poweredbydanger.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=1319&d=1239974010
• Still 6MB limit on email/ 100+30 limit on SMS (both same as before)
• No confirmation as to “Free Ringtone downloads” still basing it on info already published.
• Themes can still be user-generated like before
• Social apps (Twitter, Myspace, Photobucket, and Facebook) are all FREE – no monthly charges!!!!

We got the below memo from an anonymous T-Mobile employee:

Get Ready for the New Sidekick LX

T-Mobile is preparing to launch the thinnest Sidekick ever, with blazing fast 3G connectivity for customers to connect with friends quickly and easily. The new Sidekick LX will come equipped with GPS enabled Live Search, a 3.2 megapixel camera, and free bundled social networking applications including Facebook, My Space, and Twitter. Customers will also be able to watch and download You Tube videos directly from the device. The new Sidekick LX comes equipped with the features that customers love including a full QWERTY keyboard and an enhanced swivel screen that is larger and sharper than any other Sidekick.

Additional information regarding launch dates, pricing and availablility will be available on the Retail Communication Home Page on April 17.

Action Steps
Check the Retail Communication Home Page on April 17 for additional information regarding the Sidekick LX launch

It basically says what we’ve been saying for months now about the new Sidekick LX 2009. It’s nice to see things confirmed though. It looks like T-Mobile is going to stick the new device under the Sidekick LX line though. So like the Sidekick 2008 is officially just the “Sidekick” then based on this memo the Sidekick LX 2009 will be the “Sidekick LX”. Hopefully we’ll hear more in the way of official news on Friday!

Alright gang, we’ve got some Sidekick 2009 info for you. Here’s the details on the camera that we’ve been able to find out so far.
* It will take photos up to a resolution of 2038 x 1536, meaning 3.2 megapixels.
* There’s a flash, so those grainy shot-in-the-dark photos will be possible.
* There is a new auto-focus feature, so you shouldn’t have to use the jewelry loupe/magnifying glass trick to get up close shots of things.
* Video recording sounds like it’s set to 15 frames per second for now. But might be possible for 30fps.
* You will be able to upload directly to MySpace, Photobucket, and YouTube
* It will support geotagging

All pretty much straight-forward information. For those that don’t know what geotagging is, it means that you can embed location information in the photos you take. So if you take a photo at your friends house and then upload it to a site that supports the geotagging info, it’ll show up on a map at the location you took it. This uses the GPS that’s coming in the Sidekick 2009. It’s all pretty good info, and about what we’d expect from a Sidekick camera.

*GEEK ALERT*
Want more proof of the Sidekick 2009 being out in the wild? Check out this entry in our server’s log files:

216.220.208.186 – – [09/Feb/2009:19:40:34 -0500] “GET / HTTP/1.0” 200 68967 “-” “Mozilla/5.0 (Danger hiptop 5.0; U; rv:1.7.12) Gecko/20050920”

What does that mean? Well the User Agent (aka web browser name) of “Danger hiptop 5.0” means someone with a Sidekick 2009 visited hiptop3.com as recent as Feb 9th. We checked some older logs and there’s a ton of visits in the past few weeks too. Not only does this confirm that there are devices out there, it also confirms that it’s running DangerOS 5.0. If you’re curious about what other Sidekicks report as their User Agent, check out this handy post on PBD.

So Mystery Sidekick 2009 Users, how does the site look on the nice new screen? Want to send us a screenshot? 🙂

We’ve been emailing back and forth with a reader who claims to have actually held and played with the Sidekick 2009/Blade. We won’t spill the details on how because we don’t want anyone to get in trouble, but here are some of the things he said:

* It looks pretty much like the mock-ups we’ve seen so far, stripe along the back and all
* It’s lighter and “has a more grown up feel to it”
* The keys are more flush with the device and are “flat not round like the lx”
* The USB and headphone jacks are indeed on the bottom of the device
* There is a flash for the camera
* There’s an app for your “My T-Mobile info” that lets you pull up your info (minutes used, sms sent, account info, etc)
* There are lights running along the top of the screen part. Mood-lights anyone?
* It’s being called “Montreal” as an internal codename for T-Mobile. “Blade” is the internal name at MSDanger. It will be sold as the Sidekick 2009.
* It will be running DangerOS 5.0

I know, this is just “some guy said” sort of news, and as such we’re still kind of required to toss this in the “Rumors” category. That being said, we’d put money on the above statements being true.

Want to see how much better the screen resolution on the Sidekick LX 2009/Blade is going to be? Check out this image comparing the different sizes that Mike sent in. Click on it to get the full resolution. Of course the screen isn’t going to be that big, it’s just a comparison of how many delicious pixels are going to be crammed into that screen. It should be looking awesome as there are very few phones on the market with this high of resolution, especially in the US.

No idea what we’re blabbing about? Want a refresher on display resolution?

We got the above image in our inbox. The reader sending it in danielle says she was taking a survey about smart phones on QuizPoints and was presented with this one. Here are the specs it lists in the photo:

Social Networking Suite of Apps
– Facebook
– MySpace w/ video upload
– Twitter
– YouTube Mobile Access via browser

GPS Location Based Search
– Turn by Turn Navigation
– Microsoft Live Local Search and Maps

Content Creation
– Blog publishing, editing, and management client
– Photobucket Upload and Management
– Video recorder and upload to MySpace/Photobucket

Communications
– Signature Sidekick IM/SMS/E-mail Experience
– Microsoft Outlook/Exchange synchronization

Hardware
– Large (3.2 inch WVGA) screen with sharp 854×480 resolution
– Thin design
– 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, flash and video recording
– Large QWERTY keyboard
– Expandable memory up to 8GB via MicroSD

Everything seems to match up with what a Sidekick LX 2009 would have. It mentions 3G, which is pretty much a given at this point. The introduction of Microsoft Live Search and maps makes a lot of sense since Microsoft now owns Danger. The addition of GPS (finally!) is also a nice complement to the maps and helps the Sidekick compete a little bit with the iPhone and other location-enabled devices. But I’m sure the thing that everyone is freaking out over now is the mention of YouTube mobile access. It’s probably the #1 request for the Sidekick by the majority of the users. It doesn’t seem that out of reach since the Sidekick can play video already, it just needs a way to get it from YouTube. None of the apps are groundbreaking, but they’re things that a lot of us would agree it would be nice to have on our Sidekick.

The hardware looks about right too. A 3.2MP camera isn’t the 5mp camera we hoped for, but it is a god bump up from the 2MP camera in the Sidekick 2008 (not to mention the 1.3MP in the LX). The screen is higher resolution (too early to start working on those new themes?) and of course the familiar keyboard is still there.

Is this the Sidekick Blade that we’ve been hearing whispers about? Hard to tell. We know that “Blade” is a codename and that internally (in software) it’s know as the “m3“. The “m2” was the Sidekick 3, so one would guess the “m3” would correlate to the elusive Sidekick 4 and a “large” upgrade in device. (FWIW, the Sidekick LX was the “m2-hd”) Could MSDanger be working on two devices? It’s very possible, but we don’t have anything to back this up or refute it yet.

So is this for real? We think so. At least we think it’s specs drawn up by someone official that is testing the water with consumers to see what they think. Whether it’s what we actually see in a device in the future, I’m not 100% sure. I think it definitely sounds like the next revision of the Sidekick LX. It’s not too ambitious, but does add a few of the most requested features. Seems to be the way that T-Mobile/MSDanger like to do things with the Sidekick.

No, this isn’t some new fancy device that’s going to kill the Sidekick. It’s a corrupted 3gp video file that has the potential to hard reset a Sidekick with very little user interaction that’s out in the wild. That’s right, hard reset, as in wipe out all of your data and force you to redownload it from Danger’s servers. Luckily with the way the Sidekick is designed you won’t lose anything, but it’s still an annoyance to have to wait for all your email, settings, etc to download. It’s also a really nasty trick to play on someone you don’t like.

This was first posted in the PBD forums under a thread titled “Virus In Email?! Important!! Read!!”. I know, my first thought too was, “yeah right, Sidekicks don’t get viruses”. Technically this isn’t a virus, and it isn’t even malicious in intent. It looks like it’s just a bug with the way the email application handles a corrupted video. Needless to say though, it is a serious bug that Danger will hopefully fix in an OTA quickly. This currently affects the new Sidekick 2008, as well as Sidekick LXs with the video OTA.

Want to protect yourself from this sort of crash? In your Email, go under Menu->Settings->Attachments->Remove Attachments of these types, and check “Multimedia”. This will remove any movie files that are attached to emails sent to you, including this nasty one.

Hola! Looks like T-Mobile is starting to cater to the Spanish speaking users with the newest Sidekick 2008. We already posted about some of their press videos that were in Spanish, and we got the press release below that mentions the new Sidekick will have a Spanish language interface, a first for the Sidekick line. They also brag about the shells and the new shell customization website as well. Rightfully so, as everyone we’ve talked to has been impressed by the customization website. We can’t wait to see what the custom shells look like. If you got a custom shell, send it to us for the gallery!

T-MOBILE TAKES CUSTOMIZATION TO A NEW LEVEL WITH THE LATEST T-MOBILE SIDEKICK

The new T-Mobile® Sidekick® lets customers change the look of their device as often as they change their clothes

BELLEVUE, Wash. – July 30, 2008 – A picture from high school graduation, a favorite sports team logo or a vibrant splash of the hottest fall color – whatever you want to express, you can design it on the new T-Mobile® Sidekick®. Available today, T-Mobile USA, Inc. has added the latest edition to the Sidekick family providing customers with the opportunity to create shells for their Sidekick with the images, colors or designs they choose.

The new Sidekick will ship with two shells: black and metallic green. A variety of pre-designed shell patterns and colors also are readily available for customers to purchase at T-Mobile retail stores or online. Of course, for true individualization, customers can design a completely unique shell unlike any other using a dedicated online Sidekick site via SkinIt at www.sidekickshells.com. Doing so is as simple as uploading a personal photo or graphic design, or selecting your own text, shapes, icons or logos. The final design is custom-printed onto the shell, then shipped. Once the design is complete, customers can share their work of art in a public gallery that will be hosted on www.sidekick.com.

“There is perhaps nothing more important than someone’s individual style and personality. The new

T-Mobile Sidekick, with its customizable shells, lets our customers easily express that unique style directly on their phone,” says Sajal Sahay, director, product marketing, T-Mobile USA. “Providing our customers with options to stand out from the crowd and show a true expression of themselves is what makes this Sidekick such an intriguing, fun device.”

In addition to enhanced personalization, the T-Mobile Sidekick is sporting a slightly smaller, thinner and lighter design than previous Sidekicks. It also comes fully loaded with the latest Sidekick features including video capture and playback ability, so customers can record and watch spontaneous and memorable moments, whether at a football game or a music concert.

The new Sidekick also features an integrated Spanish user interface – the first for a Sidekick device. Other features include first-rate messaging with IM, text and e-mail, as well as stereo Bluetooth® for easy photo and file transfers and a 2.0 megapixel camera. The Sidekick also is equipped with customizable Web surfing and more internal memory for storage of ringtones and multimedia messages.

Want to see some small video clips from T-Mobile about the Sidekick 2008? Most of them are of Ximena from T-Mobile (who’s really cool and I got a chance to meet on the Grammy Tour) talking about why the device is so great (in both English and Spanish), but there are also some generic videos showing off the device. I’m not sure why the one guy playing with his Sidekick looks so nervous. Maybe he doesn’t know how to turn it on? Anyways, enjoy…

Sidekick 2008’s ability to customize

Easy to Design your own Sidekick 2008

Creating Sidekick 2008 Custom Shell

Sidekick 2008 Shells

Playing with his Sidekick 2008 (Why so nervous man?)

Talking about the Sidekick 2008 (in Spanish)
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3