There’s an extensive (and well written) article over on RoughlyDrafted about Microsoft, Danger, Windows Mobile, Apple, et all. If you have the time, I highly recommend you read it to get a much fuller picture on the state of things. It’s one of the most comprehensive and up to date “State of the Union” when it comes to Danger/Microsoft/Project Pink/etc. That said, I know not everyone has the time to dive into such an article, so here are some highlighted snippets from a RoughlyDrafted’s Microsoft/Danger source that I thought would be most interesting to Hiptop3.com readers:

# The source says that the details about the Project Pink phones are true and that they wouldn’t be surprised if the photos were an intentional leak, however the rumors about Microsoft working with Verizon and the unhappy employees are definitely from an unhappy (ex) employee.

# What about handset makers?

“Let’s start with the handset makers. Motorola has announced their intention to abandon WinMo for Android, and Palm has already abandoned WinMo in favor of their own WebOS. A few others, such as HTC, have been hedging their bets, announcing their support for Android, but not yet willing to publicly disown WinMo. Now the story has been leaked that Microsoft has been secretly working with Sharp on this (doomed) [Pink] project for over a year, cutting everyone else out of the picture completely.

”You figured out the likely consequences of this over a month ago so I won’t belabor the point other than to say that Sharp, who has been a terrific partner to Danger throughout the Hiptop/Sidekick era, was no doubt hoping that Pink would allow them to expand their phone offerings in the Americas, a dream which has now been dashed due to typical Microsoft blundering. I doubt that either Sharp or any of the other handset OEM’s will ever take Microsoft at their word again.

# Trying to build 4 versions of the Pink phones?

“the Pink planners decided to try to build both UMTS and CDMA phones in both form factors, for a grand total of four different SKUs. None of the other smartphone platform builders were foolish enough to try to build more than one phone at a time, and whoever made this decision didn’t take into account the added complexity involved in coding to support two different radio modules (from two different vendors, no less!) for two completely different radio technologies, not to mention validating and testing the RF performance of four different antennas (since each form factor and radio technology requires its own antenna design). At some point the UMTS project was placed on the back burner, and for all I know it may have already been cancelled, but the damage to the project has been done.”

# Pitting Verizon against T-Mobile

”The final operator who is going to be pissed is T-Mobile, who has been just as loyal of a partner to Danger as Sharp has been. I don’t know exactly what Microsoft has been telling them, but they have no doubt realized that they’ve been cut out of this deal in favor of their largest competitor. What’s worse is that apparently Microsoft has been lying to them this whole time about the amount of resources that they’ve been putting behind Sidekick development and support (in reality, it was cut down to a handful of people in Palo Alto managing some contractors in Romania, Ukraine, etc.).

“The reason for the deceit wasn’t purely to cover up the development of Pink but also because Microsoft could get more money from T-Mobile for their support contract if T-Mobile thought that there were still hundreds of engineers working on the Sidekick platform. As we saw from their recent embarrassment with Sidekick data outages, that has clearly not been the case for some time.

# So what happens now?

“The most likely possibility is that anything worth salvaging from Pink will get folded into the larger WiMo 7 project, where it should have been located in the first place. Another possibility would be another massive layoff and shutting down the Danger offices, but with the economic crunch, I doubt that Microsoft would choose to take the hit of handing out severance packages to all the affected engineers, and breaking the lease on the buildings.”

# And finally, what all of us wish would happen, and the reasons why it probably won’t:

”The smartest course of action (and therefore the one that Microsoft is least likely to take!) would be for them to recognize the value of the original Danger platform that they acquired, and to rebuild the Hiptop/Sidekick into a force to compete with Android (which is, after all, “Sidekick 2.0” in many respects). This won’t happen for three reasons: 1) Microsoft’s irrational hatred of Java, 2) Microsoft’s irrational love of Windows in all of its horrible flavors, and 3) all the Danger folks who loved the Sidekick platform have left or likely will leave soon, and Microsoft has no in-house expertise in Java or the Danger platform.

Looks like prototype images of the two rumored Project Pink phones have leaked out of Microsoft. Gizmodo posted both the Pure and Turtle devices, confirmed they’ll be made by Sharp, and that they’re going to be aimed at the Sidekick market. So while these won’t be “Sidekicks” per-say, they are the devices that Microsoft expects you current Sidekick users to be interested in. So, what do you think?

via Gizmodo

Looks like Motorola had one shot at making hardware for Danger and they blew it with the Sidekick Slide. A device plagued with a simple, but glaring power flaw is being laid to rest. Rumors are circulating that the Sidekick Slide is no longer being manufactured and that once it’s sold out at T-Mobile stores (looks like it’s already pulled from online), you’ll have to end up looking for people selling the Slide on eBay if you want this small device. Don’t get us wrong, there were some nice things about the Sidekick Slide, and many people out there love it, but in the end it looks like T-Mobile decided that it wasn’t selling as well as they hoped. We’ll agree that this is probably a good decisions, since it would be pretty hard to compete with the other Sidekicks lately as it won’t be getting a video update and only comes in two colors.

via EngadgetMobile

According to TmoNews (an unofficial blog about T-Mobile) the new Sidekick Slide color is going to officially be called “Scarlet” and should be available May 15th. They’ve got what looks like to be an internal memo about it.

There’s a video that proves its existence (or at least a prototype) and now BGR is reporting that the Sidekick Slide is slated for a late May/early June release from T-Mobile. They’ve also got the above image, which may just be a color-shifted version of the purple Sidekick Slide we all know.

Looks like the Motorola booth had a red Sidekick Slide on display this year at CTIA 2008. No word yet on when it will hit market (if it even will). I know a lot of people quoted the purple color as being a reason they steered away from the Slide. In my personal opinion the red looks sexy, and I’d totally rock
it. Click here for the full video of the tour of the Motorola booth.

Apparently Motorola/Danger/T-Mobile have worked out the kinks with the Sidekick Slide and solved the powering off problem at least well enough to sell the phone again. For anyone that was waiting to get a Slide, break out that credit card.

TMobile’s Sidekick Slide Page

Looks like T-Mobile has done the right thing and instead of continuing to sell defective Sidekick Slides, they’ve pulled them for the time being. No word yet on what they’ll do to remedy the problem in the long run, but they are offering free upgrades to the blue Sidekick LX for users that are reporting the Sidekick Slide resetting issue. Here is the official word from T-Mobile (via BGR):

“T-Mobile USA suspended sales of the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide™ on Friday evening, Nov. 16, after Motorola – the manufacturer of the device – confirmed that some devices may inadvertently power off when the slide door on the front side of the phone is opened or closed.

T-Mobile has taken this action to help ensure our customers only receive devices we’re confident will perform at their peak, so they can stay effortlessly connected to those who matter most.

Motorola is currently working to identify the root cause of the power cycle issue in affected Sidekick Slide devices. The T-Mobile Sidekick LX™ and Sidekick iD™ are not affected by this issue.

If a customer purchased a Sidekick Slide that is experiencing the unintended power cycle issue, they may contact T-Mobile Customer Care, or go to a T-Mobile retail store, for assistance and to discuss available options.”

We’ve heard from a number of people that this problem has existed for some time. Why T-Mobile would choose to ignore it until a week after release is anyone’s guess. Here’s hoping they’ll come up with a hardware fix and get these things back on the market soon.

We’ve heard a number of reports from various people and sites that there’s a pretty serious flaw with the Sidekick Slide. Those of you that have moved away from the familiar flip of the Sidekick devices may have noticed that this change comes with a problem. Your Slide turns off when you slide the screen. Word has it that this problem existed with the pre-production devices, and we wonder how in the world this was acceptable for production devices. But nevertheless, it appears that this issue isn’t just a few unlucky folks. The crew over at Engadget gave their Slide a test and said it happened 2 out of 30 or so slides. Any true Sidekick users knows that opening the screen 30 times in a day is nothing! BoyGeniusReport says that this is happening with 2 of their devices, and we’ve heard a number of reports from various users via email. To make matters worse, your data is wiped out when this happens. Luckily it’s all returned thanks to Danger’s servers, but if you don’t have coverage, you’re out of luck until you do.

The culprit appears to be a loose connection for the battery. We’ve heard reports of people using a small bit of folded paper or business cards as a shim to wedge the battery more securely in place to fix the problem. No official word from T-Mobile or Danger yet though. So if you’re Sidekick Slide is resetting when you slide the screen, give T-Mobile a call and let them know.

Still haven’t taken the plunge and bought one of the new Sidekicks? Still not sure which one is the right one for you? Silently cursing Danger for being so on top of things that they released two new devices at once? (It’s certainly cost us some sleep trying to keep up) Well BGR might be able to help. They’ve got a quick comparison of the Sidekick LX and the Sidekick Slide. If you want the nitty gritty details, check out the article.

Their ultimate conclusion:
“If you’re a hardcore Sidekick user you’ll want to grab the LX. The keyboard and screen alone make this a win. The Sidekick Slide isn’t really beneath the LX on the totem pole, so if you want an awesome phone, but love the Danger OS all in a small device, you will definitely want to pickup the Slide.”

We basically agree. If you’re a hardcore Sidekick user, the screen on the LX will blow you away, along with keeping all the good stuff of the Sidekick 3 but squeezing it into a sexier body. If you’re looking for something small that will fit in your pocket better and don’t send a bajillion emails/im/txts/etc a day, then the Slide is cheaper, smaller, and probably more your style.

via BGR
image source via Appletech