Some of us really love the Sidekick. We wear Danger shirts, put stickers wherever we can, show off features to friends, and are probably considered “fan boys/girls” to most people. But some people really, really love the Sidekick. So much so that they want it to be a permanent part of them. First there was the Sidekick II tattoo, then Volcom got his Danger symbols tattoo, and now we bring you Wanda, who is the proud owner of a charm bracelet tattoo that includes a Sidekick LX.

Mike, one of the Hiptop3.com writers, had a chance to ask her a few questions:
What made you decide to get a sidekick tattoo?
I wanted a charm bracelet tattoo and all the charms had to represent me in some way. Everyone who knows me, thinks I’m obsessed with my phone, and maybe I am a little. I fell in love with the sidekick back when they came out with the sk color, but I couldn’t afford one just yet. No matter what phones come out, none of them compare (in my eyes) to the sidekick. So, it was a given that IT had to be one of the charms. Even if they never make another sidekick, it’ll always be with me. Plus, my bracelet would look kind of silly with only four.

Who designed the artwork?
The tattoo artist. I told her what kind of phone it was and she did the rest. She actually drew the whole bracelet for me.

When did you get your first Sidekick?
2005 (the sidekick 2)

How many sidekicks have you owned?
Four, the sidekick 2, sidekick 3, sidekick lx and sidekick lx 09

Tell me more about the Sidekick User Group (Geezers) you are in:
I started out as just a member, then I became the owner. Its a group for us “older” folks who just happen to have sidekicks. Although some of our members have crossed to the dark side and gotten other devices. We’re a mature crowd and talk about pretty much anything, without the vulgar language that sometimes comes with online groups. Anyone with a mobile device can join, as long as you’re 25 or older and willing to behave :-).

If someone over 25 wants to join SidekickGeezers, how do they sign up??
Go to this link https://groups.google.com/group/SidekickGeezers?hl=en and request membership. They have to first sign up with their mobile address.

Nice tattoo Wanda and thanks for taking the time to answer some questions! If you want to see the rest of the chram bracelet, check out the gallery:

[Show as slideshow]

Want to see other Geek Tattoos?

*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? 🙂

If a Sidekick 2008 for $0.01 is too expensive for you, or you already have a T-Mobile account, there’s another way for you to snag a Sidekick for free. KevJumba is running a video contest where you can win a Sidekick plus a $500 American Express gift card. You’ll have to get your creative juices flowing and make a video in response to his video and he’ll choose a winner on Jan 26th. Let us know in the comments if you’ve posted an entry so we can check it out.

Yes, you read the title right. Amazon is back in the business of offering Sidekicks for super super cheap. They’ve got the Sidekick 2008 up for $0.01 after an instant discount of $250 if you sign up with T-Mobile and stay with them for over 3 months. Unfortunately this doesn’t work for existing T-Mobile customers, but for those of you out there thinking of getting your first Sidekick, or coming back from another carrier, now is your chance. The product page says that it’s the black T-Mobile Sidekick, but it comes with the green shell as well. In the end, the color doesn’t matter since you’ll be customizing it with your own shells and free Sidekick themes.

T-Mobile Sidekick Black Phone (T-Mobile) for $0.01

This one is dedicated to all the Black and White Hiptoppers. Aaron (one of the original Hiptop pranksters) fished out some old stuff from back in the day and we thought we’d share it with you. First up is a smoking hot ad for the Hiptop that makes me want to go out and buy 2 Black and White Hiptops even now.

A man known for his great jokes, Aaron once fooled a lot of people into thinking he had the much-coveted color hiptop before anyone even knew what it looked like:

And noone can forget when he got the original OTA:

And we leave you with your “Fun Fact of the Day” – Aaron was the originator of the Cat Remote rumor that kind of launched Hiptop3.com

Here’s a blast from the past. It’s the old Snoop Dogg Sidekick II commercial. It reminds me of a terrible joke:
Q: What does Snoop use to wash his clothes?
A: Bleeeyaaach

You can check out some other Sidekick commercials, including the old Johnny Chase ones in our previous post on Sidekick commercials.

According to AdMob, a mobile advertising network, the Sidekick II is still in the top 20 handsets in the United States. This stat is based on ad impressions, so take it with a grain of salt. However it’s still interesting to see it ranking so high over 4 years after it’s release! Of course the iPhone has taken the number one spot, but we’re not sure why more recent Sidekick models aren’t showing up. If you want to check out the full report, you can grab the PDF.

via Washington Post

Who said nothing comes for free? Tomorrow, Saturday Nov 15th, pop over to your favorite T-Mobile store and tell them to hook you up with some free minutes. It’s a “Customer Delight Day” so you’ll be able to score 100 free minutes. Bring a friend and T-Mobile will double that to 200 free minutes. Get a friend to sign up for a T-Mobile contract and you can get $25 credited towards your next bill too. Here’s the details:

T-Mobile’s Customer Delight Day
Saturday, November 15
At your local T-Mobile Store:

Drop in and be rewarded!
* Get 100 FREE bonus minutes just for stopping by — a $40 value
* Get 200 FREE bonus minutes if you bring a friend — an $80 value
* Refer a customer to T-Mobile and get a $25 credit on your next bill
* Sign up for T-Mobile @Home and get the first month free — a $10 value!

Limited time offer. Participating locations only. See store for details. Offers are valid for qualified T-Mobile postpaid and FlexPay customers who are in good standing. Limit one offer per qualifying line. Offers can not be redeemed for cash or other value. Referral Credit Offer: The referred customer must activate a qualifying T-Mobile voice data postpaid or FlexPay plan at a participating T-Mobile store. The credit may take up to 2 billing cycles to appear on the referring customer’s bill. T-Mobile @Home Offer: Qualifying rate plan, credit approval and two-year agreement required. $10 monthly fee will be credited to account. The credit may take up to two billing cycles to appear.

via BGR

Got a broken Sidekick that’s not covered by insurance? Maybe you dropped it and now you need to fix your Sidekick LCD screen. Or maybe your trackball is just incredibly dirty and you want to pull it out and clean it. Well if you’ve got nimble fingers and are good with a tiny screwdriver, you’re in luck. We came across a site called Fix My Sidekick which has a number of tutorials including photos on how to take apart your Sidekicks. Here’s a sampling of some of the articles:
* How to Replace the Sidekick LX Faceplate and LCD Lens
* Fix a White LCD Screen on Your Sidekick
* How to Remove and Clean Sidekick 3 Trackball
* Fix The Backlight on Your Sidekick
* How to Replace a Sidekick 3 Screen
etc.

Check them out if you’re suffering from the broken Sidekick blues and are still holding out for a 3G Sidekick before buying a new one. You can also get replacement parts (or a new Sidekick if the repair fails) from SidekickShopper.com.

image via FixMySidekick

Want to theme your Sidekick LX or 2008/Gekko to mimic the G1 device? CubanitaStylezz, a talented and well-known theme artist, has put some G1 Themes up for the Sidekick. You can get them over at sk08Themes.com and skLXthemes.com.