Are you a fan of the celebrity touched Sidekicks? We noticed an auction running for a Sidekick LX purported to be owned by Kim Kardashian herself. On top of that it’s signed by her too. It’s currently only going for $170.50 which is pretty cheap compared to the normal Sidekick LXs for sale.

Sharp (you know, the guys that make all the Sidekicks except the Slide) have announced a new tiny but high resolution (5MP) camera that even has auto focus. If you ask us, this looks amazingly similar in size and shape to the cameras currently in the Sidekick LX. Sharp says the new camera will be available for mass production in July so chances are we won’t see this in the Sidekick Gekko. But this would be something to keep an eye out for the Hiptop m3 (or whatever they’re going to call it), which we speculate will be coming out at the end of the year.

via CrunchGear

T-Mobile has officially launched the rollout of their 3G network with New York City. The plan is to have 3G rolled out to the major cities in the US. We haven’t heard anything on when we’ll see 3G Sidekicks yet (most likely not on the Sidekick Gekko), but we hope T-Mobile realizes that Sidekick users would be the ones to benefit the most with the high-speed network. We have our fingers crossed. The press release is below:

NEW YORK and BELLEVUE, Wash. – May 5, 2008– T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced that the company has taken the first commercial step in the rollout of its third-generation (3G) wireless network by launching its UMTS/HSDPA network in New York City. T-Mobile plans to continue the rollout of its 3G network across major metropolitan markets through the year. By year’s end, T-Mobile expects its high-speed data network will be available in those cities where a majority of its subscribers currently use data services.

“The launch of our 3G network comes at a time when 3G phones and services are more affordable, capable and appealing to our consumer marketplace than ever before,” said Cole Brodman, chief development officer, T-Mobile USA. “We benefit not only from the economic scale of 3G, but also from the extensive commercial experience of 3G in our European markets. Today, T-Mobile USA customers already have among the highest adoption of data and messaging services in the industry. Through our 3G network, we look forward to delivering a rich portfolio of new and meaningful services to enrich our customers’ lives.”

T-Mobile’s 3G network supports voice and data services consistent with available service and handset offerings. The company today offers multiple phones that are able to operate on the UMTS network. The phones are designed to automatically connect to the best available network (3G or GSM/GPRS/EDGE) to provide the great call quality and rich communication services customers expect from T-Mobile.

Customers using a 3G-capable handset from T-Mobile will also experience faster data speeds when accessing the Web, or downloading content from the T-Mobile t-zones content portal, for example.

In the coming months, T-Mobile plans to offer its first HSDPA device, along with new and compelling data-centric, all-in-one devices that help make the most of T-Mobile’s high-speed data network.

The launch of the 3G network also enables T-Mobile to accommodate and serve more customers more efficiently through the use of its AWS spectrum, effectively doubling T-Mobile USA’s spectrum position, and laying the foundation for the company’s future growth. T-Mobile and the U.S. government, namely the Department of Defense and the Department of Justice, continue to work closely and effectively together to make available AWS spectrum that will give consumers access to the 3G network.

As the 3G service rolls out in targeted major markets, T-Mobile will continue to build upon its
T-Mobile® HotSpot Wi-Fi network — its wireless high-speed Internet offering that launched in 2003 — and its nationwide voice and data network, to empower customers to effortlessly stay connected using the best available network.

T-Mobile International is following a common technology path across all of its markets in Europe and the United States, from GSM/GPRS/EDGE to UMTS/HSDPA. T-Mobile USA greatly benefits from
T-Mobile International’s 3G experiences in Europe, where adoption of non-messaging mobile data is growing dynamically; and with more than 120 million customers worldwide, T-Mobile International is able to generate significant global procurement synergies.

Sounds like the Sidekick 3 is getting a Over The Air (OTA) update to upgrade the radio firmware. Doesn’t look like anything significant or major improvements, but all you Sidekick 3 owners may see it popping up on your device soon. I assume it’s rolling out to the pioneer group first, which is basically a small (random) subset of the Sidekick 3 users. As long as that rolls out without significant problems it will start being sent out to everyone.

Financial Times has an interview with Hank Nothhaft, the CEO of Danger. Not a whole lot of substance in it other than he mentions his love for horses a lot, and a couple of business mistakes he made. The part that has us interested in is the first question he was asked:

What’s in your pocket?
A prototype of the next Sidekick (mobile-cum-internet device). It’s thinner and less wide but has a bigger keyboard. Now I no longer keep it on a belt, I’m always losing it. I was known as the “absent-minded professor” as a student.

A prototype of the next Sidekick? Could this be the Gekko/Aspen that we’ve been hearing about? I’m trying to wrap my head around how they could be making the keyboard bigger AND make it less wide. But then again, he might be comparing it to a Slide.

thanks for the tip Ricky

T-Mobile is running a campaign to get more people to switch over to paperless billing to help be more “green”. T-Mobile is partnering with The Arbor Day Foundation and will be planting at least 150,000 trees in honor of those of you who choose to go with paperless billing. Not only are you saving trees, but you’re helping plant them!

If you want to switch over to paperless billing and stop clogging up your mailbox, head over to my.t-mobile.com/plantatree before things end on April 25th. If you’re a smart one and already on the paperless billing bus, just jump over there and confirm that you want T-Mo to plant a tree in your honor.

via

I just posted my last post over on the Sidekick Grammy Tour blog. It was a ton of fun and I got to meet all sorts of great people as well as the musicians. My photos and bog entries are all over on the site, so I won’t bother reposting them here. If you’re bored, go check it out.

There are still two concerts left, Dallas and L.A. If you’re in either of these cities (or near by) I highly recommend hitting up these concerts. If nothing else, once you’re in and you show your Sidekick, it’s free food and drinks! Plus Kid Rock, Seal, and Sean Kingston are totally worth seeing for free!

I just got back from Chicago yesterday afternoon after fulfilling my duties as a Sidekick Roadie. Those duties included meeting the artists, hanging out with the VIP winners, and having too much fun. Colbie Caillat, Cat Power, and John Legend put on a great show and it looks like everyone had fun. I’m sure T-Mobile will have all sorts of pictures and video up on www.sidekick.com shortly. If you want to read about the trip, head over to the Tour blog where I’m posting about my experience going on tour with T-Mobile. If you’re in New York, we’ll be heading into town next week so look out!

So I was going to post this yesterday, but figured I’d hold off with it being April Fool’s day and all (did everyone get Rickrolled? good). Plus I was so busy pranking a coworker that I had no time! But now that it’s safe, and I have my travel info in hand, I’ll officially announce that I’m going on tour for these shows! That’s right. T-Mobile is sending me around to Chicago, New York, and Miami to go see all the performances and blog about my experience. Here’s the lineup so far:

Chicago – Cat Power, Colbie Caillat, and John Legend
New York – Missy Elliot and Busta Rhymes (yes, my jaw dropped too)
Miami – Kat DeLuna, Ozomatli, and Pitbull

I’ll be blogging about all of my adventures over on the official tour blog, and you can follow along on the journey via my Twitter feed. If anyone is in these cities, I really want to meet you guys! Go out to the T-Mobile store and get tickets, or enter in the VIP contest. If you’re going to make it to any of these shows, or have any suggestions on what to do in these cities, leave a comment and let me know! I’ll only be in town for a short time in each city, but I want to make the best of it.

The first stop is Chicago tomorrow.

check out the Official site for more info.

The 50th Grammy Celebration tour that kicks off in April is going to be sponsored by the T-Mobile Sidekick LX. The tour is going to hit 5 cities, with a different musician performing in each one. The press release says “The tour will provide music and Sidekick fans exclusive access to a concert tour featuring a broad lineup of GRAMMY-nominated and -winning artists”. T-Mobile is being hush hush about who is actually going to be performing. So far we only know the first artist is going to be John Legend, an R&B singer/songwriter/pianist who has won a handful of Grammy Awards. As for the other artists, it’s still unknown for now. Here’s what we do know so far though:

April 3rd
Chicago, IL
John Legend @ The Vic Theatre

April 9th
New York, NY
???? @ Webster Hall NYC

April 16th
Miami, FL
???

April 23rd
Dallas, TX
???

“Early May”
Los Angeles, CA
???

A limited amount of tickets for each of the stops on the tour will be available through special in-store contest giveaways at select T-Mobile stores in the 5 cities. But don’t worry, if you miss out on those opportunities in stores, you’ll have a chance to win the “VIP concert package” through Sidekick.com.