If history is any indication, the new Sidekick 2009 is going to be expensive. Hopefully not as expensive as previous models though. If you’re the budget concerned Sidekick user, now is the time to pick up a Sidekick 2008 while they’re cheap and still in stock. T-Mobile is running a web-only promotion that will score you a Sidekick 2008 for only $49.99. Head on over to T-Mobile to check it out.

If you’ve been hesitant to download the Photobucket application because of the price or the recurring fee (or both), the option to try the app out for free has come! If you download the application by 4/30, you have a 30 day free trial period to test it out. This means you can use the full version of the application, risk free for 30 days and then decide if you like it or not. This is a great option and may be what changes people’s opinions about the product. Remember that the application is free only for 30 days from the time that you have downloaded it. After the 30 day free trial period is over, you will be charged a monthly subscription fee of $1.99, which will be billed to you each month until the item is discarded. Check out the information in the Download Catalog for more in-depth information. Download and try it out from the Catalog now!

Do you use Photobucket to share photos? You’ll be happy to hear that there is now a Photobucket application for the Sidekick that will let you send photos directly to the service and manage your account from your device. Rumors about the Sidekick Blade said that this app would be available, and here it is for existing devices (Slide, LX, and 2008).

The application will set you back $1.99 to purchase, and then a recurring fee of $1.99 each month thereafter. So it looks like this is geared more towards hevy users of Photobucket. To get it, just check out the Download Catalog. Here are some screenshots of the app:

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More info on Photobucket’s blog post. Screenshots are via PoweredByDanger’s post.
Thanks to everyone that sent this one in

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

T-Mobile has a couple designer Sidekick shells available that look pretty sweet.
Jessica Gonacha

Susie Ghahremani

iLK

Aleksander Velasevic

Check them out here. What do you guys think?

Since most people have a Sidekick that plays video these days, one of the most asked questions is how to get video converted so you can actually watch it on the Sidekick, especially YouTube videos. CubanitaStylez (the same one that puts together those awesome themes) has recorded a video walking you through the steps to download a YouTube video to the Sidekick. You’ll need to use a website to download from YouTube and the video encoding program eRightSoft SUPER. Here’s the video walking you through it:

This should work for converting videos for the Sidekick LX, Sidekick Tony Hawk, and Sidekick 2008. For more details and other handy videos, check out cubanitastylez.blogspot.com

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.

Remember how we mentioned that SunCom Hiptop users would need to get a new Sidekick with the switch from Suncom to T-Mobile? Well we got some word from a T-Mobile spokesperson that (former) SunCom customers with a Hiptop device will be provided with a T-Mobile Sidekick 2008 free of charge. You should receive a letter from T-Mobile that provides your options for this upgrade, and you’ll need to either visit a nearby store (indicated in the letter) or call Customer Care at a number provided in the letter. In addition to the new Sidekick 2008, T-Mobile will also provide customers with the Intellisync software to help transfer your information from your old Hiptop to your new Sidekick via a computer. Needless to say, I think those of us without the Sidekick 2008 are a bit jealous!

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.