Not too exciting, but everyone keeps emailing about it. If you haven’t gotten it yet, there’s a Sidekick Slide OTA update going out right now. It will update your Slide themes and change to a Tinkerbell theme. Just kidding, it’s just some radio updating. No new features or anything. The new radio firmware version is v0.4.2.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

We were surprised by T-Mobile bringing back the Sidekick iD last month. Just in time for Christmas, they’ve brought back another old friend, the Sidekick Slide. T-Mobile is offering the Slide again for $99, $200 off the retail price. It’s the same price as the newer Sidekick 2008, so this is probably only interesting to people who like the form factor of the Sidekick Slide. So if you’re a fan of a smaller more compact Sidekick that doesn’t have the characteristic flip, now is your chance to grab one! With these recent “returns from the dead”, it makes us wonder when we’re going to see the Sidekick 3 available again!

The Providence Journal has a great article up about cell phone robberies that continuously mentions the Sidekick. Apparently the Sidekick Slide is the most popular Sidekick and the one most commonly stolen. We kind of wonder how much research the author of the article actually did. Some great quotes from the article:

Martinez, 18, of Warwick, a self-described cell-phone addict, now counts herself a casualty of the urban cell-phone culture. More than one-third of the robberies in Providence this year are cell-phone robberies, and Police Chief Dean M. Esserman said “a good number” of the robberies last year were the same.

A band around the LX model glows blue to signal an incoming message.

“This is why they steal the phone, because it lights up,” Martinez said. “It’s amusing to people …”

Standing on the sidewalk on Hamilton Street where she was attacked, Nathalie described what happened on that day last winter.

“I thought it was one of my friends playing around with me” at first. “When I looked back, I hit him with my purse. But I had my nails done [that day], so I couldn’t, really, like, fight with him and stuff … I was scared. I was really scared.”

Martinez had a big bill to pay — about $500 — after the Riverwalk mugging. She did not get through right away to T-Mobile, her service provider, to report the loss. In the 13 hours the robber had her phone before she gave notice, he ran up the bill by downloading wallpaper and ringtones — each time for a fee — and making interstate calls and calls to the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. T-Mobile wouldn’t waive the charges.

She now stays up late at night on her fourth cell phone, a Sidekick LX, which she keeps taped to a living room end table when it’s not in use so that when friends come over to her house, their light-fingered companions don’t lift it.

Read the full article

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

Have you ever dropped your Sidekick? Chances are your answer is “yes” as you gaze sadly at the scratch on your screen. I know, I did it just the other week and now I have a big ding in my Sidekick LX‘s screen. I’ve been hearing my friends talk about the InvisibleSHIELD screen protectors for awhile, but didn’t get one myself until recently. I’m pretty impressed with them. They brag that they’re “military grade protection” and I don’t doubt it. Apparently this stuff was designed for use on helicopter blades or something. Pretty crazy. Anyways, just wanted to let you guys know that these things are pretty cheap and totally worth every penny. If you ever want to resell your Sidekick to get the latest version, you’ll get a lot more $$$ if it’s scratch free. Unfortunately they don’t have screen protectors for the Sidekick 2008 yet, but we’ll let you know when they come in. If you’ve got a Sidekick II, 3, LX, Slide, or iD you’re in luck now though. Check them out:

invisibleSHIELD for the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 (Front)

invisibleSHIELD for the T-Mobile Sidekick 3 (Screen)

invisibleSHIELD for the T-Mobile Sidekick II (Screen)

invisibleSHIELD for the T-Mobile Sidekick iD (Full Body)

invisibleSHIELD for the T-Mobile Sidekick iD (Screen)


invisibleSHIELD for the T-Mobile Sidekick LX (Screen)

invisibleSHIELD for the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide (Full Body)

invisibleSHIELD for the T-Mobile Sidekick Slide (Screen)

Think you’ve got the most damaged Sidekick? Are you still using it? We want to see. Post a link to a photo in the comments or email them in to admin [at] hiptop3.com.

Our friends over at TmoNews are reporting that T-Mobile will be slashing prices on their Motorola phones (including the Sidekick Slide) on July 30th. This is only for new individual or family plans with a 2 year contract, so all you current Sidekick owners are probably out of luck and are better off going the eBay route. The full list of eligible phones:
* Motorola Sidekick Slide
* Motorola Rokr e8
* Motorola Razr V3
* Motorola Razr2 V8
* Motorola W490

via TmoNews

Some photos of Sidekick 2008 “dummy phones” have been posted over in the Tmonews forums. Dummy phones are just the body of the phone. They are non-working devices generally used just for show at T-Mobile stores. There are some good comparison pictures of these dummy phones with other dummy sidekicks.

[Show as slideshow]

It’s official. T-Mobile has announced the new red scarlet Sidekick Slide. So if the purple color was deterring you before, now you have another option. The T-Mobile Sidekick Slide Scarlet will be available for $199.99 with a two-year service agreement. You should be able to get it online
or at stores. There’s not much else different about it, but in case you want the specs of the Sidekick Slide Scarlet, here you go:
· T-Mobile myFaves
· Smaller design with slide screen and QWERTY keyboard
· Available in a black finish with scarlet accents
· QVGA screen
· Web browser enhancements and improved JavaScript support
· Customized MySpace Mobile application available through the Download Catalog
· Personal e-mail access and integrated t-mail account; supports POP3, IMAP FETCH e-mail protocols
· MMS, SMS and IM supported
· Built-in IM clients: AOL Instant Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger
· 1.3-megapixel camera
· Built-in music player that supports MP3 and AAC (requires memory card)
· microSD expandable memory slot; support for up to 4 GB of memory
· Bluetooth
· Dimensions: 4.6 x 2.4 x 0.68 inches, 5.3 ounces
· 2 x 1.5-inch display, 320 x 240 pixels, 65k TFT display
· Battery life: Up to 5.9 hours of talk time and 3.6 days of standby
· Quad-band world phone (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
· GSM/GPRS/EDGE

For all those that were doubting us when we said that video was coming to the Sidekick LX via an OTA, we present you with a page straight from T-Mobile.com. The text reads:

Viewing available memory for pictures and videos
To view available memory for pictures and videos, perform the following steps:
1. At the Jump screen, roll to and select Camera.
2. The available space for new pictures appears in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.

The original page for the Sidekick LX can be found here (if they haven’t pulled it yet). There’s also the same page for the Sidekick Slide, although we haven’t heard any details on an OTA for you Slide owners yet and there’s also this page which says: “The Sidekick Slide does not support sending video messages.” So we’re going to stick with saying to expect the video OTA for the LX, but not for the Slide. Sorry Sliders.

Pictures and videos man. Pictures AND videos.

-Thanks to Ryan for catching this.

A topic of conversation was brought up a couple times while I was “on tour” with the T-Mobile/Grammy Concerts. What would you like to see on the Sidekick the most?/How could it be improved? I conveyed some of my own thoughts and wishful thinking (GPS and Google Maps). But I want to open it up to you guys. I can’t guarantee this will have any impact on the future of the Sidekick obviously, but I’m curious to see what everyone out there thinks the Sidekick (LX or Slide) needs. Drop your thoughts in the comments!