Looks like sidekick3.blogspot.com has received some screenshots from the Hiptop SDK that may be the new OS. We did receive an email from someone stating “My friend who works on the design team for Hiptop has seen this and confirmed that it is fake.” in regards to the Instant Messaging screenshot, but we think that the artifacts in the screenshots are just a result of watermarking using Paint. We’re hoping that this isn’t the final OS, as it looks a little too Fisher-Price for us, but chances are this is at least from a developer kit that was given out prior to a public release in order to get applications running on the new OS.

Some more reader submitted info:

Since I’ve been recieving AWESOME news from you guys. I figure it is time
for me to contribute. Venicom is a vendor that does promotions for certain members. Since I work for a large company, we get promos all the time. I tried to get the 8700g through them, but decided to stick with sk2 for a while–since blackberries are really trash (expensive services). Anyway. When I called, they of course said they were out of the sk2. The reason being is that within 4-6 weeks they expect to put the sk3 out. They are even taking pre-orders.
also they dont know the price yet….since t-mobile hasnt released that officially. They say it will be around 449.00-500.00 in their estimation. DANG. thats super expensive.
Hope that was relevant and groundbreaking. *wink*

We did some digging on Venicom, since we had not heard of them prior to this email. They run UShopWireless which does have some great deals on phones, including the Sidekick 2. We called them up and inquired about the pre-orders. Here’s what the rep we spoke with said:

They ARE taking pre-orders for the Sidekick 3
While they did not have an official release date, He said it’s coming out in the next 3-4 weeks, and this was confirmed with T-Mobile
Their price will be $200 after a $100 rebate. That’s $300 up front, and then a $100 rebate
He refused to give the MSRP (Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price)
He refused to confirm the number of Sidekick 3s that they would be getting initially
When asked why they were taking preorders for a phone that wasn’t even officially announced, he replied that TMobile is about to start their marketing push.

We received the following from a reader:

Hello – I work for T-Mobile Publications. I can’t say much about the picture I’ve sent you, except that it SHOULD appear in the bottom left corner of a Sidekick 3 ad in People Magazine in July. It was the best photo I could get with my “status” here at T-Mobile, this picture is on our private server site (It’s classified, also you need a staff password to enter anyway).

The image looks like it’s for Hiptunes, which is the Music OS for the Sidekick 3. The file name under the server was placement_Bottomleft86 – I’m not sure what the 86 is, tags don’t usually have numbers but it could be an indication to the page number. Noticing two new “slogans”, “get hip, be hip” and “music with a kick” – these are in fact registered with USPTO (www.uspto.gov) Looks like Hiptunes

We’re not sure what they mean by “Music OS” as we have heard different names for the music capabilities of the Sidekick 3. We haven’t reported those findings because we want to confirm them as truth first. On a related note, there’s already a site called Hiptunes.info where you can get songs sent to you to listen to on your Sidekick already.

After seeing this image, and reworking the layout for the site last night, we thought it would be good to have a fun little Photoshop contest. With the high res image as a source, send your creations to photoshop@hiptop3.com. We’ll post our favorites. 🙂

Grab the source image here

Entries are getting posted in this thread on our forums

Here’s a huge high-res image of the Sidek!ck 3. Looks like TMobile has their marketing all set to launch. 🙂

For what it’s worth, Annmarie found this eBay auction for a Sidekick 3 Presale. Buyer beware.

We are currently investigating the possibility of preorders for the Sidekick 3. Please stay tuned. We will let you know when we have been reassured that this is legit.

We received an email from someone that we haven’t heard from before with the following:

Hello, I have some news for you.. although it’s not very credible, and I have no proof. Last night I was coming back from Providence to New York on American Airlines – I saw an older man (dressing quite formal I must say, suite and everything) and as we were both getting on the shuttle to JFK parking, I noticed he had a blackish sidekick… okay, at this point I’m thinking it’s just a Mister Cartoon version, but It was defiantly an SK3… I think, it looked smaller, and it was black AND silver, and definatley had a nub, or turnwheel or whatever it is :), anyways, when I asked “excuse me, what is that?” He said “it’s the future of handhelds”, smiled and got off the shuttle. I have no evidence or pictures, but hopefully this will help your
search.

We did a bit of investigation and from a reliable source found that the TMobile executives actually have Sidekick 3 devices in hand, and that it may also be making rounds at call centers. If there is any validity to this claim (no offense meant Joanna), then the description of the man with the handheld from the future could very well have been a TMobile executive. The answer given certainly sounds like some good marketing speak.

It’s not there yet, but Danger has a placeholder for the Sidekick 3 manual for the new operating system. And based on the date, it’s been there awhile. It looks like we’re going to jump from v2.3 on the Sidekick II to v3.0 on the Sidekick 3. No word on whether there will be an OTA for the Sidekick II yet, and we’d be willing to bet not since the changes in hardware seem to be significant.
The only thing the page says is:
This is a placeholder for the R3.0 Owner’s Manual contents page.
Sept 29 , 2005. Release 3.0 © 2002-2005. Danger, Inc. All rights reserved.

So don’t bother flooding Danger’s servers with clicks just yet.
Keep an eye on it here:
https://help.sidekick.dngr.com/en-us/HT3manual/m2/R3.0/Desktop/ (remove the “HT3”).

Just like with the Sidekick II, once this goes live we’ll finally get a chance to see what to expect when this finally releases in late June. Big thanks to our source for hooking us up with this info yesterday!

We received the following pictures from a source who wishes to remain anonymous with the following statement:

Unlike like previous reports, the SK3 doesn’t have a “nub” like a laptop.
But a 3D trackball that will light up instead of the D-pad like the SK2.