With Apple’s recent announcement of the iPhone (way too many details available on your favorite gadget sites), a lot of people are wondering, “Is it worth jumping from the Sidekick to the iPhone?” Of course this boils down to a personal preference for everyone, but there are a few things that are making us want to stick with the Sidekick 3.

– SIZE! We were originally told the iPhone was 6″ long. The spec on Apple’s page say that is not so. Here is an updated size comparison:

– A keyboard. You can’t walk down the street typing without looking on a virtual keyboard with no tactile feedback. There is a need for input, no arguing that, and with “smart devices” a large percentage of the input is text. Ipod style interfaces (touchscreens, wheels, etc) are great for navigating data, but not for inputting.

– Removable battery. We like knowing that a battery can be replaced without having to replace an entire unit or take it in for service.

– The user interface. Danger excels as far as a user interface. It’s very quick and easy to pickup and once you’re used to it, it becomes second nature to fly around the OS.

– The “Flip” C’mon, you know it’s just cool.

Any other thoughts or comparisons? Drop em in the comments below.

When we heard there was a cradle for the Sidekick 3 available from Monaco Wireless, so we figured we’d give it a try. Like many people, our first thought was “Aren’t these for handhelds that can’t sync wirelessly?” and we figured it seemed a little silly. But then we actually got it, and it turns out it’s quite convenient.

The Sidekick 3 cradle is not really geared towards syncing data even though there is a USB cable for connecting to your computer to transfer mp3s and themes. It’s more about charging your Sidekick 3 and/or an extra battery. The Sidekick obviously sits in the cradle as expected, and there’s a convenient spot for charging a battery behind it. So while you’re out running around all day, draining your battery sending IMs to all the ladies, you can be charging your second battery so it’s ready to go when it’s time to go out for the night. And yes, you can charge the Sidekick and an extra battery at the same time thanks to design of the cradle.

One other nice feature about the cradle is the angle that it’s tilted at. Instead of letting your Sidekick sit flat on your desk and having to pick it up everytime you want to check something, the cradle tilts it at a comfortable viewing angle while it charges. Great for those of us that work desk jobs and want to keep an eye on incoming messages but still look like we’re working. You can also flip the screen open while the Sidekick is in the cradle for quick access to the keyboard. The only buttons you can’t get to are the power and volume buttons on the bottom.

There was only one thing that we didn’t care much for on the Sidekick 3 cradle. There’s a small LED light on the front that indicates the charging, which would be great. However, if you don’t have an extra Sidekick battery in, it alternates flashing red and green, which can be a bit distracting. We asked about this and were told it was by design because there was no other way to determine if a battery was charging if the Sidekick 3 was in the cradle. With a battery in the dock, it should stay a solid red. Like most people, we’ll be keeping the battery in the cradle until it’s needed to avoid the flashing.

If you’re looking for one of these Sidekick 3 cradles, Wireless Ground has them for sale in their online store.

It looks like T-Mobile has taken a brave step and setup a Sidekick wiki. Things are a little slow moving so far, but as with all wikis, if the users want to create it, it will grow. Is a wiki really needed, or do the forums [hiptop.com (official) and hiptop3.com (unofficial)] and websites already out there cover all the necessary bases for the Sidekick? Regardless, it is nice and refreshing to see T-Mobile stepping up and providing something like this for free to their users.

Anyone that has an @tmail.com more than likely has received some spam (or else you’re very lucky). With the Sidekicks there is currently no support for filtering so most of the time it’s just a daily delete of spam. There weren’t many solutions to this problem currently other than “put up with it” or “tell T-Mobile to change your email address”. But now, thanks to Troy Phillips there is a new fix to the spam epidemic on the Sidekick.

Troy has written an application that basically logs into your TMail account and filters the email for you based on a few pre-set rules, a whitelist (email addresses to always accept from), and a blacklist (email addresses to reject). It won’t wipe anything out completely, it will just drop it in the Trash where you can periodically go in and check to see if anything accidentally got tagged as spam. It’s a bit of a hack, and might not be something for the “non-techie” Sidekick users, but at least it’s something while we wait for Danger to implement spam filtering.

More info and download at https://sidekick.troyphillips.com/

Up until today, we only had a rumor, but now there has been an official press release from T-Mobile UK confirming the launch of the Sidekick 3! Here’s the typical info from the press release:

Today T-Mobile announces the arrival of the Sidekick 3, the ultimate communication gadget and exclusive lifestyle accessory – making it even easier to stay in touch on-the-move.

Following the huge success, and popularity with high-profile celebrities, of the Sidekick II last year, T-Mobile is bringing the eagerly anticipated Sidekick 3 to the UK for people who are fully engaged in their social universe and who aren’t afraid of standing out from the crowd.

The Sidekick 3 is the latest handset to offer simple, open Internet access through T-Mobile’s web’n’walk service – enabling you to surf the internet in the same way as you could on your PC. With an intuitive and distinctive trackball, it makes navigating through the menu of the device or web browsing, effortless.

Staying in touch with friends or work mates has never been easier than with the Sidekick 3 – providing a one-stop-shop for organising your social calendar. With phone, email and instant messenger functions available at the touch of a button, the Sidekick 3 makes messaging quick and simple to use whilst on the move. The device has a full QWERTY keypad that makes typing faster and more accurate – perfect for staying in touch via text as well as by voice.

The Sidekick 3 also boasts a large colour screen, which is ideal for playing games, viewing photos or web-pages. The trademark Sidekick screen swivels open to be used like a mini laptop or used closed as a gaming device, phone or camera, depending on how you wish to use it.

For the first time, the Sidekick brand now offers a built-in MP3 player within the handset.

The built-in 1.3 mega-pixel digital camera is ideal for capturing and sharing special moments. Within seconds of taking a picture, each image is stored online in a back-up gallery, enabling you to send pictures to friends and loved ones or save them to your PC and print them.

On top of all this, the Sidekick 3 is the ideal personal assistant – with calendar, notes and ‘To Do’ list easily updated and always with you, helping you stay on top of your hectic schedule. The Sidekick 3 boasts an internal memory of 64MB Flash ROM and an external MiniSD card slot (with a 64MB Mini SD card included).

Phil Chapman, T-Mobile UK’s Marketing Director, said, “The Sidekick 3 is the ultimate communication device – for both social and entertainment aspects of people’s lives. This Sidekick brand has been hugely successful in the US and T-Mobile is delighted to be the first and only company to offer the Sidekick 3 in the UK.”

The Sidekick 3 will be available through T-Mobile retail stores and online at www.t-mobile.co.uk from December 2006, pricing will be dependent on price plan.

For those looking to add a little bit of customization to their Sidekick 3 without having to buy a limited edition device or deal with the task of disassembling and spray painting their device there is now an option. Colorware, the company probably best known for giving Apple users a choice other than black and white, is now coloring Sidekick 3s. You’ll have a huge choice of colors that you can mix and match at your command. It’ll only cost you $99-$129 depending on your color choices, and you’ll have to send in your Sidekick 3 and wait about a week. Not only will you have new colors, but you’ll get some additional scratch protection and color that won’t fade. All the more reason to buy a Sidekick 3 and make it your own.

Thanks to everyone submitting this, sorry it didn’t go up earlier. We were in the process of moving to California to get closer to Danger headquarters. 😉

The Sidekick as a protest tool? Student activists at the nation’s only university for the deaf and hearing impaired utilized handhelds, specifically Sidekicks, to organize a protest that led to the led to the ouster of incoming President Jane K. Fernandes. From the article:

After a sleepless night protesting at Gallaudet University, student government leader Christopher Corrigan was ready to crawl into a tent near a campus gate at 7:45 a.m. Then he felt the familiar buzz on his Sidekick wireless handheld computer.
…
Almost every Gallaudet student has a BlackBerry, Sidekick or other handheld. The students say the technology has brought them more equality and has opened up the world.

Read more..

Now we all know that Danger has always said they’re not a hardware vendor and that they’re more interested in selling their OS and service. However, the past 4 years there has only been ‘one’ device with multiple revisions, the hiptop/sidekick. Nothing too different, just the evolution of this one device. With a large amount of hiring going on, it looks like Danger is finally gearing up to take the Danger OS and backend onto new devices. With some close scrutinization of Danger’s website there are quite a few clues popping up that make us think something big is on the horizon. Take a look at some of the job postings on there. A few snippets from the current job openings that strike us as interesting:

Senior Software Engineer
* Integrate 2.5 and 3G wireless radio protocol stacks to Danger’s OS platform, especially L2 and L3.
* Write device drivers for new peripherals.

Software Engineer
* Configuration Engineering work for assisting in the launch of new wireless operators and/or upgrading existing partners, consisting of the following:
* HiptopSDE (Service Deliver Engine) customization.
* Web interface customization.

OS Engineer
As a member of the Firmware group, duties would involve bringing up Danger OS on new hardware. Tasks may include writing drivers for devices such as lcd, keyboard, timers, trackballs, etc. Other tasks may include working with communications stacks such as TCP/IP, telephony, Bluetooth, and USB. The position would involve working with other groups such as hardware, libraries, and applications.

That’s great and all, but what sort of devices you say? Check this out:

Motorola Ventures is now listed on Danger’s Investors page. Oh, and remember that roadmap from awhile back?

Yeah, that one. Motorola, Sidekick Razr… See where I’m going with this? So to sum it up:
– The Motorola link on the investors page
– Job postings mentioned above that specify new hardware
– Job postings that mention video
– The roadmap being pretty darn accurate so far about devices

Do we have a Motorola device powered by Danger on its way?

By now, we bet everyone’s wondering what the image at the beginning of this post is of. Well, here’s a little kicker for all this. Dusting off the archives (before hiptop3.com was even around) we’ve found some old patents that Danger filed for back in 2004. Could it be that these design ideas are still bouncing around the halls of Danger? Looks like it would fit in well with the RAZR line. Check these out:

Gizmodo already has pictures up of an unboxing of one of the LRG Limited edition Sidekick 3s by someone who obviously loves the “green”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much green. Wow. Although it does look a lot better “in-the-wild” than it did in the marketing pics in my opinion. Rumor has it that only 1000 of these were made (500 LRGs and 500 Diane von Furstenbergs), so if you want one you may need to hurry. The pictures:

via Gizmodo

The Limited Edition phones you have all been waiting for have hit TMobile’s site. All the same features, but new colors and designs. If you’re looking to be the stylish Sidekick 3 user, it’ll set you back $349, $50 more than the ordinary (and now boring) ones.