Occasionally, Sharp will pass a Japanese domestic market handset through the FCC for global roaming certification, but not this time. No, instead, we're seeing the PV300 -- and as any rabid Sidekick fan knows, Sharp's Sidekicks are referred to as "PV" followed by a three-digit number internally, so yeah, we're thinking this is probably the real deal. Of course, we've had
no shortage of legit-sounding rumors in the past few months that there's a new high-end Sidekick on the way to T-Mobile shelves, and indeed, it should come as no surprise that this one is certified for AWS 3G -- the very kind T-Mobile uses -- along with the usual assortment of GSM / EDGE bands. Anyhow, see you shortly, dear Sidekick. Hopefully.
posted Apr 8th 2009 3:20PM
When you actually say Li-ion... do you just plain say lion (the animal)?
In my impression most of the time people seem to pronounce it 'lithium ion' in full expanding the acronym.
I don't get what this has to do with the the new sidekick :S
Can you install 3rd party apps on the sidekick? Any info on the OS? I never used a sidekick before but its interesting to see that danger is providing the software and they are a part of microsoft. Its like microsoft has another mobile OS without officially having one.
Not sure about the particulars of the software, but I do know it's based on a NetBSD kernel, NOT Windows CE.
they still make these?
"subsidiary of Microsoft"?
This device is surely an instant fail. No match for iPhone.
Go away ikurt.
Funny fact : According to Wikipedia, Danger was formed by Apple's folks (with Philips)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danger_(company)
I have nothing against AAPL, i have 2 ipods, Just wanted to let you know :)
I loved the sidekick once upon a time. The handset needs a major overhaul to get back in the spotlight.
I had sidekick2 before my TMo Dash. Those were the days of bulky sidekicks & BBs. It really was a good phone & nice OS
(it had cut&paste way back in 2005 ;) ) Only problem is we could not install 3rd party Apps.
Let's see how this one comes out.
More info on sidekick(s) = happy reader
Tough decision between the G1 and the Sidekick. Not a decision I'll ever have to make, but still. They're both awesome.
when i talked to tmobile customer care about phone tracking (after my phone was stolen) they said that the sidekick is only supported by tmobile for voice, not data. the rep said that all data is on danger's network and not tmobiles. he said tmobile just routes everything to danger. does that make sense? anyone?
I used to manage all my data (profile, contacts, messages, calender, photos) through TMobile website. It has some advantage, as you can also access everything directly from web.
I'm not sure they routed it to Danger network. Also Danger used to be a seperate company till 2008.
Tmobile provides the backend connection to Danger's servers, kind of like your ISP is providing the backend connection to Engadget's servers right now. I hope that helps explain it some.
@Prince Ali: Yes, you can install "third party apps", but you are limited to a relative handful of apps on the Sidekick's Catalog (aka:store), most all of which cost money.
I'm super excited about a Sidekick w/ 3G, and even more excited that this is the first phone coming out with Danger completely under Microsoft's wing. MS has already proved they intend to do cool things on the Hiptop platform (Hiptop OS is what's used, btw- its Java based). Just recently they came out with a Live Search app that allows SK users to search the Live maps. I know, its nothing exciting to any iPhone, WinMo, or G1 users, but as far as SK its awesome! T-Mobile really cripples the phone though, in Dangers own defense.
I'm on my second Sidekick (the 2008). It does what I want and has a nice keyboard. Plus I wanted something that didn't have a touch screen so I wouldn't worry about it getting damaged in my pocket. The 2008 is a lot lighter and a bit smaller than the previous version. And both of them were about 100 dollars used, so if they get a bit scuffed up, I don't care.
The data and voice plan is cheap, and when I took it with me to Hong Kong a few weeks ago, it worked fine and the data roaming price wasn't horrible.
They need to add WiFi and make the BT useful. I carry around a Nokia n800 and wish I could tether it to the SK.
danger was acquired by microsoft a little over a year ago for 500 million, just do a google search of "microsoft buying danger" this brought speculation that the zune phone was on its way. I wouldn't be suprised if the zune marget was integrated into the sidekick os like it is in windows mobile 6.5.
i have a sidekick slide
and its funny
cause once a little
goo gets on
the screen
it gets all messed up
but then i feed it to my dog
and its ok
when he releases it
I had a dog once, his name was Bingo
this new Sidekick sounds interesting, but I hate T-Mobile. I would rather stick with Verizon.