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Screenshot yanked off Sidekick "Gekko" for the world to see
We still don't have a picture of Danger's so-called "Gekko" and "Aspen" Sidekicks to ogle while we wait for a supposed summer release on T-Mobile, but we've got the next best thing: a screenshot pulled from a prototype. It's still not exactly clear what the relationship is between the two new codenames, but we can now say with some certainty that there'll be at least one all-new model in the mix since the rendering used on the device here doesn't look like any Sidekick currently in the stable. Hiptop3 reports that the Gekko's codename (wait, a codename for a codename?) is "Style 2," pretty much confirming that it'll replace the low-end and recently discontinued iD. Despite the focus on keeping this one cheap, the site also says that the Gekko will sport a feature set similar to that of the LX, so it's not clear what specs will be sacrificed to keep this one affordable. A cheap LX alternative with what appear to be changeable faceplates? Count us in.
Danger's Sidekick LX getting video support
Take your focus off of that forthcoming Tony Hawk hiptop a minute and key in on that image above -- looks like Danger's Sidekick LX may be getting video after all. After questioning whether this very device could indeed support video late last year, it looks like the answer could be just around the corner. Unfortunately, the shot above along with one other in the read link is about it for details; we're still waiting to hear whether YouTube / H.264 will be supported, and beyond that, when the update will be made available. Still worried sick over Mr. Hawk? Yeah, we reckoned not.
Limited edition Tony Hawk Sidekick LX on the way?
We'd recommend taking this one with a healthy dose of salt, but word on the street has it that Tony Hawk -- being the unashamed Sidekick lover that he is -- is gearing up to receive his very own limited edition LX. Oh, and his adoring fans can snap one up too if they're quick. Details about the unit itself are scant, but it will obviously be Tony Hawk-branded and able to do a 900 on command. We are hearing, however, that it's slated to land on July 16th -- just in time for the T-Mobile sponsored Boom Boom HuckJam, too.[Via Hiptop3, image courtesy of AOL]
"Aspen" and "Gekko" join the Hiptop codename parade?
A little early for all-new Sidekicks, isn't it? TmoNews is reporting that a pair of new codenames have rather suddenly appeared on the Hiptop radar -- "Gekko" and "Aspen" -- with the former due on T-Mobile come July 27 and the latter rolling on in just three short days later on July 30. The three-day separation between two Sidekick launches itself seems a bit suspect, though to be fair, the last round of Danger codenames we caught wind of turned out to be dead-on legit. As Hiptop3 suggests, a round of LX (or Slide) limited editions seems like the most plausible explanation here -- or maybe it's just T-Mob's fancy way of describing new colors.[Via PHONE Magazine and Hiptop3.com]
Microsoft completes Danger acquisition, creates new Premium Mobile Experiences division
Microsoft's just announced that its $500M buyout of Sidekick maker Danger is complete, and that it's rolling the new team into its own unit, the Premium Mobile Experiences division. Ready to follow the chain of corporate command? PMX is under the Mobile Communications Business unit at MS, which itself falls under the Entertainment and Devices Division responsible for the Xbox and Zune. Got all that? Good. Danger's management team won't be directly calling the shots at PMX, though -- they'll be reporting to Roz Ho, who you might remember as the former head of the Mac Business Unit. Ho says the goal of PMX is to have people "smile every time they look at their phone," which hopefully means we'll be seeing a lot more Danger influence on Windows Mobile than the other way around. Still, "Premium Mobile Experiences" is an interesting choice of name, especially in the same division as the 360 and Zune -- dare we dream of a Microsoft-branded consumer phone?[Via MocoNews]
Danger testing out an NES emulator for Sidekicks? Sadly, no.
Our first thought when we heard the news that there was an NES emulator in the works for the Sidekick series of text machines was one of pure, unabashed elation. The classic Hiptop form factor is pretty much exactly what the doctor ordered for effective old-skool gaming, after all -- and let's be honest, any time Nintendo playtime comes to a new platform is cause for immediate and overindulgent celebration. Our second thought was, "wait, what?" It's pretty unclear how the emulator would be loaded with legally-obtained ROMs and we have our doubts that Nintendo signed away the rights to any binaries, so we're a little confused about the word that this would be officially offered through the Danger's Software Catalog. Let's all cross our fingers, continue to pay our T-Mobile bills on time, and hope that tomorrow might bring countless hours of Skate or Die while we're... you know, actually skating or something.Update: While not technically fake, it turns out that this 80s-vintage action is going to remain a pipe dream (and no, we're not talking about the NES game Pipe Dream, either). Danger's developer tools allow arbitrary Java to be loaded into the Hiptop emulator -- not just approved stuff, obviously -- so odds are that someone loaded an NES emulator (like, say, vNes) and went to town with the screen shots. Official offering through the Catalog, though? Not so much. Thanks, Jim!
Sidekick Slide turning red for round 2?
Boy Genius Report is reporting (it is the Boy Genius Report, after all) that the Motorola-sourced Sidekick Slide will be getting a second variation on T-Mobile come late May or early June, this time around in a lovely shade of red to compliment the same glossy black shell as the original. We can see how the purple might be a bit intense for some folks, so red should be a decent alternative; we don't think the picture's real here, but it gets the point across. With the iD out of the picture, it seems like T-Mobile has some ramping up to do in the palette department -- and really, how much longer can we go without a Dwayne Wade LX?
T-Mobile's Sidekick iD no longer available? Confirmed!
After what feels like an all-too-brief run on the low end of the Hiptop range, the colorful Sidekick iD has unceremoniously disappeared from T-Mobile's retail site. We don't have any intel on whether it's gone for good just yet -- we're working to confirm -- but tell us: was anyone out there, like, totally going to buy an iD today, only to discover (much to your horror, of course) that it had been removed? Please, do share your horror stories with us in comments while we're getting the lowdown on the situation.[Thanks, Mike]Update: We've heard back from T-Mobile, and it's true -- the iD is no longer being manufactured, though if you're really lucky, we understand that you still might be able to score one from a store that has some remaining stock. Good luck, shoppers!
Ask Massively: Now that World of Warcraft is perfect...
Just when you thought you couldn't get any sicker of news surrounding the 2.4 patch for World of Warcraft, here we are again with another edition of Ask Massively. Here at Ask Massively, we like to consider ourselves the "Anti-Trendy" crowd, not because we all shop at Hot Topic or put bumper stickers that preach non-conformity on our SUV's (Mass produced non-conformity? I digress...), but because we like to take stories that have been beaten to death and take a look at them from a slightly more skewed perspective.This week's inspiration comes from a young lady named Tara.Dear Massively Massive Guy,I've been playing World of Warcraft for quite some time, but I wonder what other games do that WoW doesn't. What games offer features that may someday be implemented by Blizzard? Surely, Blizzard doesn't innovate everything that is popular in MMORPGs.Curiously Yours,TaraIf you would like to be immortalized in electronic print, send us a question via our tipline, or by email at ask AT Massively DOT com. To the nice Nigerian gentleman who wants to enter into a business arrangement, the check is in the mail. For more on this topic, feel free to read on after the jump.
iPhone, Sidekick make popular heist targets
In what might be irrationally described as a wave, rash, flood, or deluge, two separate cases of utter and complete phone theft have cropped up this week. The first concerns $8.2-million worth of T-Mobile handsets which apparently have disappeared from one of the company's warehouses. According to an internal email sent to dealers, someone made off with 36,000 phones (most of which were Sidekicks), and the telco is now in the process of tracking the devices via IMEIs in hopes of getting back the lost goods. In other thievery news, two potential Darwin Award World Stupidity Award recipients plotted to steal 300 iPhones destined for Hong Kong right off of the truck that they were delivering them on. Following the heist, the men quit their delivery jobs, purchased diamond-studded Yankee earrings and matching cars, and then were promptly apprehended when the hastily-wrapped reams of paper they sent instead of the phones were spotted in Cathay. Gold-plated hats off to you, gentlemen.[Thanks, Paul B]Read - T-Mobile gets jacked, around $8.2M in phones vanished like a David Copperfield actRead - Two Baldwin men arrested in stolen iPhone caper
Could the Sidekick LX play video?
In the process of spelunking through Danger's latest software development kit for the Sidekick, one enterprising developer discovered a handful of dormant functions for controlling video playback. That got us to thinking: on the Sidekick LX's glorious widescreen display, isn't video support a totally obvious feature? Can't you just imagine perusing YouTube clip after YouTube clip -- or better yet, dropping a movie on the microSD card? We're being told that the specific functions aren't usable yet, but it's pretty reasonable to think that a future update could grace the LX with full support. And hey, Danger, if that wasn't in your plans, may we suggest you consider it?[Thanks, Mr. P]
Danger files for $100M IPO
One of the more important privately held companies operating in the consumer wireless industry today, Danger has filed this week to go public with the SEC "as soon as practicable" in an effort to raise up to $100 million in cold, hard cash under the symbol "DNGR." The SEC filing is a gold mine of information peeping into the inner workings of the outfit, revealing that Danger is "substantially dependent" on T-Mobile for its revenue stream (surprise, surprise) and that while overall revenue has grown from $36.7 to $49.3 to $56.4 million in the past three years, losses have actually widened over the past two from $8 million in 2006 to $11.7 million this year. Of course, it costs money to make money -- Danger clearly knows that -- and they intend to use $7.2 million of the IPO's proceeds to pay back some loans, hopefully on the path to eventual profit. No word yet on exactly when the IPO will go down or how many shares will be outstanding.[Via mocoNews]
T-Mobile replacing faulty Sidekick Slide with Sidekick LX
While we can't help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside whenever a manufacturer owns up to defects that originated on its end, it's even better when affected customers are looked after for their troubles. According to GigaOM, users dealing with a malfunctioning Sidekick Slide can swap their unit for a shiny new Sidekick LX free of charge, and if for whatever reason that doesn't get your juices flowin', you can opt to exchange it and put the purchase price towards another handset. If you're dead set on just keeping your current Slide, you can simply wait things out until a fix is announced, but you won't find us passing up on any offers to upgrade gratis.
Motorola and T-Mobile sort out Sidekick Slide issues
After a few days of investigation, it looks like Motorola and T-Mobile have figured what was behind that nasty Sidekick Slide bug that caused the devices to shut off when flipped open. According to our friends at Moto, the root cause was "a minor issue relating to the battery contacts," and a solution is being tested right now and should be available by next week, when Slides are expected to go back on sale at T-Mo stores. A speedy resolution, to be sure, but we're still amazed a bug like that got through in the first place.
Nokia patent app reveals Sidekick wannabe
We're pretty sure this isn't the first time someone outside of Danger conjured up images of a Sidekick wannabe, and while we've certainly seen a real fake version before, Nokia is apparently toying with the idea of kicking out a legitimate contender. In a recent patent application, Nokia details its vision for "compact devices with turn and slide concept," which looks an awful lot like a Sidekick save for the twistable apparatus on the side. To move the display and reveal the QWERTY keypad, users must turn the side-mounted knob, which subsequently shifts the LCD upwards and back while giving your thumbs access to the keys beneath. We're still on the fence with the whole winding approach, but it's an interesting deviation to the norm, regardless.[Via UnwiredView]
T-Mobile suspends Sidekick Slide sales
So, first the bad news: T-Mobile and Motorola have confirmed that "some" Sidekick Slides are turning themselves off when the display is opened or closed. Now, the good: they're doing something about it. Slide sales have been suspended as of this evening while Moto works to identify just what the heck's going on; meanwhile, existing owners who've experienced problems can call T-Mobile or head into a store to "discuss available options." For what it's worth, neither of T-Mobile's other Sidekicks in the current lineup -- the LX and the iD -- are affected, so Sharp might see a nice little sales spike here as Slide owners look for an alternative. Follow the break for T-Mobile's full statement.
Sidekick Slides losing power, respect when they slide
We're no QA experts here, but if your product is called the "Slide," isn't the slide mechanism the one thing you'd test the dickens out of? Alas, folks are discovering that Motorola's Sidekick Slide for T-Mobile has shipped with a devil of a flaw: actuating the display's slide periodically causes the phone to spontaneously reboot or to simply turn off and stay off. We've tested the claim on our own Slide, and yeah, it happens. Granted, it only happened twice out of thirty or so slides of the screen, but by standards of modern electronics engineering, we're pretty sure that's two times too many. As Boy Genius Report points out, to make matters even worse the power cycle is a hard reset, meaning your data's kaput unless you're within range of a T-Mobile signal to download everything from Danger's servers again. An ever-so-slightly loose battery seems to be the culprit here, but seriously, Moto, how did this defect ever leave a factory floor en masse?
Sidekick Slide now available, $199 to put it in your pocket
Before, life was simple: there was the Sidekick LX, unquestionably the most desirable Sidekick on the market -- an easy decision for folks looking to get into the whole Danger craze or upgrade that janky, old Sidekick 3. Suddenly, though, things have taken a complicated turn now that the Sidekick Slide is available, too. The Motorola-sourced Slide has now hit T-Mobile's website and store locations for $199 alongside the recently launched LX from Sharp, and while the $299 LX still takes the spec crown (thanks largely to a much larger, crisper widescreen display), the Slide's more compact -- and after having played with both, we're kinda down with the Slide's looks and its blasphemous slide mechanism, too. A tough decision, we know, so why don't you head down to your local joint and play with 'em both for yourself?
Hands-on (again) with the Sidekick Slide for T-Mobile
The widescreen Sidekick LX has cast a long, ominous shadow over the release of the Sidekick Slide, threatening to take a whole lot of steam over the baby Hiptop's launch -- Motorola's first -- come November 7. Guess what, though? Every time we put our hands on the Slide, we're liking it more and more. The thing feels rock solid, the slide mechanism seems like it'll probably be a lot less prone to issues than the pivot found on other models (while spring loading still makes it satisfying to use) and the black / violet color combo isn't the least bit abrasive in person. Even though Danger and T-Mobile have sourced this model to Moto instead of the usual suspect Sharp, make no mistake that this thing's every bit as much a Sidekick inside -- the software's the same and the controls are all where you'd expect them to be. Our only real complaints here: the keypad's a little tricky to use thanks to a dearth of tactile feedback, and after playing with the LX, the Slide's display is a low-res disappointment that leaves a heap of black margin around the edges where additional screen real estate should be. Check out our lil' library of eye candy here while you get amped for next week's launch!%Gallery-9567%
Hands-on with the Sidekick Slide!
Whoa there, hold up on that Sidekick LX purchase for one hot second! We played ever so briefly with Motorola's Sidekick Slide for T-Mobile at CTIA this week, and we think some folks might like this one better in person than in photography. Does that make it better than the LX? Not really -- you're dealing with a smaller screen here, not to mention that you sacrifice the trademark pivot action -- but for a hundie less than its stablemate, it might see some retail action after all. Click on for the closest most of us'll get to a Slide until the November 7 launch!%Gallery-9178%
