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The Gadget: The Sidekick 2008, which follows up the Sidekick LX and Sidekick Slide as a “main” unit (read: not low-end like the iD) in the Sidekick series. It’s got improved features like a 2.0-megapixel camera, 2.6-inch display (400×240), video recording/playback, stereo Bluetooth, custom “shells” and most importantly, a smaller body.

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The Price: $149 with two-year contract.

The Verdict: It’s more features for less money. Not only is the Sidekick 2008 $50 cheaper than the $199 you’d currently pay for the Sidekick LX, it comes with more stuff. The best hardware improvement has to be the reduced size, and at 4.7 x 2.3 x 0.7 inches, it’s as long as the iPhone, slightly narrower, but about twice as thick. The second most important feature on a SK is the keyboard, and remains pretty much the same as before: chicklety. If you liked previous iterations, you’ll like this one.

The UI and inputs are definitely trademark Sidekick, with the standard trackball on the right for scrolling and button layout that’s just about the same as the LX’s. It’s got video capture and video playback, which were added to the Sidekick LX in an automatic update. Also unique to the 2008 is the ability to custom-design your own external shells at sidekickshells.com. One for $9.99 or two for $14.99.

The Sidekick 2008 continues the tradition of nicely designed and intuitive apps, like email, instant messaging, picture messaging and video messaging. The Sidekick started out as a data communicator—something it still continues to do well—but now can be safely called just a “communicator” because of its more well-rounded features.

The call quality was very good—loud and clear with only minimal background noise—and thanks to its newly reduced size, speaking on it is much less like holding a plastic taco up to your ear. The battery is only 1030mAh compared to the LX’s 1540mAh, which may partially explain the reduced size. The Sidekick has never been known to take great photos or video, but the video on the 2008 is decent enough for an MMS, and the photos are only slightly blurrier and darker than the iPhone’s. Not fantastic, but manageable.

The most important bit of information that you want to know is if we’d recommend it to T-Mobile users. Definitely. If you’re a current Sidekick owner and you’re happy with the platform, you’ll want to upgrade to this for its improved features and reduced size. If you’re not a current Sidekick user but have always eyeballed the series, it’s a good time to jump on.

Original post by Jason Chen

This is some pretty exciting news for us Palm fans who’ve been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for something new from the handset maker. It turns out Palm has hired Matias Duarte to design the UI for the next Palm OS. You probably haven’t heard of him, but he’s the guy behind the impressive interfaces for the Sidekicks and Helio’s phones. The idea of giving this guy a large install base and a touchscreen to play with is a good one. Palm’s got an uphill battle to take on the iPhone, but this could be how they do it. [Engadget]

Original post by Matt Hickey

The T-Mobile Sidekick LX Tony Hawk Edition gets official, with Tony’s name emblazed across the Sharp-ade Sidekick device. It’s pretty much the same as the standard Sidekick LX, but if you’re the kinda guy who collects all the Tony Hawk skate games no matter whether they’re good or not, this is for you. As a bonus, check out the gallery to see how really excited Tony Hawk is to have a special edition Sidekick of his own.

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Tony Hawk

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[T-Mobile]

Original post by Jason Chen

Original post by matt buchanan

Danger fans Hiptop3.com have managed to get a screenshot of the Sidekick Aspen/Gekko, the company’s replacement for the teen-friendly iD. It seems like the newest addition to the Sidekick family will be a cheaper option to the more upmarket LX, and will feature web browsing, a 2-megapixel camera with video capture mode, and “highly customizable features.” It’s not completely clear what “highly customizable” means, but looking at the picture, it might have to do with the ability to switch colored bumpers. Also not clear: why there were two different release dates for the Apsen and Gekko if they turned out to be the same product. [Hiptop3 via Crunchgear]

Original post by Elaine Chow

Here’s a snagged screen pointing to video recording and playback coming to the Sidekick LX in a future update. Nothing definitive on which codecs will be supported, but possibly H.264, which YouTube encodes videos in for Apple, meaning you might be able to watch YouTube videos. Or it could be a different one, and there’s no word on whether there’ll be a dedicated YouTube app. Regardless, video capabilities of some kind seem to be in the pipe. [Hiptop3]

Original post by matt buchanan

In a Q&A with the Sidekick maker Danger’s CEO, Financial Times asks him about what he’s got in his pocket. Surprisingly, Hank Nothaft tells.

A prototype of the next Sidekick (mobile-cum-internet device). It’s thinner and less wide but has a bigger keyboard. Now I no longer keep it on a belt, I’m always losing it. I was known as the “absent-minded professor” as a student.

Bigger keyboard, thinner and less wide? Sounds like a winner to us. If you’re really a Sidekick fanboy, head over to FT for the rest of the interview. There isn’t a whole lot of pertinent Sidekick detail, but you can get some insight into their leader. [FT - Thanks tipster!]

Original post by Jason Chen

It looks like Microsoft’s acquisition of Sidekick-maker Danger is complete and official. Whether or not this is good news or bad news for fans of the Sidekick has yet to be seen, but we’ll try to stay positive and keep an open mind. Hit the jump for the full press release.

Microsoft Completes Acquisition of Danger, Incorporates Company Into Premium Mobile Experiences Group New business group strengthens company focus on innovative mobile consumer experiences.

REDMOND, Wash. — April 15, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. has completed its acquisition of Danger, Inc., the company announced today. Danger’s expertise in building great, intuitive client software for mobile handsets connected to powerful hosted back-end services fosters rich consumer experiences in communication, media sharing, entertainment and personalization. The combined force of Danger and Microsoft strengthens the company’s ability to provide innovative mobile experiences to more consumers.

Danger will become a part of the new Premium Mobile Experiences (PMX) team, a group within the Mobile Communications Business (MCB) of the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. The PMX team focuses on consumer-facing mobile projects and is led by Roz Ho, corporate vice president of Premium Mobile Experiences, reporting to Andy Lees, senior vice president of the MCB. Danger co-founders Matt Hershenson and Joe Britt will join the new organization, reporting directly to Ho.

“We imagine a mobile experience that embraces sharing and celebrating relationships and personal moments,” Ho said. “Combining Danger and Microsoft talents together in the Premium Mobile Experiences team is how we’re going to deliver cool, new, fun mobile experiences to consumers. We want people to smile every time they look at their phone.”

The Danger mobile Internet platform, which connects people to their social circles and other rich content, is an integrated end-to-end solution that enables people to interact with their friends, social communities and content through the Internet and Internet services.

“At Danger, we created a fun and easy-to-use mobile experience for today’s Internet-savvy consumer,” Britt said.

Hershenson added, “As we combine our team and technologies with Microsoft, we see a clear path to evolving that experience and delivering it to an even broader group of consumers.”

Danger employees will continue to work from their current offices. Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.

[Microsoft via Boy Genius]

Original post by Adam Frucci

Filed under: Cellphones

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.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Original post by Darren Murph

As suspected, Motorola has identified an issue with the battery contacts as the source of the problem on the Sidekick Slide and are currently testing an updated model. T-Mobile and Motorola hope to have the Slide back in stores next week.

Original post by Adrian Covert