The Hippest Phones » Sidekick

Microsoft Turtle and Pure deets are revealed

Marc Flores — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 22:55:38 +0000

With the huge announcement of Windows Phone 7 out of the way, we’re anticipating what was rumored about another Microsoft phone last week: news about a project Pink revival. Before Microsoft can say anything officially, however, the folks over at WMExperts have unearthed some gritty details about the coming phones. The Turtle, pictured above, is a [...]

Sidekick LX 2009 basks in the warm glow of a minor firmware update

Chris Ziegler — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:08:00 +0000

In the event that Sidekickgate didn't scare you right out of using anything involving Danger, you've got a bit of good news this week -- if you've got an LX 2009 model, anyhow -- on news that a new firmware has been pushed out over-the-air. Details are thin, but it looks like the biggies here are support for backing up contacts to T-Mobile's Mobile Backup service (independently of the normal sync that happens to Danger's servers) and a host of bug fixes, which are always a pleasant thing for improving the user experience in the field. It's hard to say how many LX 2009s are still in active use and how many more are realistically gonna be sold, but yeah -- if we had to guess, the writing's on the wall for Sidekick as we know it, so at this point, cherish every FOTA like it's your last.

Sidekick LX 2009 basks in the warm glow of a minor firmware update originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 10 Dec 2009 09:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile starts selling Sidekicks again, drops prices

Jeremy Kessel — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:48:33 +0000

Data problems? What data problems? Oh right, those data problems. Well, its been about a month so, like with any sort of break up or troubled relationship, you've had your chance to grieve and be angry...now it's time to move on, folks. At least that seems to be T-Mobile's position. Thus, Big T has resumed selling both its older Sidekick and the newer Sidekick LX, each for slightly less than the pre-data loss prices nonetheless.

T-Mobile cautiously resumes Sidekick sales at lower prices

Chris Ziegler — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:08:00 +0000

Filed under: Handsets, T-Mobile, Danger, EDGE, EV-DO, HSDPA, UMTS

After a protracted "let's be absolutely certain we're in the clear" period, T-Mobile has gone ahead and lifted its self-imposed moratorium on Sidekick sales following that little meltdown you may have heard about. Oh, and there's a bonus, too: they're a little cheaper this time around. The Sidekick 2008 has dropped to $49.99 on contract while the top-of-the-line LX 2009 has shed $25 down to $149.99 on contract, so if you were looking for an excuse to live dangerously with your precious address book, this might be as good of a reason as any. Then again, what are the odds of lightning striking twice?

Read - Sidekick 2008
Read - Sidekick LX 2009

T-Mobile cautiously resumes Sidekick sales at lower prices originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile posts Sidekick contact recovery instructions

Vladislav Savov — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 11:24:00 +0000

Filed under: T-Mobile, Danger

That Microsoft / T-Mobile tag team has been doing a pretty decent job of cleaning up the disaster area left by the Sidekick data loss, and now the first item on the recovery menu is ready for collection. Sidekick users can hit up the My T-Mobile webpage to download their contacts and then restore them either to their Sidekick or whatever device they've replaced it with. Extensive how-to instructions are available at the read link, which also furnishes us with the reassurance that "Microsoft/Danger continues its efforts to recover pictures, calendar entries and to-do lists, which may be available in the future."

[Thanks, Abe G.]

T-Mobile posts Sidekick contact recovery instructions originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft to restore remaining Sidekick contacts this week, other stuff ’shortly thereafter’

Chris Ziegler — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:58:00 +0000

Filed under: T-Mobile, Danger

Sidekick users tend to be an active, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants bunch, so it's gotta hurt like the dickens when they don't have access to their schedules and little black books -- but hey, at least it's still recoverable, right? Microsoft has just posted a quick update to keep everyone abreast on the progress of its Sidekick data recovery, and it sounds like they'll be able to have remaining missing contacts back in action this week with the rest of the data -- to-dos, notes, photos, and the like -- following on "shortly thereafter." Anyone who didn't lose information in the debacle should be unaffected by the recovery process, but for those who did, these backup tapes couldn't possibly load into Danger's feisty data center fast enough.

Microsoft to restore remaining Sidekick contacts this week, other stuff 'shortly thereafter' originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Update On Microsoft/Sidekick Debacle: “Most, If Not All” Data Will Get Recovered

Robin Wauters — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 12:47:59 +0000

Turns out our source had it right: Microsoft engineers who worked on the Danger/Sidekick meltdown have been able to recover "most if not all" of the data that was lost during last weekend's catastrophic server failure. In a statement, Roz Ho, Corporate VP of Premium Mobile Experiences addresses the unfortunate T-Mobile Sidekick customers and apologizes for the massive fail:

Microsoft recovers ‘most, if not all’ Sidekick customer data

Vladislav Savov — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:45:00 +0000

Filed under: Announcements

Steve Ballmer must have busted out his secret stash of magic dust, as Microsoft has just come out with the announcement that it has recovered "most, if not all, customer data" that was lost during the recent Sidekick debacle. Following the wildly embarassing fiasco attributed to a "system failure that created data loss in the core database and the back-up," T-Mobile and Redmond have "rebuilt the system component by component" and now promise to restore data to affected users in the most expedient fashion possible. Guess that means you won't be getting $100 from T-Mobile for losing your Tetris high scores after all.

[Thanks, Abe G.]

Microsoft recovers 'most, if not all' Sidekick customer data originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Peek offers disgruntled Sidekick owners a free Pronto, internet high-five

Darren Murph — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Filed under: Handsets, Others, T-Mobile, Danger

As Microsoft and Apple have so precisely demonstrated, there's nothing like a face full of egg to make the competition fire up the sucker punch machine. Take Peek, for example, who is now offering angered Sidekick users (you know, the ones that probably lost all of their data recently) a gratis Pronto for their trouble. All that's required is an image of you, a frowny face, your wiped Sidekick and a T-Mobile bill -- once that's sent over to Peek's dedicated inbox, you'll soon receive your Pronto in the mail. 'Course, it's up to you to foot the $20 monthly bill for keeping the thing active, but hey, free's free. Kind of.

Peek offers disgruntled Sidekick owners a free Pronto, internet high-five originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sidekick user data may be recovered after all

Doug Aamoth — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:00:37 +0000

Slightly better news for anyone who lost data during the recent Microsoft/T-Mobile Sidekick outage. While it initially appeared that user data may have been lost forever, T-Mobile issued a statement late yesterday saying, "Recent efforts indicate the prospects of recovering some lost content may now be possible."

T-Mobile offers Sidekick users olive branch, $100 (update: not for everyone)

Nilay Patel — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:13:00 +0000

Filed under: Handsets, Danger

We'd heard T-Mo was thinking about doing more for Sidekick customers who've had their data wiped by Microsoft / Danger / Hitachi's botched server upgrade, and we just got a statement confirming that any affected customers will be getting a $100 gift card for their troubles in addition to that free month of service. T-Mobile also says that recovery of "some" lost content may be possible, but we're not holding out hope -- and if we'd just been shafted like this, we're not sure we'd want to buy even more stuff from Team Magenta. Full statement after the break.

Update: It looks like T-Mobile's having some success recovering data on certain accounts after all, and we're hearing that the carrier's official policy here is that only folks who still don't have their data recovered after two weeks will be eligible for the $100 -- everyone else will have to make do with the free month of data alone. It's a bummer, but if you read the verbiage on the statement closely, you'll notice that they give themselves the wiggle room they need to pull this off. Thanks, David C.!

Continue reading T-Mobile offers Sidekick users olive branch, $100 (update: not for everyone)

T-Mobile offers Sidekick users olive branch, $100 (update: not for everyone) originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile ‘considering additional measures’ to compensate Sidekick owners

Chris Ziegler — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:58:00 +0000

Filed under: T-Mobile, Danger

The official line is still that T-Mobile customers affected by Sidekick amnesia will be given a months' credit on their data plan, but that may not be the end of it (and considering the magnitude of the issue for affected folks, we'd certainly hope not). At this point, they're leaving the door open to more by saying that they're "considering additional measures" to help soothe the souls of those who lost contacts, notes, schedules, apps, and everything else, but exactly what those "measures" are remains to be seen. Free phones? Free service? A gift certificate to a day spa? The full (albeit brief) remarks can be found after the break.

Continue reading T-Mobile 'considering additional measures' to compensate Sidekick owners

T-Mobile 'considering additional measures' to compensate Sidekick owners originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:58:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sidekick failure rumors point fingers at outsourcing, lack of backups

Chris Ziegler — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 00:44:00 +0000

Filed under: T-Mobile, Danger

Backing up your personal PC to external media might still be a novel concept for some, but any IT manager fresh out of school can tell you that regularly backing up mission-critical servers -- and storing those backups in multiple physical locations -- isn't merely important, it's practically non-negotiable, and it only becomes that much more critical before undertaking hardware maintenance. Alleged details on the events leading up to Danger's doomsday scenario are starting to come out of the woodwork, and it all paints a truly embarrassing picture: Microsoft, possibly trying to compensate for lost and / or laid-off Danger employees, outsources an upgrade of its Sidekick SAN to Hitachi, which -- for reasons unknown -- fails to make a backup before starting. Long story short, the upgrade runs into complications, data is lost, and without a backup to revert to, untold thousands of Sidekick users get shafted in an epic way rarely seen in an age of well-defined, well-understood IT strategies.

The coming weeks are going to be trying times for both Microsoft and T-Mobile, a sideline player in this carnage that ultimately still shoulders responsibility for taking users' cash month after month and keeping tabs on the robustness of its partners' workflows. We're betting that heads are going to roll at both of these companies, formal investigations are going to be waged, users are going to be compensated in big ways, lawsuits are going to be filed, and textbooks could very well be modified to make sure that lessons are learned for the next generation of college grads tasked with keeping clouds running. Why there weren't any backups -- even older ones -- that could've been used as a restore point is totally unclear, so we're hoping Microsoft has the stones to come clean for the benefit of an entire industry that wants to understand how to make sure this never happens again.

Sidekick failure rumors point fingers at outsourcing, lack of backups originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile Sidekick Disaster: Danger’s Servers Crashed, And They Don’t Have A Backup

Jason Kincaid — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 22:18:42 +0000

Wow. T-Mobile and Danger, the Microsoft-owned subsidiary that makes the Sidekick, has just announced that they've likely lost all user data that was being stored on Microsoft's servers due to a server failure. That means that any contacts, photos, calendars, or to-do lists that haven't been locally backed up are gone. Apparently if you don't turn off your Sidekick and make sure its battery doesn't run out you can salvage what's currently stored on the device, otherwise you're out of luck: Microsoft/Danger is describing the likelihood of recovering the data from their servers as "extremely low". T-Mobile Sidekick users have been suffering from a major outage all week, and that issue apparently hasn't been resolved either.

T-Mobile: we probably lost all your Sidekick data

Chris Ziegler — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:45:00 +0000

Filed under: Software, T-Mobile, Danger

Well, this is shaping up to be one of the biggest disasters in the history of cloud computing, and certainly the largest blow to Danger and the Sidekick platform: T-Mobile's now reporting that personal data stored on Sidekicks has "almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger." They're still looking for a way to recover it, but they're not giving users a lot of hope -- meanwhile, servers are still on the fritz and customers are being advised not to let their devices power down because anything that's still on there will be lost the next time the device is turned on. Another communique is promised from T-Mobile on Monday to give everyone a status update on the recovery efforts, but at this point, it's not looking good at all.

T-Mobile: we probably lost all your Sidekick data originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 10 Oct 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile makes Facebook and Twitter apps available for older ‘kicks

Jeremy Kessel — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 19:44:39 +0000

Earlier today, T-Mobile announced the availability of Facebook and Twitter apps (already available on the Sidekick LX 2009) for its older Sidekicks - the Sidekick LX (including Tony Hawk Sidekick LX), Sidekick (2008), and Sidekick Slide. While the Facebook app remains free for any ‘kick, the Twitter app is gonna run you $1.99 PER month on [...]

Sidekick Sync app brings push email, Exchange support, and more to the Sidekick LX ‘09

Matt Burns — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 16:40:40 +0000

Yo, Sidekick LX '09 owners. Check out the Download Catalog. You should find the Sidekick Sync app somewhere in there and guess what? The app brings push email, attachment viewing, syncing, and Exchange support to your beloved Sidekick. Tits, right? (If you don't see the app right away, check back a little bit later today)