Cell Phones : R.I.P. T-Mobile Sidekick As Of 5/31/11

If you're still lugging around a T-Mobile Sidekick -- and we know there has to be at least a few of you -- we've got some bad news. On May 31st, T-Mobile will officially be turning off access to Danger's servers. The company hasn't released a new Sidekick since 2009, and in mid-2010 stopped selling the devices altogether. The brand isn't completely dead, but T-Mobile is gearing up for a launch of new Android-based Sidekicks to replace the aging Danger models. The hiptops (as they were called before T-Mobile rebranded them) were ahead of their time. Not only were they one of the first consumer-friendly smartphones on the market, but they offered a host of cloud-based services that went largely unmatched until the launch of Android and WebOS.

The shift to Android, with its focus on the cloud, makes a lot of sense -- not only from a features standpoint, but also because Danger founder and father of the Sidekick Andy Rubin is the creator of Android and Director of Mobile Platforms at Google. T-Mobile says it will be working hard to ease the transition for Sidekick customers. In addition to offering Web-based tools to backup and move your data, T-Mobile also promises to "provide offers" for new devices, as old Sidekicks are destined to become nothing more than glorified paperweights. A new 4G, Android-powered Sidekick built by Samsung should be landing this spring, presumably before the Danger servers go offline.

Cell Phones : T-Mobile Sidekick 4G in the wild, made by Samsung?

If these first in-the-wild shots of T-Mobile's upcoming Android-powered Sidekick 4G turn out to be legit -- and we've no reason to doubt them, especially considering TmoNews' track record -- then we'd say the carrier has done a reasonably good job porting the classic Sidekick design and pulling it into the modern age off the strength of a big display... and, of course, a modern operating system. Interestingly, word on the street is that the new model is made by Samsung, not Sharp; historically, Sharp has made all of the Sidekicks with the exception of the forgettable Slide, which was a Motorola one-off. Looks like the swivel display has been replaced by a tilt-slide, but most importantly, the device looks the same when open and closed, which should put a warm, fuzzy feeling in the hearts of old-school Sidekick users.