T-Mobile Killing Off The Sidekick Danger Service Servers Shuttered On May 31 T-Mobile is putting the Sidekick, one of the first phones to be considered a smartphone, to bed. According to a statement posted to the company's website, T-Mobile will kill off the Microsoft-fueled Danger Service that powers the devices as of May 31. According to T-Mobile, they're providing any remaining Sidekick users special offers to upgrade to a new smartphone. "To ensure the best possible transition for our loyal Sidekick customers, an enhanced Web tool is available on myT-Mobile.com to easily export their personal data, including contacts, photos, calendar, notes, to-do lists, and bookmarks, from the Danger service to a new device, computer, or a designated e-mail account," says T-Mobile.
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 | | T-Mo Dumping Sidekick Considering the lost-data debacle last year, I don't think anybody cares. T-Mobile is simply unloading an albatross around it's neck. | |
|  BlitzenZeusBurnt Out CynicPremium
join:2000-01-13
kudos:2
 ·Frontier FiOS
| Data connection required I never liked the idea of a phone that required a data connection to function normally anyway, and having it's data stored off server was another negative for me.
So these are just going to turn into bricks, yay for cloud computing.  | |
|  | patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY
kudos:1
1 edit | Re: Data connection required said by BlitzenZeus:I never liked the idea of a phone that required a data connection to function normally anyway, and having it's data stored off server was another negative for me.
So these are just going to turn into bricks, yay for cloud computing.
The Sidekick should be famous in history. It was the first mass marketed smartphone, that was designed as a dumb terminal to make itself affordable to the masses (compared to a blackberry or palm 8 years ago). It was "the" cellphone to have 5 to 9 years ago. Remember Paris Hilton carried one lol
edit: Microsoft Kin was another dumb terminal smart phone that got its data service yanked and the devices became useless. I wonder what would happen if Apple started banning devices or "retiring" them from itunes/app store compatibility. | |
| | | BlitzenZeusBurnt Out CynicPremium
join:2000-01-13
kudos:2 | Re: Data connection required It was almost famous for having people's personal information exposed, including Paris Hilton among them. | |
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| | Well thank you Microsoft Not content to screw up almost every attempt at mobile computing (Windows CE anyone?) but now you have ruined yet another great idea just because you wanted the delivery system that Danger came up with.
For consumers, the Sidekick was a VERY locked down phone. Couldn't make your own ringtones at all. Microsoft loved this idea because they saw it as a cash cow and tried to take advantage of it. And by doing do, destroyed any good things these phones did. I had one and a friend had one during the Microsoft destruction time.
Windows Mobile 7 is crap along with all their other mobile platforms. Think it is about time Microsoft quits the mobile arena. They have proved they aren't up to the task. | |
| | | Why now with Sidekick is coming? Am I the only person who thinks this is odd since they recently announced a new Sidekick device? Why would you even hint of turning something off until you have a new device to sell them that they most likely will want? | |
| | | Hearing impaired While many will remember the Sidekick as merely one of the first smartphones, or perhaps a demonstration of why relying on the cloud sucks, there is another important demographic being ignored.
The Sidekick was a huge hit in the deaf/hearing impaired community. So much so that T-Mobile even offered discounts on the handset and data-only plans to hearing impaired customers. I personally have a deaf friend that still uses one today. | |
| | | | Re: Hearing impaired My spouse is involved in the deaf community and when ever she took me to an event in the deaf community I saw a lot of Sidekicks. | |
| | | | | Re: Hearing impaired I'm deaf and have 3 sidekicks on my house. I have deaf friends that have them. For us it works perfectly to have a data plan that allows us mobile communication access on a phone that has a very good keyboard. When Microsoft bought out Danger I knew the Sidekick's days were numbered. It made no sense for them to buy out a service that was past it's prime to most of society except to acquire something they could use for one of their products. The fact that the Sidekick is still a very important phone in the deaf community means nothing to Microsoft. T-Mobile for it's part avoids the deaf issue entirely and would require us to buy only Samsung phones and sign a new 2 year contract.
May a thousand camel fleas infest the nostrils of anyone connected with Microsoft and T-Mobile. | |
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