Fun fact: The T-Mobile Sidekick was initially called The Hiptop or Danger Hiptop. The Hiptop was made by a company called Danger Inc. located in Palo Alto, California. The company was soon purchased by Microsoft. It has also been called a Mobiflip, and a Sharp Jump
The sidekick was produced from 2002-2010. It went through several remodels. What is notable about the sidekick is that it did not have the standard numerical keypad, but instead a full qwerty keyboard. The button layout included a directional pad and a scrolling implement. The screen usually swiveled out from the device, but there was a T-Mobile slide where the screen – well – it slid out.
The sidekick’s display was backlit, though it could remain visible without. It had a portrait display mode, but was primarily used in landscape mode.
The last “sidekick” model was released in 2011 and the OS and production companies have since ceased producing the sidekick model and the software required for it. They had a very good run.
In 2018, on the 1st of April, T-Mobile announced they were bringing the Sidekick brand back as a new “smartshoephone” playing on the word ‘kick.’ This was a cruel April Fool’s joke, and only served to remind the public how good they had it back in the mid 2000s
Now, you can find used sidekicks on the internet ranging between $30-$200. Without the operating system, it seems pointless to make the purchase, but nostalgia is strong and those phones sell that high for a reason.
Roxanne's Blog 