What was the first sidekick phone

And AIM was basically the defacto communication method for kids back then. I used it a lot. Something else it even had that was revolutionary? An app store.

Yeah, a good 10 years before Apple released the App Store, you could download apps directly over the network and it would even bill you automatically on your T-Mobile phone bill.

As a teenager using the Sidekick II and 3, they both were, for the first time that I can remember, phones that felt like they made messaging in various forms on the go a viable, and dare I say, even enjoyable thing. And even the albeit slow internet was still handy to have access to in my pocket.

I loved them. Celebrities started using Sidekicks, some paid in campaigns which was clever in and of itself back then as a marketing strategy, but some not. They created an entirely new platform and with the help of Tmobile, revolutionized the way phones worked. Rubin later formed Android, which was then bought by Google. Google, in turn, made Rubin the Director of Mobile Platforms. My first smartphone was a Tmobile Sidekick.

In fact, I'd venture to say that the Sidekick was the first real smartphone ever made. The only other smart devices back then were:. None of them made any sense. But the first minute I got my Sidekick, I knew I had something very special. I had been testing a Tmobile Windows CE device at the time and kept having to take it back to the shop. Eventually the guru at the shop said to me, "Give up on that thing and get a Sidekick.

Everyone who tries one falls in love. I was hooked instantly. The first thing everyone noticed about the Sidekick is the way the screen flipped up to reveal the best keyboard made on any phone to this day, I am still faster on Sidekick keyboards than I am on any other devices except - maybe - a full computer keyboard.

The original OS had some great functionality, but a few things set it apart from anything that had been done before. AIM - this was the first phone that did Instant Messaging well and had push messages! No guessing or autofill, you could turn out a message in a few seconds without a second thought. The good thing about this is that if your Sidekick was lost or stolen, you could just get another one, enter your account information and all your data would come down to your new Sidekick.

This worked when upgrading to a new model as well. A suspect entered the home and barricaded himself inside, beginning a tense hour standoff with police.

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Bears pass rusher Cassius Marsh was hit with taunting flag The penalty helped the Steelers score a field goal and Matt Nagy's team lost by two points. Close this content. Read full article. All the cool kids had one. Weezy had one. It released the Kin, a miniature Sidekick-inspired smartphone with a sliding keyboard that was tailored for teens who liked Facebook and Twitter. Two months after its release, it was discontinued. Just ask Blackberry.

Devices that sold themselves on large keyboards soon gave way to phones with touchscreens and as many buttons as you have fingers on one hand. So, Danger turned off its servers, and older Sidekicks that relied on their data centers were rendered useless. Things seemed to have come full circle, but not in a good way—this was the end of the line. The Sidekick succeeded because it showed consumers how cool technology could be, that they could personalize a chunk of plastic and chips to make it their own, and ushered in an era of mobile computing for the masses.

Say what you will about how fast its rising star burnt out, but the Sidekick is an important element in the link between cell phone and smartphone, technology and style. What Danger and T-Mobile were able to do whether it was intentional or not was tap into something that Dr.

Dre and Jimmy Iovine later did with their Beats headphones and what Apple is attempting to do with the Apple Watch today by making a device that's essential to one's personality and status, something stylish for the coming generation of consumers. So many of us wanted an iPhone before we knew we wanted one because we saw the future of connectivity in the Sidekick. In an era where new pieces of technology become obsolete by their first birthday, the Sidekick is, well, very much obsolete, but it has kept a lasting coolness about it that devices today lack.

In the evolution of the mobile phone, the Sidekick has an important place both in marketing and technology in helping jumpstart the modern smartphone craze that would go into full effect at the end of the s.

While we grew, the technology grew with us. The Sidekick is very much a representation of the time and place in which it was popular. While whatever surviving Sidekicks left may be packed away somewhere in the garage, whenever one is rediscovered, we may look at it in the same fondness as once-embarrassing prom photos and high school love letters, if even for a moment.

All Rights Reserved. The revolution started with a kick.