Danger Inc. has made its Hiptop II device available as the T-Mobile Sidekick II at T-Mobile stores.
The new version of the Sidekick, which was announced this summer, is 25 percent slimmer than the original, has an integrated camera with flash, enhanced sound quality and battery life, and expanded messaging capacity.
It features a color screen that swivels open to reveal a Qwerty keyboard. For the new device, Danger moved several controls previously aligned with the keyboard, including a directional control, scroll key, volume buttons, power key and user-programmable buttons, to the outside of the device, allowing users to access applications without having to flip up the keyboard.
Sidekick II can be personalized with ring tones, games, a 2,000-entry contact list and color interchangeable bumper accessories, and it supports Yahoo! Messenger and AOL Instant Messenger services.
Danger and T-Mobile plan to offer Intellisync software to allow for wireless synchronization of contact and calendar information between a user’s desktop PC and the Sidekick. The companies plan to make the software available for all generations of the Sidekick for $10.
The device is retailing for $300. T-Mobile charges $20 per month, on top of a voice plan, for unlimited data use for Web surfing, e-mail and instant messaging.
Eight carriers worldwide currently offer the original Hiptop device, which was launched two years ago. T-Mobile USA is the only U.S. carrier to offer the Hiptop.
