Danger Makes Free Sidekick SDK Available

DivideByZero writes "Turns out that Danger, Inc. has finally gotten around to making the SDK (Sign up here) available for the Hiptop (Released in the US as the T-Mobile Sidekick) - free of charge . The Hiptop/Sidekick has been mentioned previously on Slashdot.)"

Re:How much for hardware and service ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Uh, you need to select a state AND a city. Works fine for me.

Anyways, list price is $249. T-mobile has a $50 rebate on their site, bringing it down to $199. Like most cell phones, you can get it a lot cheaper if you shop around and/or are willing to sign up for a 12+ month contract; I've seen it anywhere from $250 down to $75, minus monthly fees.

T-mobile says they're out of stock and won't let me see what plans are available for the Sidekick, but after a quick search the cheapest plan seems to be $39/m

Re:How much for hardware and service ?

[RevAaron]

Wow, almost enough for me to want that over my land line. When you get unlimited data, at what speed can one expect for thoroughput?

Re:How much for hardware and service ?

[RzUpAnmsCwrds]

It's GPRS, so about 60-144kbps is normal.

Pig in a poke

[metamatic]

That was what killed it for me. The Sidekick is tied to a single provider, they won't tell me how much it's going to cost per month, and they still expect me to pay $200 for the unit as well? I don't think so...

What is it with companies and SDKs?

[ObviousGuy]

Why can't they see fit to distribute the SDK free of charge without any strings attached? Why must they either charge you an arm and a leg for the kit or make you sign up to some sort of "approved" list of developers?

If there's anything of Microsoft's that ought to be emulated, it's their SDK distribution policy.

Re:What is it with companies and SDKs?

[gl4ss]

**If there's anything of Microsoft's that ought to be emulated, it's their SDK distribution policy.**

not really, tried to get xbox sdk? or ms visual studio for free? the sdk's they got are add-ons to their existing products.

Re:What is it with companies and SDKs?

[ObviousGuy]

Yes, their development products are expensive, but the SDK itself is free and can be compiled against using any compiler from VC to Borland to gcc.

What is SideKick dev like?

[RevAaron]

Anyone had a look at this? What is development for the SideKick like? What kind of model/style? What language? Presumable C or C++.

(I'm a big platform/PDA nerd, yes)

Re:What is SideKick dev like?

[Wonko42]

I've been playing around with it. The SDK is really nice, and includes a simulator (since there currently isn't any way to actually transfer applications to the Sidekick). Everything is Java-based (J2ME), which makes things really simple. Several very nice example applications are included in the SDK, along with a very nicely-done VT100 SSH terminal application.

Re:What is SideKick dev like?

[aminorex]

So, you've got it. What filenames should I be searching on WinMX and Kazaa?

I admit that I'm almost pissed off enough to
give up on developing for this device, but
not quite.

Re:What is SideKick dev like?

[Wonko42]

Why not just register? It's free. Make up a fake email address if you're paranoid.

Re:What is SideKick dev like?

[aminorex]

It does you no good. You can't get it unless you
supply a tmail address (i.e. sign a contract with
t-mobile).

These games do no one any good, and just piss off
the application developers. Why do they pull this
crap?

Re:What is SideKick dev like?

[Trinn]

If the sidekick has a web-browser, why can't you r un a mini-server & serve up the JAD/JAR combo to it? Just make sure the filetypes are right.

Re:What is SideKick dev like?

[Gortbusters.org]

Presumably.... but J2ME is taking the big wireless markets by storm. I believe even Motorola is looking at J2ME in there new devices.

For everyone griping...

[Anonymous Coward]

The SDK is quite Nice... uses J2SE and comes with a good bit of example code that is licensed BSD Style...

Its good stuff!

Malicious Hacker

[themo0c0w]

I love the the classifications of developer they offer:

* Hobbyist
* Open Source
* Professional
* Corporate
* Malicious Hacker

Gee, I wonder if the last one flags me as a terrorist... *grin*

EEtimes teardown of hiptop

[morcheeba]

EETimes has a teardown of the hiptop... [eetimes.com] Engineers will get a chuckle out of finding the part that won't die!! [cmpnet.com] There's also a block diagram. [cmpnet.com]

(hint: it's a national part on the same side as the processor)