Hasta La Gadget!

Backing up your personal PC to external media might still be a novel concept for some, but any IT manager fresh out of school can tell you that regularly backing up mission-critical servers — and storing those backups in multiple physical locations — isn’t merely important, it’s practically non-negotiable, and it only becomes that much more critical before undertaking hardware maintenance. Alleged details on the events leading up to Danger’s doomsday scenario are starting to come out of the woodwork, and it all paints a truly embarrassing picture: Microsoft, possibly trying to compensate for lost and / or laid-off Danger employees, outsources an upgrade of its Sidekick SAN to Hitachi, which — for reasons unknown — fails to make a backup before starting. Long story short, the upgrade runs into complications, data is lost, and without a backup to revert to, untold thousands of Sidekick users get shafted in an epic way rarely seen in an age of well-defined, well-understood IT strategies.

The coming weeks are going to be trying times for both Microsoft and T-Mobile, a sideline player in this carnage that ultimately still shoulders responsibility for taking users’ cash month after month and keeping tabs on the robustness of its partners’ workflows. We’re betting that heads are going to roll at both of these companies, formal investigations are going to be waged, users are going to be compensated in big ways, lawsuits are going to be filed, and textbooks could very well be modified to make sure that lessons are learned for the next generation of college grads tasked with keeping clouds running. Why there weren’t any backups — even older ones — that could’ve been used as a restore point is totally unclear, so we’re hoping Microsoft has the stones to come clean for the benefit of an entire industry that wants to understand how to make sure this never happens again.

Filed under: Cellphones

Sidekick failure rumors point fingers at outsourcing, lack of backups originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 11 Oct 2009 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile Sidekick users have been holding out hope that their data might be recovered after T-Mo issued an optimistic message of hope. But the carrier just updated users and admitted the truth: Your shit’s gone. Sorry, guys.

It’s been more than two weeks without data for Sidekick users, and T-Mobile finally bit the bullet and announced that it probably isn’t coming back. The quote:

Regrettably, based on Microsoft/Danger’s latest recovery assessment of their systems, we must now inform you that personal information stored on your device – such as contacts, calendar entries, to-do lists or photos – that is no longer on your Sidekick almost certainly has been lost as a result of a server failure at Microsoft/Danger. That said, our teams continue to work around-the-clock in hopes of discovering some way to recover this information. However, the likelihood of a successful outcome is extremely low.

This is pretty crappy of T-Mobile and Danger, and while it’s probably unfair to make this connection, doesn’t give us any new confidence in Project Pink, developed by the remnants of Danger after Microsoft acquired it. (After all, Microsoft bought Danger specifically because of their software services. And now, it just goes kablooey?) Renowned Sidekick user and a-hole Perez Hilton, while normally hysteric about just about everything, has the right tone here:

To add insult to injury, the ONLY thing T-Mobile is offering their customers, whom they obviously don’t value or respect, is one month of free data service.

That’s shit!

One month of free data service (which is not the same thing as one month of free phone use) for SEVEN DAYS of heartache and no access to contacts????

That’s fucked!!!!

Really, that’s kind of putting it lightly. [T-Mobile via Boy Genius Report]

This review has disappointingly little direct, I’m-going-to-go-buy-this-right-now relevance to North American Android fans — but if you want to keep tabs on the sweet gear our friends over in Europe are now able to buy, head on over to Engadget Mobile where we’ve got an in-depth review of the Huawei-sourced Pulse for T-Mobile UK. With a 3.5-inch HVGA display, 3.5mm jack, and every spec this side of US 3G, it’s a contender — so if you’re in the Old World, go have a look at what you’re now able to buy, and if you’re on the other side of the Atlantic, go check out another reason to be insanely jealous.

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

T-Mobile Pulse review over on Engadget Mobile! originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We have it on good authority that T-Mobile and AT&T both currently plan on announcing the Bold 2 — also known as the Onyx — on October 21. As a refresher, this would be the touchpad-driven piece with model number 9700 that’s been making the rounds on the leak circuit the past few months, a fitting successor to a device that virtually every celebrity this side of Merle Haggard has been photographed carrying at once point or another. What we don’t know is pricing or retail launch date, but at least this gives us a pretty hard target for when we can expect details — so start cleaning out that Bold trackball, because you’re going to have something to eBay here pretty shortly.

[Thanks, Cody]

Filed under: Cellphones, Handhelds

BlackBerry Bold 2 to be announced October 21 for T-Mobile, AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile has unveiled a broad lineup of cell phones recently, including Android-powered devices like the Motorola Cliq, ahead of the holiday season. We’ve got two more this morning: the T-Mobile Tap and the Nokia 3711.

The T-Mobile Tap (pictured) is a midrange touch screen phone. It features a 2-megapixel camera, support for T-Mobile’s 3G network, TeleNav-powered GPS, Bluetooth, and plenty of messaging options. The Tap will be available later this year in berry and midnight blue colors; no word yet on a price.

Nokia’s 3711, meanwhile, is a standard flip phone with a hidden-until-lit external display. The 3711 also includes GPS with Nokia Maps, 3G support, a 2-megapixel camera, Bluetooth, and runs Symbian Series 40. This one will be available in a “sable” color sometime in the next several weeks.

Finally, T-Mobile also announced that the existing BlackBerry Curve 8520 is now available in white for $129.99 with a two-year contract.