Things are looking a bit brighter for some T-Mobile Sidekick owners, as some people are reporting the return of lost data. T-Mobile, meanwhile, says it will compensate customers who suffered permanent data loss. Over the weekend, thousands of Sidekick owners reportedly were shocked to see their cloud-based contacts, calendar appointments, and photos disappear after a server crash at Danger, a Microsoft subsidiary.
Microsoft/Danger has since made progress in stabilizing the service, but T-Mobile urges all Sidekick users not to let their devices lose power until the issue is completely resolved. In an updated statement, T-Mobile said that Microsoft/Danger might be able to recover the personal information for some, but likely not all, users who suffered data loss. Keep an eye on T-Mobile’s Sidekick forums for further updates.
Lose your Sidekick data, get $100
If you are one of the unfortunate souls who suffered permanent data loss from the server crash, T-Mobile says it will be sending you a $100 gift card in the next fourteen days. You will be able to use this gift card on your T-Mobile bill or for other T-Mobile products and services. The gift card will be in addition to the free month of data service that T-Mobile has already offered Sidekick users.
Tips for getting your contacts back
You can sometimes find vCards attached to e-mails from professional colleagues, so it may be worth it to search your inbox for messages with vCards attached. Many e-mail clients, like Microsoft Outlook, can export contact data into vCard format, and webmail services like Gmail, Yahoo, and AIM are also vCard friendly. Even if you only have e-mail addresses in the contact lists of these applications or services, it is at least a way to put together a list of names to start rebuilding your address book.
For more information about vCards, and other contact recovery tips check out T-mobile’s contact recovery help page.