How to Customize Your Sidekick 3

Intro: How to Customize Your Sidekick 3

Out of all the cell phones I've owned, the Sidekick has been the only one without the ability to change it's background. Sure, you can choose from 4 SK3 themed backgrounds, but it wont take long for you to tire of Madison, Liquid, Rodeo, and Surface. This instructable with show you how to make and install your own SK3 themes.

STEP 1: Making Your Theme

Each Sidekick theme contians a folder comprised of a txt file and various images. Each theme should have two background images, one for the menu screen, and one for the folder screen. Each background should be 240x138px (for creating backgrounds, I recommend using Photoshop or, if unavailable, a free ware program called The Gimp).

Once you have made your two backgrounds, you will need to create your .txt file. Open either notepad or TextEdit and paste the following:


string Name(en_US) theme-name-goes-here
bitmap ring-background file-name-goes-here
bitmap ring-folder-background file-name-goes-here

Just change "file-name-goes-here" to whatever the file name for your backgrounds and you should be set. Don't forget to include the extension! Save the file as "theme.txt" and place into a folder along with the background images.

STEP 2: Prep SK3 for Custom Themes

After you've made a theme, it's time to prepare your SK3.

First, plug in your SK3 via usb port on your computer. The sidekick should display as an external memory drive in "my computer"(PC) or in your finder window(mac). If your computer in unresponsive to your SK3, driver installers are available at developer.danger.com.

Once you've opened the SK3 on your computer, you'll want to create a new folder entitled "themes". Once you've created your themes folder, go ahead and drag the theme you made into the folder.

after you've unplugged your SK3, your backgrounds should display along with the four default backgrounds.

Comments

[candybsw]

By Any Chance Do You Have The Step By Step Instructions to install a replacement keypad for the sidekick 2??

[wildideas]

If you haven't owned a Sharp T-mobile Sidekick you couldn't POSSIBLY even begin to fathom the frusteration involved with customizing your Sidekick. Sidekicks are notoriously UN user-friendly and UNcustomizable. I totally understand where you're coming from. My boyfriend and I both own Sidekicks. We purchased the S3 back when it was the "new hottness" about 3 months ago. $436 sunk into those things. They're great, but I did so MISSSSSS being able to have my own pictures as a backdrop.

[sunshine3]

yeah you can customize the background. There are thousands of pre-made themes here.

[x007steep]

????? u can change backgrounds on many many phones and the motorolas are super customizable

[MicahXcore]

I said WITHOUT.

[!Andrew_Modder!]

what?