When it arrived in April of last year, the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G was more than a re-imagining of an aging brand: the Samsung SGH-T839 was perhaps the best mid-range Android handset we'd ever seen, with a fantastic physical QWERTY keyboard and loads of value for the money. For the past eleven months, the iF Design award-winning handset had a good run, but now T-Mobile tells us that it's officially discontinuing the phone. (This confirms an earlier TmoNews report.) That said, that doesn't mean there isn't another Sidekick in the cards. Here's what the carrier told us:

While the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G is being retired, it doesn’t mean we are discontinuing the T-Mobile Sidekick line. T-Mobile continues to update and expand its 4G product portfolio and we’ll keep you posted when we have news to share on T-Mobile’s latest 4G devices.Perhaps the Hiptop's legacy will continue with another T-Mobile product, maybe even a high-end phone this time. It certainly feels like the market could use a few more physical QWERTY devices. If you don't mind a single-core 1GHz processor and a smallish 3.5-inch screen, you can actually still pick up the Sidekick at T-Mobile's website for the time being. It's $329.99, or free on contract.