We’re sad to report that the day has finally come for T-Mobile to retire the Sidekick 4G, the very first Android Sidekick cross-over to hit T-Mobile shelves. I first got a hands on the Sidekick 4G back in March of 2011 and loved the keyboard, and it remains one of my favorite pieces of QWERTY hardware in recent memory.

First leaked in January of 2011, the Sidekick 4G brought the Sidekick brand back to the T-Mobile world after a lengthy absence as a result of the great Sidekick outage of 2009. We’re sad to see the this smartphone go, especially after we learned in December of last year that the Sidekick 4G was one the most searched consumer electronics via Google for all of 2011.

I can only hope that the Sidekick brand remains a staple in the T-Mobile lineup for many years to come and while we haven’t heard anything about a follow-up, the Sidekick name deserves as many chances as we can give it.