Is this the face of Danger's third-generation Hiptop? The company's not saying, of course, and neither is T-Mobile USA, which sells the current Hiptop as the Sidekick II. The shot's said to come from marketing material, presumably being prepared for an upcoming launch. The latest pic matches the machine shown in blurry shots taken in February this year.

The shot comes courtesy of the Sidekick 3 blog, and pictures the T-Mobile incarnation of the device. We've included a pic of the current Sidekick II so you can see some of the differences.

The new box appears a much slicker device than its predecessor, which finally arrived in the UK in November 2005 after debuting in the US in August 2004. You can read our review here.

Called a "BlackBerry for consumers", the Hiptop/Sidekick provides a highly integrated suite of messaging tools in a handset that sports a spring-loaded flip out display and a QWERTY keyboard. The current unit has 32MB of RAM, 16MB of ROM and a 640 x 480 camera. It's a GPRS-only device - no EDGE or 3G - so it's a plum candidate for an upgrade. ®