First Look at the HTC Shift

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://ubertablet.blogspot.com/2007/08/first-look-htc-shift.html' target='_blank'>http://ubertablet.blogspot.com/2007...-htc-shift.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"I had The HTC Shift for a little over 60 hours and was able to play with many of its great features, which include Pocket PC, HSDPA, Vista Business, Tilt Touchscreen, QWERTY keyboard and more. It is an incredible device with many possibilities, this video will hopefully showcase some of that. I managed to literally squeeze it into a very tight schedule I am running at present and did what I could to cover off some of the burning questions folks might have."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20070812-htcshift.jpg" /><br /><br />Knowing how excited fellow MVP, Hugo Ortega, gets whenever he has a new UMPC in his hands, it's probably safe to say he didn't sleep at all this past week. Why? His latest toy wasn't just any UMPC; rather, the <a href="http://www.htc.com/product/03-product_HTC_Shift.htm">HTC Shift</a>. There's a lot about this device that needs digesting and I don't want to bore you by listing all the details here. Instead, head over to <a href="http://ubertablet.blogspot.com/2007/08/first-look-htc-shift.html">Uber Tablet</a> and check out Hugo's 34-minute video. Enjoy!

[Mikey]

I want one... How much?

[DaleReeck]

I want one... How much?

It isn't cheap. Pre-order prices have been showing between $1600-$1900.

[virain]

I've noticed that this Shift is a little bit slow in a video. If it is so with brand new, empty hard drive, what will happens when a few programs are loaded on it?

[ctmagnus]

That resume from hibernation was brutally long. I hope that it'll be faster in the shipping version.

[McDoPDA]

That resume from hibernation was brutally long. I hope that it'll be faster in the shipping version.It was not a resume from hibernation !!! :D Hugo removed the battery during the presentation and then the Shift came back from a "wild" boot, not from hibernation ! 8)

[Gerard]

It's a bit frustrating... okay, a LOT frustrating, watching someone (on another continent, no less!) playing with such an amazing device while he gets hung up for much of the video messing with stuff I'm not the least bit interested in. HSPDA? Who CARES!!! Okay, so a lot of people care. But doesn't he at least have Wi-Fi in his house so he can show what the video drawing is like with a proper Youtube video stream? Or better yet, show a 1GB or larger movie file, just a 10 second bit of it, to demo how well the thing performs in both PPC mode and Vista mode with video rendering. And a game, maybe? Okay, so I don't care about gaming, but still it'd make a decent demo of performance. Instead he's poking around at things over and over, especially that OS toggle over, and over, and over, and over...... Performance, speed, convenience in actual operation, that's where my curiousity lies. Instead of just toggling endlessly through open applications, USE the things more!

Okay, rant over. In spite my my obvious, and probably not shared criticisms, I'm almost totally sold on this thing. That casing is absolutely beautiful. The keyboard is larger than I'd suspected from the previously displayed product shots. It's tiny, but I can see myself actually typing on it for at least a few pages, and could of course use my folding rubber keyboard (as I am using now, with my Toshiba e830) for anything serious. The screen is close enough to an edge-to-edge look for my tastes, and I dare guess my daughter's as well. She's been whining about all the UMPCs she's been seeing with too much surround on the screens. Doesn't like that look at all. I'll get her to watch this video when she returns from a trip this week and my money's on her eyes bugging out, that they've finally made the Origami she's been wanting since that now ancient Microsoft demo in the trailer in the desert. This one's still too thick compared to that sleek white thing, but the keyboard will justify it I'm sure.

So yeah, all we have to do now is wait for the thing to start shipping, for the user feedback to start pouring in... and then in 6 months to a year, when prices fall a little maybe pick up a couple. This thing is right out of sci-fi movies, absolutely beautiful, in an almost retro sort of style.

[Gerard]

One more thing. He says a couple of times that the Shift offers 3 hours of Vista use, which is nice enough. But he also reports, rather excitedly, a "7 day" battery life when using the thing as a WM device. That's 168 hours of use. Really? Or is this to be interpreted somehow as '7 days of average use'? If so, then maybe 2 hours/day, or 14hours of use? It'd be nice to see a meaningful number here.

[halljames]

One of the key elements he does not mention is how the PPC and Vista interacts. Can you sync the two, do they share the same storage etc etc

[k1darkknight]

I forget if I've read this elsewhere, but...is the Shift expected to come to the US?