HTC Shift defenses weakening

Something is seriously wrong with me. The more negative press and user comments I read about the HTC Shift, the more I want to violate my 7-inch device ban (yes, again) and check the balance on my credit cards. I need help.

While it's true that my brief hands-on time helped the unit regain some of its lost sparkle and I'm still afflicted by the UMPC blues (which has been known to confuse the senses and magnify the perceived need for a shiny new plaything), I know that the 40GB Vista machine is just way too flawed to justify its exorbitant $1500 asking price ($1700 for the GSM version that, according to HTC, can't be sold in the US). Right?

Most of the early reviews confirm previous hunches and details, so there isn't a whole lot of new information out there. And as much as I'd rather not beat a dead horse (what a horrible expression!), I'm going to have to make a pros and cons list. I'll need something to refer later when the Lure of the Shift becomes intolerable.

I'll start with the good stuff first:

1. Design. I love the way this things looks (blame my Advantage X7501 for this).
2. Keyboard. Touch typing may not be possible for everyone, but my impressions of its usability at CES were pretty positive. I can't recall any comparisons between the Shift and Eee PC keyboards (I know not everyone shares my experience with the sub-par 2G Surf one), but Mobile Tech Review says the Shift's one is excellent and that it "beats all other UMPCs including the Fujitsu U810." Given how much bigger the Shift's keyboard is, the assessment isn't unexpected. I called the U810's keyboard "the hands-down best" among other thumboards and mobile devices, though, so MTR's conclusion carries a lot of weight with me.
3. Integrated WWAN. I'd be much happier if the US version of the Shift was GSM, but I still like the built-in connectivity. Although sharing my AT&T Tilt's HSDPA connection over Bluetooth or USB is quick and easy, integrated mobile broadband (even if it's only EV-DO through Sprint) is quicker and easier.
4. Jailbreakable SnapVUE. I don't know how often I'd really use the Windows Mobile component (maybe if I didn't already have a WM phone?), but its inclusion is certainly unique.
5. Vista. Yes, I know that Vista is commonly cited as a major disadvantage on UMPCs, but I really like it (the full-blown OS has always been one of my favorite UMPC features) and have no reservations about its performance on the 800MHz Intel A110/1GB RAM combo. Since the Fujitsu U810 is also a Vista/A110/1GB machine, my expectations are already in check.

Now for all the bad:

1. Price. $1500 is just too much. We'd probably be a lot less critical of its shortcomings if it were priced below $1000.
2. Battery life. Two hours using Vista is unacceptable in 2008. The first crop of UMPCs in 2006 got bashed for their shoddy battery life (about 2.5 hours), so HTC obviously lost track of the date when equipping the Shift with a 2700mAh battery.
3. Screen resolution. Another blunder! 800 x 480 is 2006's resolution for 7-inch screens. Some have reported that the interpolated 1024 x 600 is usable, while others have called it "fuzzy and not good for text entry or viewing."
4. Attached leather case. This is weird. Both James Kendrick and Matt Miller found out from HTC that the included leather case is bolted onto the Shift because according to the FCC, the always-on SnapVUE/CDMA radio required an extra "buffer zone." James was able to successfully remove the unit from the case but says it can't be securely reattached.
5. 40GB HDD. Yet another substandard spec from 2006. The limited storage capacity doesn't really bother me (I don't store movies or music on any of my computers), but compared to the Samsung Q1 Ultra Premium's 80GB HDD and the various SSD options becoming available to more and more UMPCs/handtops, a 40GB hard drive doesn't cut it anymore.

Uh-oh. I just ran out of cons . . . and it's a tie. Five pluses, five minuses. Great. Anything you'd like to add to tip the scales?

Please forgive me if you see the HTC Shift being lovingly unboxed on the front page someday. I tried my best to resist it.

Comments

[Bruno]

Great minds and all that... I too have moved from the "no Shift ever" camp to the "it may be worth looking into" one. As a matter of fact I have bought one (well, two). I bought one to evaluate it for my business rather than to keep it but now I am not so sure. I am trying to convince myself to give it up and while on paper I can list all the cons that SHOULD make it a non-starter, I still find myself reaching for the Shift more often that I would have thought.
The European version is clearly somewhat different. For starters, the case is quite different, it is like a mini-briefcase that you slide the Shift into. Very nice case, good quality leather, too. The computer with the case is about the size of a paperback book. I love that the computer is barely larger than the screen, makes it so much easier to carry it with you and truly forget about it. I also swore I would not consider a device with less than 1024x600 resolution but out of all the interpolated modes I have seen, Shift's is the best one. I would still much prefer higher native resolution, but this is clearly the most usable one.
I absolutely love SnapVue - it made checking e-mail extremely easy. I grab the Shift as I would a book, I press a button and see any new e-mails within a second. Very useful, much more so than I expected.
I also think that Shift is the fastest of my devices to hibernate from Vista and to wake back up into it. Not quite instant on but very close. It may become worse if I install a lot of stuff on it, but it is really noticeably fast.
Speaking of performance, I am surprised to read so many negative reviews. Shift is noticeably faster than my Q1U (not the Premium model, of course). It also scores higher in the Windows Experience Index. It is not lightning fast, but it is faster than one could expect based on the specs.
The keyboard is good. It took a little to get used to it mostly due to the fact that I kept automatically expecting the same layout as on the HTC Advantage. It is very good keyboard though. Not for writing novels, but writing even long e-mails (or blog posts, I suppose) is very comfortable.
I did jailbreak SnapVue and it works well, but there is not whole lot of storage (I have been spoiled by the Advantage). The battery life with SnapVue is brilliant, at the Vista side of things is not. The charger is tiny, which helps. If I keep the Shift I would definitely buy a second battery though - the battery is quite small and light, one could easily keep it in a pocket if needed.
Connectivity is great - my TZ has the same connectivity options but as SnapVue acts as a tethered 3G modem it makes the whole process much easier. No need to fiddle with dial-up, connection manager etc, Vista connects automatically via SnapVue. Seamless, just the way it should be!
The Shift is not a perfect PDA nor a perfect Windows machine, but is a great combination of both. It does have its shortcomings, many of which I swore to be deal-breakers, but it is a fun toy to play with. The novelty may wear off, but for now the pros outweigh the cons. Granted, I haven't used the device for anything serious yet.
One thing I do take away from the past couple of days though is this: I wish that every portable computer equipped with 3G connectivity had an equivalent of SnapVue both for checking e-mail and for seamless 3G connectivity. I would happily pay premium for that!

[Don]

The Shift is very close to what I am looking for in a very pocketable unit---they will improve on the innards over time---but I like the way the keyboard can be unattached as I don't have a big use for them and it makes the unit thinner-- an on screen keyboard would suffice for me--now if they can get rid of those buttons and holes around the rim and do everything on the screen more like a giant iphone we would have some real technology!

[Frank]

Faital Flaws: The Shift is not pocketable. I'm holding out for something 7.5 by 3.75 (inches) by as thin as possible (a checkbook footprint), which fits into a coat pocket very nicely. Two hours of battery on its first, best day? That's pitiful. Maybe WM6 will mitigate this fatal flaw, but no one has published battery live running full WM6. I have been known to work for six or seven hours at a stretch on my six-year-old Jornada 720. The keyboard is actually smaller than the one on the Jornada. What a waste.

The one fatal flaw: The HTC is not a bullseye; it's not even inside the second ring. Buying such flawed equipment encourages the production of more flawed equipment. That's why we have umpteen flawed UMPC's that are--so many of them--alike. They follow four or five form factors mostly because people buy stuff and then don't use it.

[Bruno]

Frank: I actually saw posts about battery life running SnapVue - which would not differ from battery life running WM6 at all. I have tested it and easily get 2 full days of WM6 or at least 10+ hours of continuous use.

[check it out]

Shift should be more interesting device after unlocked to full Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional which you can do rather easy (read more: [Link]) I wish to see device like my old Nec Pro 900c but with new procesor ,ram and screen. I had Samsung Q1 and Asus Eee. After this, for me is nothing sufficient between my home laptop ( Dual Core, 3 GB ram, win XP ) and my devices "to go" (E90 & N810)

[Bruno]

One problem with unlocking the SnapVue to full WM6 is storage - I haven't looked at the numbers but I am starting to get warnings about lack of storage and I haven't even installed a lot of stuff on it. I am also not sure but the WM6 side of things seems to be slower than, for example, HTC Advantage. I think that pushing WM6 in the SHift much beyond e-mail, internet browsing and remote desktop (in my case) won't result in a very good experience. It is good enough for me, but may be problem for others.

[Jenn]

@ Bruno: You're making this very hard for me. I'm hoping that HTC will lower the price in a few months or release the GSM version here. I'm already having trouble justifying the high cost of the CDMA model, so adding on another $200 or so to import the European unit doesn't help.

Are you using the Shift more often than the TZ? And can you use an SD card for WM6 storage?

@ Don: I don't think the Shift's keyboard is removable. Maybe you're thinking of the HTC Advantage?

[Bruno]

@ Jenn: The price seems high but on the other hand, the Shift (at least over here) costs nearly the same what I paid for Q1U and while I love the Q1 I think the Shift is better value for money.
I don't think Shift can compete with the TZ, at least not in my book (but then again, few devices can). There are things I can do with the TZ I would not use the Shift for. I am not into gaming but I expect Shift would not be perfect for it. You probably wouldn't want to run Visual Studio or something of the kind on the Shift. But for internet and office kind of use, Shift should be more than sufficient.
I find myself reaching for the Shift when I want to quickly check e-mail or respond to it, look something up on the internet etc. I have found myself just throwing the Shift in my bag on a few occasions without thinking whether I will need it or not, something I would normally do with the Advantage. When I need more computing power, longer battery life, or when I expect having to type for half an hour or more, I would go for TZ.
I am still undecided about the Shift, I think it is a good device, I just don't know whether I can use it given my fairly specific requirements. My fiancee on the other hand loves it. It is one of the most usable and user friendly devices I saw in a long time.

[check it out]

@ Bruno I m curious how long take switching between vista nad WM (and opposite) on HTC Shift ? The very first step after buying HTC (in my opinion) is installing XP (see booting time link here) and unlock to full WM 6.0 This is what I would do. It allows you to using navigation programs (TomTom) .

[Bruno]

@ check it out: The switch is immediate, it is not even 1 second in either direction. Since the switch does not really do anything else but switch the screen and keyboard over it makes sense.
The booting time is a bit irrelevant in my opinion. THere really is no reason to shut Vista down, I hibernate it when I don't need it and it wakes up pretty darn fast - I may have mentioned it before but the hibernate/wake-up time is one of the fastest I have seen (though it may get worse if I fill the computer with a lot of software, but that would happen with any computer). Asides from that, even the cold boot does not seem slow.
As I said above, unlocking SnapVue to full WM6 is easy (in fact there IS full WM6 in there, HTC just seems to override some of it when you start the computer). People have suggested that HTC blocked it to save money, I don't believe that since WM6 is there. I think that HTC blocked it because the WM6 side of the Shift seems to be limited in the amount of storage. As I said, I have received warnings about running out of storage so I can't tell whether you would be able to install TomTom (you might be able to, I just don't know). Windows Live Search or Google Maps may be a safer choice.

@ Jenn: Sorry, missed your question re SD card. I haven't tried it yet, but based on what I read it is not possible yet (though it seems people are working on it).

[Jenn]

Bruno! You're not making this easy for me at all. Let's try another tactic. What don't you like about the Shift?

I imagine a strong overlap with the Q1U.

[Bruno]

I know Jenn, it is hard! I can't decide whether to keep the Shift or not either.
Q1U definitely has better screen - it has the best screen in its category, nop doubt about that. Shift's 1024x600 interpolated mode is very good, but Q1U's native mode is clearly better. Q1U has of course much better battery life - and there is an extended battery available, for Shift there is not one (at least not yet - though I doubt there will be one, I don't see how it would fit in there).
Q1U is also better for inking - Shift's touch screen is softer so there is more interpolation. It is good for finger control, less good for inking.
I wish the WM6 side of things had more storage and could run at a higher resolution. However as it stands it is still something that no other UMPC offers. I think the only thing I have a real problem with is battery life under Vista. At least HTC's specs are correct and not overestimated...
If I had to pick one 7" UMPC (actually, one UMPC, period) it would probably be the Shift. It is not significantly worse than any other comparable UMPC I have tried in anything but the battery life - but if that really matters, one can buy spare batteries. Shift's battery is very light and slim so it would be very easy to carry.
What I am not sure about any more is whether I need this kind of a device at all. (Who am I kidding, I don't need it, the question iss whether I want a new toy bad enough to keep it).

[Bruno]

An afterthought re Shift vs Q1U: Your question got me thinking about the overlap between the two devices. There is actually less than I would have expected. Q1U is brilliant for when you need to access information (documents, e-books, e-mails and what-not). It's screen is brilliant for reading, it's battery life will keep you reading as long as you need. It is less good for actually DOING stuff, creating documents etc. unless you carry an external keyboard in which case it becomes too bulky.
Shift is better for entering stuff (writing longer e-mails etc) - as long as either you can do it in WM6 or you are not away from the power for too long.

Hope this helps!

[Bruno]

And one more afterthought (sorry about that, I really should think it through before I post something):

HTC Shift only makes sense if you actually put the SIM card in it. If you plan to tether it to your phone/PDA for data access, you are going to lose the best of its functionality. As Shift does not allow for making phonecalls, this means you should have a dedicated data-only SIM card.

[Ian]

I have been following the UMPC saga for years now. I first had a Psion 5mx and then a couple of Windows mobile devices the latest being the HTC TyTn II (AT&T Tilt).

Over the last year or so I have been tempted, but then pulled back from actually buying a full Windows UMPC device. Last week I went for it and bought the Shift. Please note I have researched this as much as any blogger you care to name.

I bought the Shift recognising its limitations and accepting them, as I know the technology I want is still almost a year away at best. The main one being an affordable 64GB+ SSD. In a year or so I might well open the Shift up and slot in the SSD and a 2GB RAM upgrade thus improving performance and prolonging the life of the device.

The main positives for me is form factor, which for me is ideal, build quality (no cheap plastic), dual OS, keyboard and the various radios.

Form Factor: Like the Psion of old but better as it also operates as a tablet. All other form factors I see are either a mistake or because it is a toy for entertainment purposes.

Build quality: Too often overlooked, but it does make a huge difference. Even the small things such as the case (European version) the power supply, even the box. It all exudes quality.

Dual OS: Like others have mentioned the ability to instantly switch between SnapVue (Windows Mobile) and Vista is great. With the Jailbreak it is ideal for web browsing and writing stuff in pocket word for later editing in Vista. The SD card is not yet accessible, hopefully it soon will be which will make this even better.

Keyboard: I have BIG hands, but even I find I can get an acceptable typing speed for emails and short to medium documents. For a mobile device of this size it is fantastic. For those people who complain about the keyboard they are just stupid as it all comes down to size. The quality of the keyboard is good the only problem is its dimensions. If you make the keyboard bigger then the device is bigger. Catch 22 huh? For those complainers, have you ever heard of a portable bluetooth keyboard. Grow up people and only make valid complaints.

Radios: With the full compliment of HSDPA, GPRS, wifi, and bluetooth it makes the device very flexible. I am always getting good signal strength from each of the radios with good range, so HTC have obviously implemented them well. This goes back to the build quality point I made earlier.

I have SP1 installed in Vista and yes it is still a little slow to boot from cold. However, when running my office applications and web browsing is fine. The screen is good even in interpolated mode, which I find acceptable. Terminal services/Citrix works just fine, Youtube is fine however it does seem to stuggle a little with higher quality videos. The video screen options for use with an external monitor/projector is great and supports much higher resolutions.

On Friday I will be travelling abroad to see a big corporate customer. I plan to take and use the Shift. I will let you know how well that went and what the technical people in the meeting thought of my device. To me this gives me many things that the company DELL laptop gives me, but in a much smaller and transportable package. Yes it is slower, but the advantages the Shift gives, me more than makes up for them.

Lastly, as for the battery yes it is poor. I would love for it to be better. However, I plan to get a Tekkeon AllPower external battery for when I'm out and about. In most cases this is not too much of a pain. This is where the PocketPC side comes in as many of the things I might want to access on the run (web browser, word processor) can be used from this side of the device, which will run for two days on one charge.

I feel the pain you have as I had the same. I decided to go for it and have had no regrets so far. :)

[Jenn]

Every day I inch ever closer to pulling the trigger.

I'd really much rather have the GSM version but I don't care for the European keyboard layout. The differences are really minor so it wouldn't take long to get used to it, but given the choice, I'd still prefer a US keyboard.

Bruno, you said that the European case is like a mini briefcase that you slide the Shift into. Are the sides open or is it just a carrying pouch that leaves nothing on the unit exposed? I'm such a fool for cases that this kind of thing would help me decide between the CDMA and GSM models. Although I wonder if the imported GSM units actually ship with the attached US case to comply with the FCC.

I can't find any good pictures of the CDMA unit with the case removed. I'd like to see how strange the posts/screws look.

[Bruno]

Jenn: The sides of the case are not open. The case is of a similar type as the leather carrying case for Sony TZ but made from leather much like the one used on the case for HTC Advantage.
BTW, Piel Frama already has cases for the Shift (not sure how good they are though).

[Jenn]

Ah, that's exactly the kind I would want: something designed to hold the unit only when not in use. If I can find it being sold for a reasonable price on its own, I may get the CDMA version (if I decide to get the Shift at all, that is). It doesn't look like the US will be getting a GSM unit any time soon and I'd rather not pay the extra $200 or whatever to import it. Decisions, decisions.

[Frithjof Arngren]

Can anybody help me to open the Speach function
of a GSM version of HTC Shift umPC ?

[Frithjof Arngren]

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