HTC Shift Calling the HTC Shift a simple UMPC would be to undermine the capabilities of the unit. In fact the HTC Shift is more of a synergetic example of two worlds, the PC world and the Windows Mobile Environment. The model for this review features the 800MHz processor, 1GB of ram, a 40GB hard drive and Windows Vista Business.

Design

Looking at the front of the HTC Shift the first thing users will notice is the devices 7 inch screen, a feature that takes up nearly the whole front side realty aside from several important hardware add-ons. Looking at the left side of the unit towards the top users will find two buttons, the first button is the "Left Mouse Click button" followed directly below it by the "Right Mouse Button" Below those buttons towards the bottom is a standard "Windows Button " which functions as a means to switch between Vista and SnapVue features.

Looking to the top right front of the device there is the HTC Communications Manager button on the top righ, followed by the screen resolution adjustment button. Next is the mouse trackpad, the right speaker, and finally fingerprint reader.

Finally below the screen you will find a board that lights up functions being used, such as the "Wireless Light", Battery Light, and other important and often used functions.

To access the units full qwerty keyboard you simple slid up the sliding and tilt capable screen, revealing the keyboard. While all of your keyboard functions are available the keys are slightly small and it does take some getting use to, but it makes for a nice feature overall, and it is definitely easier to use than any other UMPC I have used.

SCREEN

The screen on the HTC Shift UMPC isn't the best screen i've seen, featuring a default resolution of 800 x 480 with the ability to up that resolution to 1024 x 600. The screen also features the ability to adjust the brightness and play with the overall screen settings just as you would on any UMPC or Personal Computer for that matter.

The screen also features a touchscreen function that worked flawlessly with my finger and with a stylus, and which offered some nice functionality when compared to the trackpad, which worked well but could be quite sensitive when going between smaller icons. The touchscreen is passive which meant finger swiping was easier than you'd find on most Pocket PC's.

PERFORMANCE

Running on an 800MHz A110 Intel CPU, 1GB RAM, and a 40GB 4200rpm hard drive the HTC Shift could have fallen short considering the units processing speed is well below many popular UMPC models, yet I found the device to function quite well. Applications on the unit opened quickly and ran well. I also notice very little lag when running Office 2007 among other applications including Adobe Photoshop. Its not to say the device is flawless, opening too many applications at one time did cause some freezing, but never anything permanent, it appeared the unit was simply freeing up processing power to open the applications.

BATTERY LIFE

Two hours of Vista use is what HTC stated the unit would handle, and they stated correctly, you may get slightly more time out of the unit, my three recharged on the HTC Shift yielded, 2 hours and 20 minutes, 2 hours and 11 minutes, and 2 hour 8 minutes, I used the device with WiFi on and with heavy internet browsing so I expected the battery life to dwindle with Bluetooth enabled, yet in my estimated it only took maybe 20 minutes off the battery life.

Luckily there is SnapVue mode which HTC states will last 2 days even with 3G access on, and I have to say their estimates may be right on que, obviously I didn't use the device for quite that long, but I did borrow a Sprint account and played with the 3G for around 4 hours with very little battery drain, for a business executive who may not be connected to WiFi but instead the Sprint Network this can be a great device for all day meetings or for connecting where WiFi is not available, it would also function well for surveyors or network administrators who are always on the move.

CONNECTIVITY

How do I love the connectivity on the HTC Shift, let me count the ways. There is of course the units Bluetooth 2.0 which allows for up to 6 bluetooth connections at one time, the function works well but is a real battery drain. Next there is the units WiFi 802.11b/g internet connection which connected well to both a secure network in which I had MAC Address Only enabled and added the unit to the MAC Address list, and to open networks with no security protocols used. The unit also offered CDMA access to the Sprint Network (A GSM VERSION IS ALSO AVAILABLE). The Internet was very fast, and used almost no battery life, a big plus as I stated before for people constantly on the move. I should also noted that WiFi can't be used in Snapvue but 3G can be used in Vista, i'm sure there is a technical reason for that but i'm not sure what that reason is.

SnapVue

HTC Shift Snapvue Screen Shot Speaking of SnapVue, it may be the coolest UMPC feature on any UMPC to date. Essentially it brings the user into a UMPC Version of the HTC Today screen, offering a Large Clock, Weather Updates, A Calendar, and shortcuts to applications such as Contacts and Email such as Outlook. You can even access your devices settings through a shortcut key. The Snapvue option is accessible from the Vista screen via a shortcut or from the side placed button on the actual hardware.

Overall the User interfaces whether through Vista or Snapvue offered excellent functionality with an easy to use display. The interfaces were very straight forward and something I enjoyed and which I believe will be easy for even the most technologically challenged user to figure out quite quickly.

Conclusion

Overall the unit was easy to use, offered surprisingly good performance based on the specifications offered, and was small enough to tote around without any problems. Not to mention the device offers all the computing prowess of a laptop along with the 3G capabilities of a phone, a very nice feature that I hope HTC will continue to develop further down the road. At a price tag of around $1500 dollars its not cheap, but for many on the go users it may be worth the hefty price tag.