January 28th, 2009

T-Mobile announces updated Shadow Windows Mobile Smartphone

Posted by Matthew Miller @ 4:30 am

Categories: HTC, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Windows Mobile

Tags: ERROR: brand required [TR|ZD|BN] e.g. searchapi.php?brand=TR&mode=document

Back in the Fall of 2007 (I cannot believe it has been that long ago) I bought a T-Mobile Shadow and thought it was an excellent Windows Mobile Smartphone with lots of functionality and a cool UI to appeal to many people. I actually just sold my Shadow last week on Craigslist to clean out my gadget closet a bit. Today T-Mobile officially announced the new T-Mobile Shadow that has a more rounded design, two new colors (white mint and black burgundy), support for T-Mobile UMA (HotSpot @Home service), and a faster processor.

While these new features and increased specifications are nice to see, I am surprised that this is not a 3G device since T-Mobile still does not have a Windows Mobile or BlackBerry model in their lineup. I was also surprised to see this device still has a 2 megapixel camera.

The processor gets bumped from 201 MHz to 260 Mhz (I expected to see 300 to 400 MHz), the battery gets bumped from 920 mAh to 1100 mAh (this was the Achilles heel of the Shadow), and WiFi support expands. I like that HTC and T-Mobile kept the handy 20-key SureType QWERTY keyboard on the device. It still has a 2.6 inch 320×240 display as well. Windows Mobile 6.1 Standard is also an upgrade over the 6.0 operating system previously on the Shadow. I was also expecting the device to be called something different, even the Shadow 2, but the Shadow name remains.

I’ll be getting one to review shortly and will post my thoughts here after trying it out a bit. I do like the Shadow, but really wish more of the specs would have been upgraded in this follow-up model. The T-Mobile Shadow is available for US$149.99 with a two-year agreement and data plan.

UPDATE: AllShadow.com has a full review of the new Shadow for you to check out.