March 20th, 2008
A closer look at the HTC Shift from Sprint
Usage scenario - daily commuter and business traveler: I take the train to and from Seattle every day and am on there for 2 hours. The Shift served me quite well as a mobile PC because I could connect via the train’s WiFi or via the Sprint PCS network (which again was a bit spotty along the train route). I was able to enter text quite easily using the keyboard with the device placed on my lap and I can’t say enough how impressed I am with the keyboard. I also like that the display tilts up since that is better than trying to use a thumb keyboard with a horizontal display. The major issue and Achilles heel though for the mobile commuter and traveler is the very poor battery life while running Vista. Maybe I am now spoiled by the 5+ hours I see on my Fujitsu, but I expect more from the latest and greatest devices and 2 hours isn’t acceptable.
Usage scenario - practical battery testing: HTC states the shift should user should see up to 2 hours of usage with Vista, up to 53 hours with SnapVUE and push email enabled and then 10 days in SnapVUE with push email disabled. I never had the opportunity to try out SnapVUE exclusively for that long, but I was seeing just about 2 hours with the Shift and Vista.
Conclusion: The Shift would really have had to blow me out of the water to come up with US$1500 and it did not. There are definitely some impressive and unique aspects (SnapVUE), but too many issues prevent me from making the commitment and then paying US$60 a month for Sprint’s service (coverage is too spotty in Puget Sound where I work and live). I don’t think ultra portables really have to have huge hard drives since they are companion devices, but they do need to have long battery life or IMHO the device is no longer an ultra portable. This is one reason I go rid of my Samsung Q1 last year and another major reason I love my Fujitsu U810 with 5+ battery life.
I look forward to seeing if HTC comes up with a next generation device that fixes some of these issues and comes in at a lower price. Are you going to pick up an HTC Shift from Sprint?
I will also end this full review with my quick list of the great, good, bad, and ugly:
Great
- Keyboard is best UMPC/ultra portable keyboard I have ever tried
- Form factor is great, allows working on your lap or on an airport tray
- Mouse/trackpad is accurate and serves as a wonderful navigation method
- SnapVUE always-on capability is very good
- Quick resolution, communication manager, and SnapVUE buttons rock
- Stereo speakers rock!
Good
- Sprint EV-DO connectivity is a nice bonus
- Biometric scanner offers good security
- No bloatware loading of apps is awesome
- Integrated Secure Digital card slot is nice (when will Apple learn this?)
- Nice leather case included with device
- Included USB hub and ethernet is helpful
- Small A/C adapter is a thoughtful feature
- Origami Experience 2.0 is useful
- 1GB included RAM is adequate
Bad
- Stylus is poor since it doesn’t stay extended when pulled out
- 1024×600 software resolution is fuzzy and not good for text entry or viewing
- Can’t remove leather case if you want to travel a bit lighter
- Vista is too much for the device
- No recovery CDs are included
- No portrait mode for eBook reading, etc
- No storage card in SnapVUE, hyperlinks go nowhere, call support appears in menus, but are not supported while text nessaging is supported
- Skype is unusable, audio is shaky and video is virtually non-existent
Ugly
- Battery life with Vista is unacceptable for an ultra-portable
- 40GB hard drive, 33GB showed as available and then 23GB actually available out of the box is lame
- 800×480 default resolution on a 7 inch display is too low
- US$1499 is too much for the device. Then adding US$60/month for Sprint data makes the cost even higher
- Inking is virtually unusable since the display is larger and very sensittive to any pressure. No palm rejection technology is used and the slightest touch sends it off vectoring bad
Matthew Miller is an avid mobile device enthusiast who works during the day as a professional naval architect in Seattle. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 03/20/08
