We all love when new toys devices arrive. I had the pleasure of unboxing a brand new Orange UK branded HTC Shift yesterday. I planned on filming it, but unfortunately I’m sick and wasn’t able to. To make up for it I wrote up some of my thoughts. Sorry for writing in such an unorganized format.
Here’s what you need to know:
[more after the break…]
– The Orange UK Shift IS sim-locked.
– Orange do have the unlock codes, mine is now unlocked.
– Origami Experience is NOT pre-loaded. (I’m disappointed by this. Who wants to share theirs with me?)
– A full Office 2007 Professional license is included. (Do the standard Shifts have this?)
– The only branding on the device is a small square shaped Orange logo in the bottom right corner on the front (see image).
– Packaging is exactly the same.
– All the included extras are the same.
– The HTC control center utility is still named ShagControl. And it still cracks me up.
And here are some first impressions in no particular order:
– I love it. Aside from the battery life and price, I see nothing wrong with it.
– Interpolated resolution looks great.
– Touchscreen is awesome, pen flicks work. Inking is a big no (vectoring is terrible), but I don’t use it anyway.
– Mouse pad square-thingy is actually pretty good, I guess its a matter of getting used to it.
– Power brick is small. Smaller than Q1 brick by about 40% I would say, maybe more.
– Snapvue is pretty much useless but the guys over at xda-developers have already figured out how to change it and install applications. They have Opera mobile running with no problems.
– Fingerprint reader app sucks. For logon its ok, but for websites I’m going to keep using the default Firefox password manager.
– Keyboard is good and I like it. I showed it to other people and they like it too. People as in my family.
– Telescopic stylus is slightly annoying, as it doesn’t stick in one position.
– My shift only makes a cracking noise when I tilt the screen down. When I tilt it up theres no noise.
– I like that there was a screen protector included. It was super easy to apply, and I love how the screen feels now.
– Connecting to HSDPA is super easy. Best experience out all the WWAN-enabled computers I tried. There’s no app on the Windows side to manage the connection, its all done by Snapvue. Vista sees it as a normal local area network connection.
– The included accessories are nice. Leather case is top quality. The bag for the accessories actually has a divider inside, so you can separate the USB-Ethernet-hub from the power adapter. Nice touch.
– Haven’t tried the webcam yet. Is there some built-in app in Vista to use it? I guess I will just install Skype.
– Speakers are wonderful and loud.
– Light sensor works well, you can either enable or disable it in ShagControl.
– Hold switch works as advertised. Only downside I see is that when I want to slide it out of hold I sometimes push too hard and it sends my device into sleep mode.
– Here’s a fun fact: the wifi module is supposedly an SDIO card.
– I accidentally slid the battery cover off a couple of times when trying to slide the display up. Doesn’t happen anymore as I hold the device differently.
– Vista is surprisingly fast. Aero was disabled by default, I turned it on and turned off transparency. Works even better now I think.
– By the way, if anyone is looking for a good antivirus Kaspersky Internet Security works great on the device and consumes very little resources.
So there you have it, my first impressions of the HTC Shift. Comparing it to Steve’s Q1B which I have sitting on my desk it is a major improvement. In my opinion this is the best form factor for a ultra mobile PC we will get. If I could change three things about it I would: put in a Core Solo/Duo ULV inside, increase battery life, and increase the RAM. An SSD and price cut wouldn’t hurt either. This aside however, I am still very happy with the device. Would a nicely modded EEE with a touchscreen and HSDPA be cheaper and faster? Yes. But the Shift is a nice package for people who don’t want to deal with soldering and modifying devices. And its quite pretty too.
If it interests anyone: I have a pay as you go SIM (Orange Free) inside which charges around 10 cents per MB and I can add more funds to it through my normal cellphone. Life is good.
Have questions? Feel free to ask.
