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HTC Shift is finally coming to the US on the 24th with Sprint 3G
Ah, after long last, HTC's first UMPC, the Shift, is finally making its debut in the US. The early results are in: the keyboard and the Sprint EV-DO are good, but the $1,500 price tag might be a bit heavy to swallow -- especially considering our European counterparts are paying about $400 less, and we also get to tack on another $60 per month for the 3G.
HTC Shift finally ships in Europe, still nowhere to be found in the US
The oft-postponed HTC Shift is finally hitting Europe today, about two months later than expected after the update we got in December, and even further from its original November 2007 release date. If you're out that way, you can snag yourself one in Spain through Telefonica, UK through Orange, and, in the near future, Italy through TIM -- all for €1,199 (~$1,750 US). As for us in the US of delay? The wait continues.
HTC Shift hits the FCC, gets ripped apart
It's been hit with a few snags along the way, but it looks like the HTC Shift's slow roll out around the word is finally nearing a close, with it now making its expected debut at the FCC. In addition to putting it through all the usual tests, they of course also ripped the thing apart and, thankfully, provided of pictures of the process (hit up the link below for more). Prospective Shift buyers can also take advantage of the FCC's generosity to check out the device's user manual, although there aren't exactly many surprises to be found, considering how long this thing's been around already.[Via jkkmobile]
Vodafone's Windows Mobile roadmap revealed, delights aplenty
Wow, just when we thought Vodafone might not have any more secrets, a couple more were dragged out of the bag. Seems BoyGenius' presentation extraordinaire wasn't complete without laying out exactly what can be expected this year on the Windows Mobile front. As you can see there are a couple new tasty morsels such as a HSDPA tablet with GPS and WiFi -- could be HTC Shift -- an unknown HSDPA slider with GPS and WiFi as well as the previously mentioned Palm Drucker, HP Oak, HP Silver, and Palm Wanda. Big year ahead for Vodafone on the business user front, and we're stoked to catch these things as they start to land, so see ya in Q2 2008 friends.
HTC Shift slightly delayed, hits the States in a month
HTC hasn't been terribly forthcoming about this, since its "official" launch date for the Shift -- at least in Europe -- was November, but we gave them a ring today and they say the UMPC should be shipping in Europe and Asia in about a week, and Stateside in about a month. Nice and vague, just like we like 'em. And sticking with that "shifting" motif, Dynamism currently has the pre-order price for a Shift import pegged at $1599, a whole $99 more than it read in August.
Shifting Perspectives: That special versatility
It's often been said that druids are the three-in-one class: we can mimic warriors, priests, rogues (and even mages), but can't fulfill their respective roles as well as they themselves can. While in recent times druids have been able to gear up and perform as well as their parent classes in many respects, we are far from "warriors with stealth" or "rogues that can heal" or "priests that can off-tank in a pinch."Our problem as druids is that we cannot but neglect the full breadth of our abilities when we must specialize in only one aspect of our class. Of course, any class works best in situations where most or all their abilities might be needed to succeed, sometimes even in the course of a single fight -- it's just that for druids these abilities include tanking, damage, and healing all together. If you're playing with an experienced group, each player is likely specialized to one of these three roles, and his or her whole purpose is to minimize the chance that backup tanks, healers, and damage-dealers will be needed. That leaves druids trying to compete with warriors, rogues and priests (and mages), trying to do just as well at the same task, but with fewer abilities to call upon in the fight. Locked into these smaller roles, we must gear up and spend our talents in such a way that even if we were to shift out of our main role into another when the need arose, we wouldn't be able to do very well at it at all. This brings me to the adventure at hand: Today we will go on an journey of the imagination together, exploring the potential future of druids, considering how this problem of specialization versus versatility might be approached. Indeed, as I gaze into my crystal-ball-shaped paper-weight, I see two possible futures: one, called "The Path of the Pandering Pedant," seeks nit-picky perfection in a class designed for breadth and scope, while the other, "the Way of the Multitudinous Master" brings the full manifest of all our abilities into harmonious use with one another.
HTC's Shift with HSDPA and SnapVue gets a ship date
Although it feels like it's already launched, the HTC Shift with HSDPA data just received its final push out the door today. Nothing new spec-wise to report. It's still the same 7-inch, touch-sensitive "slide-n-tilt" device sporting HTC's new SnapVUE shell -- a Sideshow-like, Windows Mobile-like, information display with its own dedicated processor for instant access to your email, SMS, calendar and contacts without booting into Vista. While the 2 days of SnapVUE standby time is indeed stellar, the 2-hours of Vista juice is generation-one UMPC pathetic. Available "across Europe" starting November for an undisclosed price.%Gallery-8012%
HTC to unveil Windows Mobile lineup at upcoming press event?
While Apple chose London to inform the world of the iPhone's international agenda, HTC is reportedly looking to make a few announcements of its own on that side of the pond. According to TheUnwired, HTC will hold two press events on the first two days in October, the first of which will be in the UK and the second in Germany. Best guesses suggest that we'll be learning a bit more about the firm's forthcoming Windows Mobile-based lineup, and we can only hope that the Kii, Omni and / or Polaris are part of the show -- but considering the location and all, we wouldn't bet the farm on hearing too much about the likely US-bound Juno. Hold tight kids, the events get going in under a week.
HTC's Shift runs Vista (for 2 hours?) not Windows Mobile
HTC's Shift: runs Windows Mobile right, after all, it's an HTC device? Nope, Vista Business Edition. That Windows Mobile looking UI we've seen is HTC's "SnapVUE" shell, an advanced BIOS with support for some of the same applications you would see on a Windows Mobile device. So while you won't get voice capability or Windows Mobile Office, the Sideshow-like display will provide up to 53-hours of use with push email enabled (11 days, without). At least that's what Kaz911 is saying after getting their hands on the claimed, official HTC specs and interviewing Kevin Chen, General Manager HTC EMEA. If the spec list is to be believed, we're looking at an 800MHz Intel A110 Stealey-class CPU; 1GB memory; up to 60GB of disk; 7-inch, 800 x 480 touch-sensitive LCD for all the Aero and 3D flip action you can handle; 802.11b/g WiFi; Bluetooth 2.0; and of course a 400MHz Qualcomm MSM 7200 chipset with tri-band UMTS / HSDPA and quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE radios. The odd (and hopefully inaccurate) spec is the 2700mAh battery rated for "up to 2-hours" of that Vista wow. Sounds a bit fishy to us for a McCaslin-based UMPC which targets 4-5 hours of battery life. We'll see once these official specs are actually released by HTC.[Via jkOnTheRun] Read -- HTC Shift "official" specifications Read -- Kevin Chen interview
HTC Shift, others to see release at Dubai's GITEX show
With interest in the Shift -- HTC's foray into the wacky UMPC market -- coming to a rolling boil, we're glad to hear the company has finally shored up firm plans to get the sucker released. Vishnu Vardhan, HTC's exec for the Middle East and North Africa, says that the Shift will see an official release at Dubai's GITEX Technology Week starting September 8. That's not all, though; Vardhan says that four "brand new products" will see the light of day for the first time at GITEX, too, and if we had to lay money on it, we'd guess they're all Windows Mobile handsets. We'd previously heard that the Touch-like Nike might get called out in September, but the other three are anyone's guess.[Via the::unwired]
HTC Shift gets a price: $1500 on Dynamism
The headline more or less says it all, friends: HTC's Shift, both UMPC and Pocket PC Windows Mobile 6 Professional, has a pre-order price of $1500 over at Dynamism. No date is listed on the site, but with units in the wild (or, at least, a unit in the wild) we're hoping it won't be so long.[Via jkOnTheRun]
HTC Shift gets hands on
If you can bear to watch the walkthrough video, GottaBeMobile has a hands-on with the HTC Shift, the first UMPC from the traditionally cellphone only company. It appears as if HTC has a winner on its hands with the Shift, as the reviewer seems completely smitten with the device: HTC has definitely nailed the "feel" of the device in terms of balance and finish. The Pocket PC mode seems to be pretty great too: the extra battery life is welcome, and as the reviewer demonstrates, it's very easy to switch between the two modes. "I'm in Vista Business, I'm back in Pocket PC. I'm back in Vista, I'm back in ... " Check it out at 30:35 in the video after the break.
HTC preps a few more models (hint: CDMA Touch!)
HTC's model naming convention has always been just a little tricky to commit to memory, and with this latest batch, it certainly ain't getting any easier. A couple of these we've heard about before -- namely the Nike, Kaiser, and Shangri-La -- but the rest are brand new to us and very exciting. First up, the S640 "Iris" is a CDMA rendition of the Excalibur and Cavalier, tossing in EV-DO rev. A and WiFi atop Windows Mobile 6 Standard. The "Vogue" is essentially a Touch (TouchFLO UI and all) with the same EV-DO rev. A guts as the Iris -- good news for Verizon and Sprint customers, we'd imagine. GSM users have reason to celebrate here too, though, in the form of the "Volans" and "Polaris." These two are upgrades to the Vox and Artemis, respectively, adding in much-needed 3G radios and faster processors. Finally, the P6550 "Sedna" appears to be some sort of industrial device with support for a credit card reader -- though with a 3 megapixel cam and 3G data, we wouldn't mind having one ourselves. Release dates are up in the air on most of these, but our money is on late '07.[Via The Boy Genius Report]Update: Crikey, the Shangri-La's slide reveals that the device -- HTC's entry into the UMPC fray -- runs both Vista and Windows Mobile 6. Sound vaguely familiar? [Thanks, Kevin]
Engadget Podcast 105 - 03.30.2007
Sure, the Xbox 360 Elite was finally announced, but we've got a fair bit of interesting cellphone news this week, too. Check out Samsung's UpStage, finally launched; or the long-awaited Helio Ocean dual-slider QWERTY featurephone -- not bad eh? And then HTC had a whole slew of gear, too, from their first UMPC to the Advantage's US launch. We won't only be talking about cellphones this week, but if you're not down with mobile gadgets then you might want to snag our enhanced RSS and skip some chapters, because we've got some CTIA stuff to catch up on. Get the podcast [iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes (enhanced AAC). [RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically. [RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator. [RSS OGG] Add the Engadget Podcast feed (in OGG) to your RSS aggregator. Hosts: Peter Rojas and Ryan Block Producer: Trent Wolbe Music: Solvent - Instructograph (Ghostly International) Program: 00:50 - Xbox 360 Elite and 120GB drive now official 07:22 - The Helio Ocean 12:31 - Sprint announces Samsung UpStage, 99 cent songs over the air 17:15 - HTC Shift -- the cellphone company finally goes UMPC 19:46 - HTC Advantage coming to US... under the HTC brand 23:29 - HTC 6800 / Titan hands-on 25:36 - HTC S720 vs Vox and TyTn hands-on 26:02 - Hands-on with the Samsung Ubicell 34:15 - How-to: Upgrade the drive in your Apple TV LISTEN (MP3) LISTEN (AAC) LISTEN (OGG) Contact the podcast: 1-888-ENGADGET, Engadget (Gizmo Project) or podcast at engadget dawt com
HTC Shift in person, in a glass case
As expected, HTC was showing off a Shift UMPC today at CTIA. Unfortunately for us it was behind a glass case, but you can get a good look at the early prototype in our gallery. Check it out!%Gallery-2304%
HTC Shift -- the cellphone company finally goes UMPC
It's been a long time in coming, but after HTC's long, gradual feature buildup all the way from the very first Pocket PC phone in 2002, they're finally putting the "computer" in High Tech Computer by making the jump to ultraportable PC-maker. That's right, HTC's first foray into the UMPC market, the Shift (codename Shangri-La), is officially announced today. We don't yet have hard details on release date or price, but we do know it should be available in Q3 (we'd estimate for under $2,000). As for features, we know not to expect anything out of the ordinary (except lots of 3G), although the form factor is pretty notable: not too many UMPCs have a sliding keyboard, and none that we can recall have a tilting display in this orientation. Some specs: VIA CPU (the one we tried had a 1.2GHz chip) Vista business (yes, it was running Aero) 7-inch sliding, tiling wide-touchscreen 30GB drive Tri-band UMTS / HSDPA, quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0 Biometric reader, front-facing camera We got a chance to play with an engineering sample of the Shift the other day; while we couldn't take any shots of it, we could say that the slide and tilt screen felt rock solid. Unfortunately, the full keyboard just had way too many keys packed in to type remotely accurately on. Stay tuned for more on this one; from today on HTC's playing a whole new game.
Need for Speed: Carbon controls revealed
Newsweek has got a bit of an exclusive look at the upcoming Need for Speed: Carbon for the Wii. Why them? Bah! But some interesting details were divulged nevertheless.As expected, the default control configuration for NFS: Carbon is the one of simplicity, found also in Excitetruck and a mini-game in Wario Ware: Smooth Moves. Turn the Wiimote on its side, and viola, instant steering wheel. But for you pros out there, there are three alternatives for your particular racing style. The first involves holding the Wiimote at a 45 degree angle, tilting forward to accelerate and back to brake; the nunchuk is tilted left and right for steering. The second and third have the Wiimote held at a 90 degree angle; acceleration is handled by tilting forward as before, but now braking is mapped to the Z button on the nunchuk. One of these two uses the motion sensing in the nunchuk for steering, the other merely uses the analog stick.Anyone else think these options are cool as hell, (partially) mimicking a stick shift configuration? [Thanks, Marc and Dave!]
