Product Reviews

HTC might be best known for its range of Windows Mobile-powered smartphones and PDAs, but its latest offering, the Shift, hopes to inject some new life into the flagging UMPC market.

Even if the considerable price tag doesn't give enough of a clue as to the Shift's luxurious aspirations, the HTC's packaging will. The Shift comes in a huge black box, sheathed in a cardboard slip with a natty aluminium-effect finish.

The attention to such minor aesthetic details is a reassuring touch, especially when you've spent ï900 of your hard-earned cash, but delve inside the box and the good impressions continue - at least in some regards.

HTC provides an assortment of extras: an attractive brown leather pouch for protecting the unit itself and a drawstring felt bag for the mains adapter and accessories. There's also a wired hands-free kit and a mini docking station which provides three USB ports and ethernet networking.

But, after patiently waiting the months it's taken for the HTC Shift to finally arrive, the first glimpse of the hardware is somewhat less than revelatory. The 7in wide screen display takes up most of the front of the device, save for a handful of buttons and controls; a mini-trackpad and a fingerprint reader are spread around the display's aluminium bezel.

The rest of the unit is finished in a glossy gunmetal grey, which looks smart enough, but set against the likes of OQO's gorgeous Model e2, it looks decidedly plain, and more than a little bit on the chunky side.

Considering how much smaller it is than a traditional laptop, it's really not that light either. Without the power supply, the HTC still weighs in at a not-inconsiderable 790g, and its dimensions preclude it from being carried in all but the most gargantuan of pockets.

Still, build quality is beyond reproach, and apart from the odd creak when we really grappled with it, the Shift feels well up to being carted around on a daily basis, even if you do need to carry a bag with you to do so.

Ergonomics

What the Shift lacks in straightforward good looks it more than makes up for in usability. Other manufacturers' takes on the UMPC form factor, such as the Samsung Q1 Ultra, Medion RIM1000 and OQO Model e2, are designed primarily to be used as a handheld devices, with keyboard arrangements that just don't suit deskbound usage. The Shift, however, is a little different.

Slide the display upwards and you'll reveal the Shift's full qwerty keyboard. The nifty hinge is the real talking point however: you can leave the display flat when you're typing on your lap, and also tilt the display forward for a more comfortable position at a desk.

Fitting a keyboard in to such a small device is a trial at the best of times, but HTC has made a brave attempt with the Shift. The keyboard is the best we've encountered on a UMPC, with each key offering a light, responsive action, and even a little travel too, unlike the unpleasant clicky buttons which beset most of the competition.

It's still pretty cramped - and far too much so for the more chubby-fingered members of the PC Pro team - but a little practice helped us get up to a reasonable typing speed. Given the option though, we wouldn't hesitate to connect a full-sized keyboard.

When it

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comes to navigating around Windows, there are a couple of options. A tiny trackpad on the right-hand side of the unit allows you to control the cursor with a thumb and there's also a touch screen, which is as responsive to the prod of a finger as it is the supplied stylus.

The small size of the trackpad makes accurate cursor control a touch hit and miss, but it soon becomes second nature to resort to a prod of the finger where possible. And, as ever, Vista's slick handwriting recognition is a joy to use.

That touch screen display is of impressive quality too, and the 7in panel gives a bright, vibrant image. The native resolution of 800 x 480 may leave the Windows desktop looking more than a little cramped, but thankfully a hardware button allows you to quickly switch to a more manageable 1,024 x 600 resolution.

Performance

As with most UMPCs, the Shift's modest dimensions leave it suffering when it comes to performance.

The Intel A110 processor is a single core model running at just 800MHz, and with just a single gigabyte of memory to support it, it staggered through our benchmarks to a lowly score of 0.25.

It's still more than capable of basic office tasks and surfing the web, but Vista Business feels noticeably sluggish in operation.

Dual control

What's peculiar is that the Shift houses two processors: one for powering Vista, and one 400Mhz Qualcomm part for powering the complementary Windows Mobile interface. Even with Vista in Sleep mode, or just completely shut down, pressing the key nestling on the bottom left of the display instantly opens a cut-down version of Windows Mobile, which HTC has dubbed SnapVUE.

SnapVUE lets you receive SMS text messages and push email, with the help of the device's mobile data GPRS/EDGE, 3G and HSDPA support. All you need to do is add a SIM card. There's also the facility to access Windows Calendar events and, less usefully, weather reports.

Voice calls don't seem to be on the agenda however. Although we could easily peruse our SIM and Outlook contacts, and the interface provides the option to call them, the Shift resolutely refused to do so. Attempts to call the Shift from another phone were similarly fruitless.

It makes us wonder whether the capability is there, but currently blocked by software. But given the provision of a wired hands-free kit in the box, it's still a particularly curious omission.

Conclusion

There's no arguing that many aspects of the Shift's design are rather fine, but its limitations are impossible to ignore. Its seeming inability to make voice calls means that you'll still need to carry a traditional phone around, which is a missed opportunity.

Of course, wielding the Shift like a traditional handset would look nonsensical in the extreme, but were it able to be used as a phone - in conjunction with a Bluetooth headset - it could replace a laptop and smartphone, which would have been a compelling selling point.

Battery life is distinctly underwhelming too; the Shift expiring after just 2 hours 39 minutes of sitting idle. Under the strain of our heavy use test that dwindled to 1 hour and 32 minutes. And when you consider that making use of the 802.11bg, HSDPA or Bluetooth will further reduce battery life, it's clear that most users will simply have to suffer the added bulk of a spare battery.

As it stands, the Shift suffers from the usual complaints that are mounted against the UMPC format - a cramped keyboard, a low-resolution display and dreadful performance.

HTC should be congratulated for making the Shift more usable than any UMPC before it, but when many of its abilities, and those of its ilk, are duplicated by the substantially cheaper combination of a smartphone and an Asus Eee PC, it's easy to wonder what all the fuss was about.