back to article HTC Vista UMPC to hit the UK within weeks

HTC’s long-awaited Shift UMPC is set to arrive in the UK later this month and, rumour has it, you’ll also be able to buy it from Orange. HTC Shift Windows Vista handheld HTC's Shift: runs Vista, connects to 3G The Shift, which first appeared almost a year ago and was due to go on sale in November 2007, will be available …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    upgrade option?

    Do we get an upgrade option to XP?

  2. Steven Hewittt

    Hmmm!

    Also has SD/MMC card slot so I guess you can use ReadyBoost too if you need to run anything really memory hungry.

    It's a close call between this and WM6 (you have the choice), but think I'll be opting for Vista.

    Interesting to see what battery life and telephony will be like though...

  3. Phil Rigby
    Paris Hilton

    Not a good name, really

    Let's hope no-one accidentally drops the "f" from the device name. But then again, it does have Vista loaded on it.

    Paris Hilton because - she's upgrading her Sidekick to one, perhaps?

  4. b shubin
    Boffin

    Options

    yes, and is it penguin-friendly, can you run a BSD on it? Vista would eat that 1GB of RAM standing still...

    would be good if it was useful for a wider range of tasks than just Solitaire (or "card-assisted masturbation", as it is sometimes called).

  5. PHILIP LIVINGSTONE

    Looks nice but ...

    ...isn't a resolution of 800x480 a little low for a device running Windows Vista and costing more than $1000 ?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    @ Not a good name, really

    It is if you're from Cork ;o)

  7. Richard Kilpatrick

    Choice?

    Ummm...

    The HTC Shift is not just a UMPC. It's called "shift" partly because it's part UMPC, part SmartPhone. It also carries a 400MHz CPU running a modified WM6 version that HTC call "SnapVue".

    So: HTC Shift = Vista UMPC with rather small HD for a lot of money + a sort of crippled Hermes-esque phone part.

    I'm curious but not tempted - a FlipStart costs $699, another £80 will probably shove an HSDPA modem in it in place of the EVDO module (I remain as ever horrified at the lack of coverage FlipStart has managed, and surprised no hack-happy bloggers have cracked the lid open and tried a suitable module inside it). Then I get XP, 30GB, 1.1GHz CPU that is actually capable of running something, and a pocket-sized device.

  8. Arnold Lieberman
    Thumb Down

    Still waiting...

    ...for a UMPC with 1024x whatever display. 800x480 hasn't been of any use to anyone (running any modern GUI) since the days of the Amstrad 1640.

    Better off getting a 2nd hand X40 or Portege 100 (http://www.sterlingxs.co.uk/scpages/smallminisubcheaplaptops.htm) which at least have proper screens, processors and keyboards and really aren't that heavy (<1.5Kg).

  9. Greg

    Re: Choice

    "The HTC Shift is not just a UMPC. It's called "shift" partly because it's part UMPC, part SmartPhone."

    So it's an upgraded, overpriced version of my Athena? Yeah, I can see that happening, actually. The Athena's an excellent device, but it's not nearly flashy enough to appeal to Joe Public.

    If I wanted one of these, I'd get the Eee. Costs less than my Athena did (and that was on contract!), and is more than capable for on-the-go stuff.

  10. Ryan
    Stop

    No voice calling

    So to sum it up...

    It's a stupidly big *PDA* with an OS far in excess of it's spec.

    Vista's not inherently Bad, but I wouldn't install it on anything but a high-spec desktop this side of 2010.

  11. Matthew Coulson

    Clamshell

    More, please.

    Still waiting the arrival of Fujitsu's U1010 in the UK.

  12. Tim Blair
    Gates Horns

    hahahaa

    best advert for an eee i've seen...

  13. Ben Bufton
    Happy

    Nah...

    Makes the iPhone look like a bargain... and we all know Mac OS X is sweet. :)

  14. Richard Kilpatrick

    Heh...

    Arnold: FlipStart has a 5.6" 1024 x 600 screen. The Register seems to have deemed it unworthy of coverage for some reason, but google. They're $699 in the US. Also Sony's UMPC things had 1024 x 600 also, and I think the Fujitsu A100-based one has too.

    Greg: I have an Athena (well, had, I slipped over on a train and smashed it a week or so ago - insurance will replace it thankfully) and found in true HTC style, it Didn't Quite Work Well Enough - camera was useless, it's far slower than the CPU speed suggests - and of course, it's an awful phone without a bluetooth handset (LG Style-i should have been standard kit!). Shift is far more than the Athena, it's an Athena with a UMPC attached. The idea is that SnapVue will allow a decent standby to use it as a phone.

    The Eee is a nice idea, but the screen dimensions are all wrong IMO. The size of the lid would allow an 8.1" or larger screen and more pixels; or just ditch the wasted space and make it smaller physically. And the lack of storage annoys me. I want one as a successor to my Handheld PC, MobilePro 900c, but I never really made much use of that either.

    What made Athena so anachronistic was the inclusion of the HD. Such a short sighted move; added bulk, added power consumption, added fragility - and yet I just stuck 8GB in my E90 for £32.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Pirate

    who says you can't

    “cannot make voice calls using a mobile network”.

    give it a week and there will be a crack !!!!

  16. Greg

    @Richard Kilpatrick

    Oh, absolutely, the Athena is flawed. The hard drive is indeed a pointless addition, as you said, and the OS lags like a bitch. However, it is gobsmackingly portable, and the battery life is fine for me.

    I do all my Uni notes on the Athena. I'm in a lecture right now, in fact! Naughty me. I'm hoping to put Project Black on my device soon, which is apparently a lot slicker.

    It's not perfect by any means, but it certainly was the best for me at the time, and to be honest I still think it is. A bigger machine wouldn't fit in my jacket pocket, would still need a headset, etc. The Athena's a great little device that does just enough for what I need while on the go, and hopefully Project Black will take away its annoying tendency to lag. I personally woudn't pay more for this Vista based device, because it only really serves the same purpose as the Athena, but it's bulkier, and I'll bet with Vista on it lags just as much.

  17. Richard Kilpatrick

    @Greg

    The Fujitsu whateveritis is about the same size as the Athena - and a similar price stateside. However the Athena does handle calls quite well. My experiences with the FlipStart suggest "with the right apps" (i.e. not Office) it's very quick and portable, and has a better keyboard than Athena.

    And I'm running XP, too.

    I wish HTC would develop their products properly - finish them off, as it were - as many offer a lot of potential but instead get replaced totally. There is apparently going to be a 16GB Athena in April, but to what benefit - rumours on here suggest the N95 replacement will have 16GB too, iPhones have 16GB - why develop a machine which contains the HD still, I wonder.

  18. Greg

    Indeed

    You're right about the hard drive. They could rip that out, replace it with flash and either make the device smaller or use the space for even more funky gadgetry.

  19. Matt Bradley
    Gates Horns

    "Microsoft Windows Vista has uninstalled the letter 'f' from your device name"

    ^^^

    No further comment.

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