HTC keeps letting the Shift shift
Like seriously. You’d think a company as fantastic and buttoned-up as HTC would be able to stick to a release date, right? We stopped counting a while ago, but off the top of our head, it looks like the HTC Shift release date has slipped more than 4 times. While initially announced to be available in Q3 ‘07, the date then changed to December. Then January. Now, it’s looking like February. I’m not going to lie — I’ve been waiting a long time to start using a Shift — this is getting crazy. You might be thinking, "oh snap! There’s something BG can’t get his hands on!" But you’re wrong. It’s just that a pre-production model doesn’t turn me on all that much. You have to think of the specs of the device, and I shudder at the thought of an Intel 800MHz Stealy running Vista. I’ve already downgraded my OQO 02 and Sony UX490 to Windows XP, and a pre-production buggy HTC Shift with Vista could be one of the most unappealing thoughts ever. There’s also another problem, and that’s the price tag of $1,650 or higher. It’s high enough to scare off anyone but the most serious mobile professionals, and while that’s not stopping us from purchasing one when it’s available, it might be hard for HTC to pawn this off as easily as they thought. It was after all announced way back in March, and the mobile computing market has changed quite a bit. We’re not totally knocking it, it’s a sexy beast. But the specs are really not that impressive anymore. The 800×480 resolution is definitely small for a 7-inch screen, the processor as we mentioned is way underpowered, and currently there’s only 30 and 40GB HD options. That’s what happens when it takes so long to bring a product to market. Anyone remember the Flipstart? The biggest thing the Shift has going for it is the integrated HSDPA (it’s tri-band UMTS/HSDPA, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE), and the keyboard. But again, there are other options on the market currently. So, will we end up buying one? Yeah, ’cause we’re suckers. But there’s not a whole lot of freaks willing to drop $1600 of their hard-earned dough for a continually pushed back mobile PC that’s underpowered and from a manufacturer who’s never made PCs before. Word of advice, HTC? Release the friggin’ thing before anymore of your customers jump ship! After all the pre-ordering and waiting, most of them have cancelled their orders and bought something else. If you’d like to sell more than a couple thousand units, we suggest you move swiftly.
On Jan 12, 2008 @ 1:00 pm, jim Said:
So right on BG. I have a private consulting firm and had placed an order fo 50 Shifts for clients. Because of this kinda stuff, I switched the otders to an OQO 02 for them. Sorry htc.
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On Jan 12, 2008 @ 2:25 pm, dondgc Said:
The previous BGR story about the Shift “Hands On” garnered a measly seven comments - and three of those were about the phone/dialer.
I would say the lack of buzz speaks volumes.
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On Jan 12, 2008 @ 2:38 pm, Dan Said:
@Jim
Honestly you can’t go wrong with the Oqo2
With all the new features they have added evenm including the SSD drives, and much higher specs, the Oqo2 is a way better choice.
Shoot I’m thinking of selling mine later in the year and upgrade when they start offering even higher capacity SSDs.
HTC is starting to fall as once mighty pda/sm maker, they are just not what they used to be… :-\
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On Jan 12, 2008 @ 6:05 pm, Paul Kusiak Said:
well thats because they never mentioned it has a phone built in on the wm6 side and the wm6 is actually a full wm6 with a clever home plugin that hides it. how i know? guess who has the wm6 rom for it.
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On Jan 12, 2008 @ 8:14 pm, shadow Said:
“company as fantastic and buttoned-up as HTC” - you’ve got to be kidding !!! They still can’t fix TYTN II in over 80 days. They did finally acknowledge my open problem 60 days after I opened it… I’ll never by HTC again. NEVER !
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On Jan 13, 2008 @ 8:53 am, Bryan Said:
Is there a reason for the delays? Was there any mention of them upgrading the components/specs when finally released?
I mean if the screen is better, the CPU is a bit beefier, or or the HD is eithe rbigger or swappable, 1600 dollars would be a small price to pay for a somewhat touch typable fully loaded mobile PC….
Strictly my opinion though.
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On Jan 14, 2008 @ 11:24 am, Franky Said:
So I’m very curious on where you get your information from that the Shift is slipping again…
You state “It’s looking like February…” that’s a nice way to start some FUD on something if you ask me.
Of course I hope you’re not right since I’d like to get my hands on one too. I do hope that MS will come out with their new SP for Vista quick since most problems aren’t rely caused by the HW, but more by the OS if you ask me.
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On Jan 15, 2008 @ 8:54 pm, jaye Said:
I pre-ordered the Shift from Dynamism in March 07, I thought $1,599.00 was too much but Dynamism provides a lifetime warranty. I got sick off all the delays too and just sprung for the new ASUS R2E it runs VISTA home premium on the same 800mghz chip the shift advertises. The R2H came with GPS, HDSPA, a great key board, monitor adapter, & case for $1,099. from Best Buy. I still ‘may’ be crazy enough to get a Shift, if it ever really ‘arrives’, but I may make HTC wait until the price drops…HTC has really disappointed a lot geeks with this.
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On Jan 16, 2008 @ 6:46 pm, Jeff B. Said:
The real question is…does it have an optical drive?
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On Jan 20, 2008 @ 8:22 pm, jaye Said:
No optical drive on the Shift, or any other UMPC’s…yet.
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