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The long, cold wait for an official HTC TyTN II Windows Mobile 6.1 build will soon be over. According to several sources, HTC is in the final stages of preparing an official firmware update. The revamped OS will be made available for HTC branded devices sometime over the next several days, with an AT&T version for the Tilt coming sometime after that. Nothing unexpected in the actual update, with threaded SMS, a Getting Started Wizard, and modest performance improvements topping the list of changes. We’d still recommend loading this one up, however, so stay tuned for the upcoming official launch.

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One of Roger ninjas hit us up to give us the breakdown of mobile device launches for the month of June. It’s a pretty impressive line-up if you ask us. As usual, dates do change, but this is what we got so far:

• BlackBerry Bold launch time frame is June 9th-29th. (we don’t have an exact date just yet)
• The HTC Shift will launch on Rogers within the next 10 days. Rumored date is May 22nd, and it’s going for $1,500 on a 3-year agreement.
• The Motorola E8 will be making the trek up north for a June launch. No specific launch date or pricing info yet.
• The Motorola ROKR U9 which as we’re told was supposed to be launched in May, will now be launched in June on Fido.
• Motorola’s W755r (same exact model AT&T has) will also be coming to Rogers in June.
• We’ve also been told Rogers will not be getting the BlackBerry 8320. They are sticking to the BlackBerry 8120 and BlackBerry 8820 for their UMA action.

I think we’ve about covered it for now. Also, the BlackBerry Bold date seems a tad early, so we’d guess it would be launched towards the tail-end of that timeframe. AT&T should either launch before that date, or soon after as we can’t imagine Rogers getting it first. But that’s our own prediction and not based off actual AT&T internal information. Who’s excited out there

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Eager to get your hands on the newly revamped HTC Advantage 7510? You’re going to have to resort to the gray market, at least for the time being. HTC has decided not to distribute the new “handset” in America. So sad. Truth be told, we’re not entirely sold on the redesign, with an altered keyboard design that appears to leave a little to be desired in the ergonomics department. The reason for the ban is that the handset runs off of the Qualcomm chipset that has been banned in the US pending litigation. As there hasn’t been much progress on the chipset ban, we won’t hold our breath for an impending 7510 release stateside.

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Time to drool-guard your keyboard. Two of the most highly-anticipated handsets of 2008 were found mingling side by side and CNMO scored some shots. Granted, they’re not the best quality or lighting, but you get the idea. The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X1 pictured above to the left, is Sony’s eventual first entry into its high-end XPERIA line. We hear that at some point, Sony Ericsson is actually going to make it available to consumers. To the right is the HTC Diamond, the ultra-sleek touch-only gem that was announced recently. If we had to chose only one… Well, luckily we don’t. More pics after the jump.

UPDATE: It turns out some nefarious site watermarked WMExperts’ pictures. We’ve updated the links to their site.

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Yeah, we know. There have been a long string of seemingly official Sprint Mogul ROM leaks. Given the history, you shouldn’t get your hopes up too high, but it’s still a good step to see this in the wild. A new version of the Sprint Mogul Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM has leaked within the DEV community. The new firmware, ROM version 3.49 and radio version 3.39.10, is being billed as an "almost official but still beta" release. Among the many updates include HTC’s new large Start Menu, Sprint TV (finally), subjectively faster response time, and a bit more, all running atop Windows Mobile 6.1. We’re hearing June 1st as a possible drop date, but we’ll believe it when we see it.

[Via WMExperts]

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Well, well, well. Fresh off the recent FCC filing, the American version of the HTC Touch Dual has shown up on the Best Buy website. Currently available for pre-order from bestbuy.com, the handset sports support for 850/900/1800/1900MHz bands, giving us full quad-band support and making it a useful acquisition for current AT&T subscribers wishing to use 3G here. The price is listed as a back-breaking $549.99, which is a bit steep, especially considering the impending arrival of HTC’s next-gen Touch interface, but if you absolutely must have the latest HTC handset to hit American soil, this one is a keeper.

Thanks, Ron!

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It’s been quite a day here in London with HTC rolling out the red carpet treatment in recognition of the launch of their new Touch Diamond handset. We’ll certainly be the first to admit that we were a bit underwhelmed by the Touch Diamond announcement when it first hit. The phone has been circulating the web for a week or two now, and we were really hoping that the company would announce a full line of handsets, including the rumored Raphael with a full QWERTY keyboard. While we would still like to have seen a bit more from the Taiwanese company today, upon reflection, we think that the launch is certainly deserving of merit and accolade.

The TouchFLO 3D interface is, in a word, amazing. If you thought the original TouchFLO skin was impressive (or even unimpressive) than you’re in for a big surprise here. This is, without a doubt, the most un-Windows Mobile-like Windows Mobile interface we’ve ever seen, and that’s a good thing. The graphics, which rely on their own 3D accelerator chip, are stunning, and the entire user experience is exceptionally well thought through. Hyper-intuitive design is the term than comes to mind, with most every action, from contact scrolling to music selection, thought through from the perspective of a uninformed user. It’s not dumbed down, it’s just simple and straight forward. One of the most impressive features is the way that the browser automatically resizes zoomed chunks of text for easy reading and consumption. Think Mobile Safari, but even more readable.  The introduction of the Touch Diamond before the Raphael or Touch Pro Dual also makes sense, as HTC is clearly trying to showcase the innovations they’ve made in the Touch UI arena before moving on to more extensive hardware revisions. That’s not to say we wouldn’t have loved a TyTN III or Mogul II announcement, but when viewed from a marketing and customer orientation perspective, their process starts to make a bit more sense.

Again, we would have loved to see more new stuff today — Android, Raphael, etc, but we’re confident that HTC is making some pretty good moves and laying a solid foundation for their future product lines. Was the event today worthy of the hype? Maybe not, but it’s by no means the misstep we initially thought it to be.

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Thought we were done with HTC news for the day? Not a chance. After today’s press event we got a chance to spend a bit of quality time with HTC’s new Touch Diamond. While we were admittedly playing with a pre-production unit, we came away slightly…unimpressed. It’s a cool device to be sure, and the new TouchFLO 3D stuff looks great, but in practice, everything seemed to be moving about 3/4’s of a second behind each screen press. Slow motion was the name of the game. It’s thin, but not that thin, and did feel quite nice in the hand. That said, it’s not going to break any design records here. The most impressive part of the handset is, without question, the interface itself. The YouTube implementation is pretty impressive, and everything is really shiny, clear, and tastefully done. Let’s hope the laggyness was due to a non-final ROM. Hit the gallery for all the pics!

Click on over to our HTC Touch Diamonds hands on gallery!

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Well, we’re not sure what we think of the device just yet. We’ll have our hands-on shots and first impressions up in a bit, but for now, here are the offical specs of the HTC Touch Diamond handset:

• Size: 102 x 51 x 11.33mm
• Weight: 110 g
• Connectivity: WCDMA / HSPA: 900/2100MHz. HSDPA 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA
• Operating system: Windows Mobile® 6.1 Professional
• Display: 2.8-inch VGA touch screen
• Camera: 3.2MP, with video calling
• Internal memory: 4 GB Internal Storage, 256 MB flash, 192 MB RAM,
• Bluetooth: 2.0 with EDR
• Wireless: WiFi 802.11b/g
• GPS: GPS/AGPS
• Interface: HTC ExtUSB™ (mini-USB and audio jack in one; USB 2.0 High-Speed)
• Battery: 900 mAh
• Talk time: GSM: up to 4 hours
• Standby time: GSM: up to 300 hours/100 hours with push email
• Chipset: Qualcomm MSM® 7201A™ 528MHz

What do you guys think? It most likely won’t be out in the U.S. for a couple months at best. Will you buy it? Couple more pics after the break.

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Alright, people! We’ve touched down in London and we’re starting to head to HTC’s special press event. We’ll update this shortly from the venue.  

11:16 AM: We’re still waiting…

11:20 AM: Only a small amount of people here…not including the 100 HTC employees, of course.

11:30 AM: Still waiting…looks like there is a delay.

11:39 AM: A lot more press peeps just showed up — not our kind — the traditional media folks.

11:45 AM: Looks like it’s the HTC Touch Diamond. No surprises here. The goodie bags all say "HTC Touch Diamond".

11:49 AM: Finally they are letting press in!

11:50 AM: We’ve pretty much confirmed Android will not be making an appearance here. Mmm.

11:52 AM: We’re seated. Cheesy music playing.

12:01 PM: HTC CEO Peter Chou is on stage.

12:02 PM: He’s introducing some VP’s.

12:03 PM: "More than 3 million HTC Touchs sold."

12:04 PM" "Phones are difficult to use. You sometimes have to press 20 buttons."

12:07 PM: HTC Touch Diamond. 4GB internal memory.

12:09 PM: It has a 3D animated touchscreen experience

12:10 PM: "More emotion."

12:11 PM: "Breakthrough in innovation." The HTC Touch Diamond has HSDPA/HSDPU

12:13 PM: It’s a "perfect form factor. Not too big, not too small."

12:15 PM: He just said the design is museum-worthy. We’ll be the judge of that, fella.

12:16 PM: Showing off the phone’s interface now.

12:17 PM: Looks like HTC heavily customized the interface.

12:18 PM: This is actually pretty cool. We’re getting excited.

12:20 PM: Well, there’s definitely an accelorometer in here!

12:22 PM: Here’s what we’ve been waiting for — the internet browsing…

12:23 PM: This definitely doesn’t look like Pocket Internet Explorer. You can touch content in the browser and it comes up in almost a text editor for easier reading.

12:24 PM: Sort of like Mobile Safari, in a way.

12:24 PM: Web browser also rotates when device is tilted.

12:25 PM: HTC worked with Google to deveop a "killer YouTube experience." One touch YouTube access. Scroll through videos like the iPhone with elastic scrolling. Nice, it has  VGA display and YouTube looks awesome.

12:26 PM: Marketing spin: "HTC Touch Diamond is Just Like Your Life." What, sad and lonely?

12:28 PM: Vice President of HTC Europe speaking now. The phone will be available through all key operating partners. All 5 main networks in the U.K. — wow.

12:29 PM: Available in Europe and Asia in June. Rest of the world is later this year. What. In. The. Hell?

12:30 PM: "Operator-specific versions will be coming and will have key services and features from each specific partner." They’re talking about the ability to work with they’re partners, etc.

12:31 PM: "Unique Orange Flavor." Executive VP of Orange taking the stage now. He just said "a truely cool and exciting device."

12:34 PM: Orange TV with 61 channels will be available on Touch Diamond. This is getting really boring.

12:36 PM: Peter Chou is back on stage.

12: 37 PM: Peter just said HTC screws up sometimes but they work hard to try and improve.

12:40 PM: HTC Touch Diamond is the first device to launch with Windows Mobile 6.1

12:42 PM: The new head of Microsoft Mobile Communications, Andy Lee, is on stage.

12:43 PM: 11 million Windows Mobile devices sold last year, blah blah.

12:44 PM: Oh my god. We came all the way here for one phone. Where is my slide-out keyboard, damn it!

12:45 PM: Peter Chou - "I believe the HTC Touch Diamond will change how people interact with their phone."

12:46 PM: Think they are wrapping it up now. Nope. Question time!

12:47 PM: Someone just asked the Microsoft dude why Opera was used as the browser on the Touch Diamond. He said because Windows Mobile browser 6 is coming soon and isn’t done yet. "It will be the richest mobile browser experience." Yeah, whatevz dude!

12:50 PM: People are asking about iPhone comparisons and texting and the keyboard. Touchscreen keyboard! Come on, guys! No 3.5mm headset jack. It still used the USB jack. Wack.

12:53 PM: An "8-21% improvement in battery life with Windows Mobile 6.1." Uh, what kind of range is that, people?

12:54 PM: Aaaaand the lights went out. Think it’s over.

12:55 PM: Wow a 900mAh battery. That will last a good 6 minutes.

12:56 PM: Price point? Too early to tell…based on operator.

1:00 PM: That’s it! On to the demo.

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Were the spy shots and leaked specs not enough to hold you over until the official launch? We’ve got a bit more info on the upcoming HTC next generation devices. The new handsets will be called the HTC Touch Diamond, HTC Touch Pro, and the HTC Touch Dual Pro. The Touch Diamond is the Diamond, the Touch Pro is the Raphael, and the Touch Dual Pro is apparently a refresh of the existing HTC Touch Dual. As far as specs go, we’re still not 100% clear, but the specifics floating around include (courtesy of WMExperts):

• Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional
• Qualcomm MSM 7201A @ 528MHz
• 256MB ROM / 128MB RAM
• 7.2MB HSDPA / HSUPA (rev A EVDO for Sprint versions)
• 2.8" VGA screen
• WiFi
• Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR
• eGPS
• 3.1MP Camera with flash
• Forward facing camera
• 4GB internal flash storage (Diamond only) - Samsung MoviNAND
• TV out (Raphael only)
• Orientation sensor
• FM Radio
• microSD expansion
• 900mAh battery
• Diamond: 51 x 99 x 10.7mm
• Raphael: 51 x 99 x 17mm

No word just yet on when we can expect these to launch, but we have a feeling it will have something to do with May 6th.

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Congratulations Alltel customers. If you’re lucky enough to spend most of your time within Alltel’s coverage area, you now have access to the first HTC Touch variant to be graced with EVDO Rev. A. A new ROM, 3.04.671.2, has just been issued by HTC that brings with it several fixes and enhancements. Most notable of course, is the addition of high-speed EVDO Rev. A support thanks to a new radio version. The new firmware also fixes some Bluetooth issues along with adding the capability to receive video messages. For the time being, the new ROM is for Alltel customers only but we expect HTC to follow suit with Verizon and Sprint soon enough. In the meantime, try not to resort to violence in the event that some cocky Alltel customer starts shoving high-speed downloads in your face.

[Via PhoneArena]

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Remember that spy shot of a new anonymous HTC device? Things are getting a bit more clear. It turns out that the device in question is actually the HTC Raphael, apparently designed to be the replacement for the current generation HTC Mogul. The handset sports a slide-out QWERTY keypad that looks to be a bit of a departure from the current generation HTC keyboard, and sports a full VGA screen, Wi-Fi, a 3 megapixel camera, and aGPS support. This one is expected to hit shelves in sometime in September. As if that wasn’t enough, there’s also a new Touch replacement in the works, codenamed the HTC Diamond. It looks very similar to the Raphael, but apparantly lacks the QWERTY keypad of it’s brethren. Specs appear to be otherwise identical. Expect this handset to launch on Sprint sometime next November. Oh, and both devices are currently slated to run Windows Mobile, so don’t get too excited about any Android offerings just yet, but if this is the first round of next-gen HTC devices, consider us sold.

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In apparent anticipation of their upcoming "game changing" May 6th announcement, HTC is getting ready to launch their first ever North American brand awareness campaign. The Taiwanese manufacturer is well known for its carrier-branded devices, but has recently begun dabbling with promoting their own brand. Hoping to raise brand awareness and further solidify its place at the top of the Windows Mobile (and upcoming Android) food chain, they’ve prepared a commercial campaign that should hit movie theatres, in-flight entertainment screens, television, print, and outdoor ad spots alike beginning this week.  The first ad is already out, and besides us begging them to change the Apple-esque ending (no, really, we begged), the commercial is actually quite well done. Could HTC be planning to expand their direct-to-consumer retail business a la Nokia and Apple? We’re not sure, but they certainly have our vote of confidence if they go down that road.

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…and it’s not a ridiculous giant joke this time. The pic above surfaced recently on Mobile-Review and it’s quite interesting to say the least. We know the handsets in the top row and we know the second one in on the bottom is a P3470, but what in the name of all that is holy is that other device?! On the bottom row the first, third and fourth handsets all appear to be the same model but we have no idea what it is, aside from dead sexy. Several sites have made the assumption that it’s HTC’s upcoming Android device, which is certainly possible. Of course in the picture above it’s running Windows Mobile but that’s not to say it couldn’t be a placeholder for hardware tests. It could also just be a new unheard of thin, sexy, touchscreen, full-qwerty slider that we’re all seeing for the first time. Whatever it is we want it, and we want it now!

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We told you the Shadow was going to be a T-Mo brand, remember? TmoNews has revealed the first spy shots of what they claim is the upcoming T-Mobile Shadow. Set to replace the current generation Shadow, this new handset sports a revised look with smooth, rounded lines and a what appears to be a new glossy plastic overlay on top of the navigation keys. This handset, like the original, will be manufactured by HTC. Unlike the original, the Shadow II is rumored to sport Hotspot@Home support, which would make it the first Windows Mobile handset capable of interacting with T-Mobile’s UMA service. Not much to go on aside from that, but we’ll keep you updated as things progress.

[Via Engadget Mobile]

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Thanks to a crafty developer over at the XDA-Dev community, we’ve got a real live HTC TyTN II running a real live version of Google’s Android OS. The video is woefully short, but does show the user loading and running a working version of Android onto their HTC handset. The interesting thing here is that Android appears to run as an .EXE on top of the Windows Mobile shell, opening up the possibility to have Android running on a wide variety of Windows Mobile devices. Again, we’re not sure how functional this is just yet, but it’s a promising and exciting step forward for anyone looking to get a taste of Android before the first official devices launch. Hit the link for the full video!

[Via WMExperts]

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Given the recent problems experienced by rivals including Palm and Motorola, it’s nice to see a little bit of forward progress every now and then. Today’s heart warming story comes to us courtesy of HTC. The company has just posted their 2008 Q1 earnings report, and things seem to be looking pretty good for the Taiwanese manufacturer. The company earned $1.08 billion in the first quarter of this year, which marks a 38.6% increase from the same period last year. Everything isn’t roses and chocolates, however, as they still saw a 16.2% decrease from Q4 of last year, but given the Holiday frenzy we’re inclined to give them a free pass on this one. Nice work, HTC. Now if only some of that success could rub off on those who will not be mentioned.

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Uh oh. So it looks like T-Mobile’s Windows Mobile-based Wing handset might be having some battery troubles. Wing owners have been quietly receiving replacement batteries in the mail. The new batteries are manufactured by Celxpert, which marks a departure from the original Dynapack-sourced juice packs. The new batteries are accompanied by a short note that reads:

T-Mobile and HTC are providing a replacement for the T-Mobile Wing battery made by Dynapack at not charge to you due to rare occurrences of the battery overheating.

"Rare occurrences", eh? Sounds a bit ominous. Has anyone out there experienced any issues with the Wing battery? Let us know!

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Coming this quarter to a Best Buy near you, the long-awaited US variant of the HTC Touch Dual is on display at this year’s CTIA Wireless conference. Pure hotness. As you can see from the live pics, the latest addition to HTC’s Touch family sports some nice upgrades compared to the Touch we all know and love. Of course the first and foremost improvement is the presence of the Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS. Beyond that is a vastly improved browser experience and several additions geared towards simplifying the light-user experience. A good example of this is the new start menu that can be seen in the gallery. Slide the handset open and this menu automatically appears, giving users instant access to a host of common operations such as New Email, New SMS and various scheduler functions. Another smart new feature rears its head when pairing bluetooth devices. Upon initialization of the pairing process, the Touch Dual will automatically attempt a variety of common bluetooth pass codes (ie 0000, 1111, 9999, etc). As most devices utilize one of these common codes by default, the Touch Dual will most often pair with devices without needing any user intervention. Additions like this make this device perfect for serious tech-savvy users and the not-so-tech-friendly types as well. This people, is a solid winner. The suretype keyboard a la Shadow is a true pleasure to handle and the US HSDPA seals the deal. Where do we sign?

Click on over to our HTC Touch Dual gallery!

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Let the games begin! HTC has just announced that their Touch Dual handset will be available in the United States, beginning sometime this quarter. For those that don’t know, the Touch dual is a variation of HTC’s popular Touch handset, sporting TouchFLO, a 2 megapixel camera, and much more. In addition to the touchscreen, the handset also features a slide-out 20-key keyboard, making it a nice compromise between a smartphone and a traditional handset, without making too many concessions in the design department. This will be HTC’s first official Windows Mobile 6.1-equipped phone, and Quad-Band EDGE and Dual Band HSDPA support, making an AT&T-supported release look like a no brainer.

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Took you guys long enough, eh? Months after we got our first look at Windows Mobile 6.1, the company has finally made the update official. Announced this morning at CTIA, the Windows Mobile 6.1 upgrade will now be available to all manufacturers and carriers that wish to implement it. Available by "sometime in Q2" of this year, the new software will be offered by hardware manufacturers including HTC, Motorola, Samsung, and Pantech. Additionally, we could see updates to existing models directly from carriers, though this process is often fraught with delays and empty promises. Nonetheless, the new WM 6.1 takes Windows Mobile a step closer to that "user friendly" experience we’ve all been looking for.

UPDATE: It looks like HTC might be one of the first to the party on this one. In addition to the newly announced WM 6.1-equipped Touch Dual, the company has revealed that they will be working with carriers to provide 6.1 updates for the Sprint Touch and Mogul, AT&T Tilt, Alltel Touch and PPC6800, and the OEM HTC TyTN II. Who’s next?

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For those that don’t know, HTC’s "Manilla" is basically a customized interface that’s on top of the standard Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional OS. The actual screen shots a good friend provided us with are from a "cooked" X7510 ROM with the "Manilla" part thrown in from an unreleased VGA device HTC is working on. Also we’ve been told that "Manilla" is not technically TouchFLO 2.0, TouchFLO 2.0 just has a few updates to the scrolling part of it and the cube, nothing more than that. We’ve got to say that we’re in love with these screenshots and how Windows Mobile 6.1 is looking after HTC got a hold of it and put their own customizations on it. Maybe that or the VGA resolution. Well, both actually. Hit the gallery for the screenies!

Click on over to our HTC Manilla screenshot gallery!

P.S. Don’t forget to check out the Athena project over at XDA. You just might well get a little "Manilla" rub-down if you know what I mean…Ok, that was dirty.

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I’m going to keep this pretty short just because the unit is like, uh, almost identical to the GSM one we tore apart and reviewed a little while back. The HTC Shift is coming stateside, as you all know by now. It’s going to be available starting today, and is a Sprint unit. So besides the CDMA chip in place of the GSM one, what exactly is different? For starters, since it’s a US unit, you’ll get a US keyboard instead of the atrocious UK keyboard (sorry, fellas, but it really is bad). You also get better build-quality, at least in our view. The HTC software on the device seems to be pretty solid compared to our other Shift, and it makes a world of difference. For a little back story, I took the original GSM Shift with me on my vacation (because Sprint’s coverage isn’t the best) and the HTC Communications Manager failed on me big time. Crashed at start up, no chance of using the 3G modem that’s built in, and definitely no SnapVue. It rendered the whole device useless and this is a frequent problem with the GSM model for me. Additionally, the slider mechanism sort of broke despite my attempts to "baby" the unit. On the flip side now, the Sprint Shift we’ve been putting through the paces is a rock-solid trooper. No software crashes, amazing build-quality, and just a better overall feel to it. Something a little strange, though, is that the leather case that comes with the GSM model, is actually "built-in" to the CDMA unit. You can take it off by removing the T6 screws that hold it in place, but you’re left with the screw posts and it’s a little awkward. Having the case is nice, don’t get me wrong, it’s just weird and a little uncalled for if you ask me. Sprint’s Ev-DO service works well when you have full coverage, but personally there’s no comparing it to the 1700kbps + speeds I got with AT&T’s HSDPA. It will be interesting to see how this unit is priced on a carrier here in the US as the $1,500+ price tag is a lot to swallow for this first generation product that’s slightly underpowered and has some kinks to work out. Well, now you’ve got a choice, people. CDMA or GSM? If they fix the software issues and build quality with the GSM units, I don’t think there should be a question which to choose from. That is, of course, if you’re not a Sprint subscriber. But then again, who is?

Click on over to our HTC Shift CDMA Sprint gallery, and get your shift on!

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Our trials and tribulations with the HTC shift over here at BGR world headquarters have been well documented. For all our frustration, however, we still think it’s one hell of an entry into the UMPC marketplace. While the GSM/HSDPA version of the machine has been floating around for quite some time, the CDMA version has been kept under wraps…until now. Amazon has posted a pre-order for the HTC Shift CDMA, which is available for early-order now at the low, low price of $1,499. There’s nothing to differentiate this from the GSM version, but at the end of the day, if CDMA/EV-DO is your flavor of choice, we would certainly recommend this bad boy. No word on exactly when this will ship, but given the limited quantities during the GSM launch, we’d certainly encourage you to move over there as fast as you can. We’ve had our hands on a Sprint-equipped version of this CDMA Shift for the past 2 weeks. A full review is forthcoming, but in the mean time, rest assured that the EV-DO radio on this baby is nothing to scoff at.

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It’s that time, everyone! We’ve got another winner, and this time it’s an HTC Shift going to a lucky reader out there. You ready for it? Jeff Robertson in the U.K., step right up and claim your prize! You will be contacted by a member of our staff to arrange the shipping details. Congratulations. Everyone else — thanks so much for entering — as usual, we’ve got a whole heap of great giveaways coming up!

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Besides the long list of people that waited and waited for the HTC Shift to finally be released, any BGR reader will know our own personal fascination with it. Considering how much we’ve craved, wished, hoped, and wanted, we’re going to take you into a full review of the HTC Shift. Everything possible will be broken down for you. The screen, keyboard, connectivity, battery life, software, problems — it’s all fair game on this side of town! If you’ve got any specific questions we’ll be glad to answer them for you. Just drop a comment below. And now, of course, the review…after the jump!

Design

You’d be hard-pressed to find a UMPC that is as cleanly designed as the HTC Shift. Taking into account the mechanics with the tilt + slide mechanism, they did a wonderful job. There’s not a huge amount of ports or buttons or switches on it, and that’s a good thing. On the right side, you have the HTC Communications Manager button, the screen resolution adjustment button, the trackpad, right speaker, and finally fingerprint reader. Moving to the left side, you have the right and left mouse click buttons, left speaker, and below that is the SnapVue/Vista button to switch between the two operating systems.

As we travel around the unit, we see the Power/Hold switch, USB port, and charging port. On the back, you’ll only find the VGA out port which is perfectly placed. All we have on the left side is the 3.5mm headset jack and nothing on the front side of the unit.

Keyboard

The keyboard is a tricky subject for any hardcore user. And the point of a portable device is that it should be able to function for all your needs when you’re not at the office or at home on your main computer. After all, if you can’t even manage to enter a web address, you can forget about answering those emails in Outlook, and editing those Word documents. I’m happy to report that the HTC Shift’s keyboard is the most usable out of any of the ultra portable devices I own or have ever used. This includes the Sony UX490, the OQO 02, and most definitely the Samsung Q1 Ultra. It’s a different keyboard though, so comparisons to the UX and OQO are not completely fair. Those keyboard are typed BlackBerry or Sidekick-style with two thumbs. The Shift keyboard is to be used in more of a traditional setup using your fingers to type. Unless you’re Yao Ming, there’s a good chance you won’t be holding it with two hands and using your thumbs to type. The keys are smaller than your average keyboard, but travel well when they’re pressed and have a good feel to them. The setup is a little weird, though. The numbers on the top row of the keyboard are not completely aligned. So the "1" key is over the "W" key instead of the "Q" key. This throws you off a little bit when you’re trying to type as if you were on a normal computer, but you get used to it after a while and it’s manageable. There is no F11 key (F1-F10) so you might need to remap it to another key if you use a program that needs it. Here is my big issue: the damn keyboard is not back-lit! This is a huge issue. The problem is even more obvious in low-light conditions, the screen is not angled over the keyboard (obviously), it’s tilted back. So the screen doesn’t give off enough light to be able to see the keyboard, and this makes it nearly impossible to type in low or no light conditions. That’s a real problem when you’re on a plane, on a train, or just laying in bed at night trying to get some work done.

Screen

The screen is good. It’s not great. The default resolution of 800×480 is fine for most applications and you have the option of changing to 1024×600 which will help with those cutoff windows. Running the brightness all the way to the top was too bright, and that’s a good thing. You’ll have to adjust the brightness if you’re outside, but we’re happy to report the screen is perfectly viewable even in direct sunlight. The screen is also, of course, a touchscreen. It’s a passive touch screen, so you’re free to use your fingers to tap and select items. The included stylus works fine for navigating, handwriting or anything else you’d like to do with it. We just had a bitch of a time getting the stylus out from the unit.

Performance

To give you the hard specs: 800MHz A110 Intel CPU, 1GB RAM, 40GB 4200rpm hard drive. That’s probably the bare minimum in terms of today’s advanced specifications for a mobile computer, but we’re happy to report that the HTC Shift doesn’t act like an under-powered machine. Yes, even in Vista. After almost a week of usage and putting it through the paces (we left the SSD MacBook Air at home), we were pleasantly surprised with no lock-ups, slow downs, or any kind of issues related to the speed of the device. As long as you don’t try to edit feature-length films on here, you should be alright. Office 2007 ran perfectly, Internet Explorer gave us no troubles, and AIM worked well, too. Playing videos and music also didn’t cause the computer to hiccup. We’re really pleased with how usable it is even with below-standard hardware.

Power / Battery

This could be be one of the biggest hurdles the HTC Shift has to face. To be fair, the specs are exactly as HTC specified: 2 hours of battery life in Windows Vista. You might be able to squeeze out a couple extra minutes, but don’t fool yourself — you’re not watching a whole Lord of the Rings movie on here anytime soon. On the upside, SnapVue lasts for a hell of a long time, even with the 3G connection on. HTC states around 2 days with push email enabled, and we agree. This is awesome for anyone on the go. A great move on HTC’s part is the power adapter. The charging brick is tiny and the charging cable itself is super lengthy. They get points for that one. We’d love to see a high-capacity battery soon, though. Some people have resorted to an external power station, but that’s a little extreme for our taste. Sure, you could strap on enough juice to power the city the of Los Angeles, but the point of an ultra-portable is to be portable, not weighed down by the extra batteries and power supply boxes attached to it.

Connectivity

How could we say something negative in this department? The HTC Shift is a powerful man-beast of connectivity options. We have Bluetooth 2.0, Wi-Fi, quad-band GSM/EDGE, and tri-band UMTS/HSDPA (850MHz/1900MHz/2100MHz). It’s all managed by the HTC Communication Manager and usually works flawlessly. You can have your 3G connection on at the same time as your Wi-Fi connection so in Vista you’ll browse over Wi-Fi and in SnapVue you’ll use 3G. There is a little quirk, though. Wi-Fi can’t be used in SnapVue, but 3G can be used in Vista. So you won’t be able to take advantage of anything on the SnapVue side unless you have a valid SIM card with data access in the Shift. That brings us to…

SnapVue

SnapVue is basically the Windows Mobile side of things, if you will. It’s not full Windows Mobile (though the people we love all over the world are working on "fixing" this), so there are some problems. On the SnapVue homescreen, you get a nice Today plugin. It shows the time, date, weather, emails, contacts, SMSs, calendar and settings. The issue is that since HTC has not provided us with the full Windows Mobile experience, you are limited in what you can do.

Let’s take the email program, for instance. You have your Exchange server all set up, your emails are being pushed to the device, and everything is all well and good in Shift land. Then you get an email with an important attachment. No problem, just click the attachment and it will download. Sure, it downloads, but try opening it. You can’t open any attachment in an email in SnapVue. PowerPoint, Word, Excel, PDF, image, movie, sound, MP3 — nothing! You’re forced to switch over to Vista and handle your business. I don’t think most people are asking for document editing, though that would be nice, but we should at least have the ability to open simple rudimentary attachments in SnapVue. That brings us to another snafu…phone calling.

HTC has not included the ability to make phone calls from the device. Not in Snapvue, not in Vista. From what I heard internally, this caused a bit of concern corporately in HTC as their customers were pretty ticked off about the possibility of a dedicated SIM card to a data device and not having the possibility of using it as a phone. We’re not saying you should walk around holding this up to your head (although we wouldn’t put it past some people), but you should have the option of using a Bluetooth headset. After all, with 3G, you could be talking while browsing the web. That’s a real must for a lot of people. So, no phone calls, but texting is included. Say what? Yeah, you can send text messages in SnapVue using the traditional Outlook program we’re all used to. To be clear, the actual applications are not stripped down at all.

The email application, calendar, contacts and all that are the full programs you’d find on a normal Windows Mobile device, it’s just the whole attachment and phone thing. In terms of applications you don’t get, well then, that’s another story. Besides the couple we mentioned, there isn’t anything else. No Pocket IE, no file browser, or anything of the sort. And that’s alright for most people including me personally. You really need to get something done, flip that switch to Vista and get on with your business. Attachment support should 100% be included in SnapVue for emails, so we’re going to have to see if HTC fixes this in a later firmware/software upgrade.

Sound

Stereo speakers, people! They sound really good. They’re loud and clear, but lacking a little bass. That’s alright. It will get you by anything you have to do in the audio world like watching videos or listening to music. The stereo speakers really are a pleasant surprise, though. We didn’t expect that. The only thing that could take on the Shift in the speaker department is the Samsung Q1 or Q1 Ultra. Those are probably the upper-echelon of UMPC speakers.

User Interface

The design and usability of the add-ons including SnapVue and other HTC bits of software like the Communication Manager are very straight forward. Big buttons and good descriptions. The only feature we’d like to see, as minor as it is, is the ability to hold a button down in the Comm Manager. I don’t want to click Volume Up 100 times, I want to hold it and let it do its magic. Besides that small annoyance, they’re off to a good start designing and making applications for Vista.

Problems

Now, every device isn’t perfect, though some will be more polished than others. We have had a ton of issues with HTC’s Communication Manager. This has crashed a bunch of times, and while it’s not the biggest deal if you can’t access that bit of software, it is. That controls all wireless connectivity options, so you can forget about using Wi-Fi or 3G when that bugger crashes and doesn’t perform. You can also forget about SnapVue as that has to be on in order for the Windows Mobile side of things to start up. Thankfully it’s a software issue, and we’re more than positive this will resolved quickly. Right, HTCizzle? Besides Comm Manager, all is well in HTC Shift world. Though that’s a funny statement considering the device is a glorified PDA with that bit of software not working. Oh yeah! XP drivers, please! Come on guys, give us the option to install XP and get our world-traveler on. Please?

Price

This is one of the most important factors in determining if the HTC Shift is right for you. Early pricing around the globe is in the $1600-$1800 price range, though that is guaranteed to come down shortly after supply increases. That’s a lot to pay for something which can’t replace your main computer and is just a conduit of information while you’re away. It’s hard to replace your main travel laptop if you do more than answer emails and browse the web, but we’re happy to report than if you’re in the market to get an ultra-portable anyway, the Shift is worth a long, hard look. It’s pretty much the only game in town with a real keyboard and 3G connectivity. As long as HTC supports the device with software updates and little fixes, we’d be totally comfortable recommending this to anyone who would listen.

We’ve tried to take you through the HTC Shift as best as we could. There’s a whole lot of information, so below we’ll break down the most important points that we found after using the device for a little under a week.

Pros:

• The speakers are very, very good.
• The GSM/3G reception is probably a little better than HTC’s Windows Mobile devices. It’s really strong and HSDPA on AT&T flies! We’re seeing around 1800kbps
• The screen is pretty good but not perfect. It looks good and is very responsive when using it as a touch screen or tablet
• While the specs might look pretty poor on paper, that shouldn’t be an automatic turn off. Try it before you buy it. More than likely you’ll be impressed.
• The keyboard itself is really good and fun to use. See below for back-lighting problems, though.
• The fingerprint reader works well. The included software called VitaKey serves it purpose but we prefer the one Sony included and uses on their UX-series.
• The design and button layout is super friendly and clean. You can’t get confused even if it’s the first time you’ve picked one up, and there is a nice tactile feel to them.

Cons:

• There’s no back-light on the keyboard. While this might not be a huge issue for some people, it really is incredibly difficult to see the keyboard in low-light conditions
• On the SnapVue (Windows Mobile-ish) side, email works great. But, you can’t open any attachments! Nothing! No Word, PowerPoint, MP3s, pictures, etc.
• Our HTC Control Center utility has crashed repeatedly and rendered our whole device useless at times. If this crashes, you can not use the 3G connection or Wi-Fi, and SnapVue will not work. We have had to remove the battery for a couple minutes and sometimes that solved the issue.
• Random quirks…for instance, all of sudden, they’ll be a pop-up in Vista saying that you just plugged something into the audio jack. Uh, OK?
• Battery life is fair. But at least it is exactly what HTC stated. 2 hours. No more, no less in Vista.
• Where are my Windows XP drivers?
• The touch pointer mouse square thingy works alright but is a little awkward to use when the keyboard is out.

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Or several months late, depending on how you look at. Regardless of your perspective, the new ROM is here and ready for you download pleasure. Sprint and HTC quietly released a new ROM for the HTC Mogul this morning, ending months of speculation and despair, though confirming our suspicions at the same time. The big news here is that the new ROM does, in fact, include the promise upgrade to EV-DO Rev. A speeds. That should be a huge upgrade for anyone that has been using their Mogul as a tethered modem, in addition to providing significant enhancements to on-device browsing speed. The other big news, however, is that the rumored enabling of the on-board GPS is nowhere to be found. Not to sound ungrateful here, but how hard can it really be, Sprint? Either way, the new ROM is now available for download from the HTC site if you’re so inclined.

UPDATE: As several of you have pointed out, it looks like the GPS functionality is, in fact, included. Nice job, Sprint. You can get the actual ROM right here

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