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Netbooks have pretty much become almost like an overnight sensation with manufacturers like Asus, Dell and HP dishing out these tiny little computers. MSi is releasing the Wind 2 this November to add to the flurry of options available to consumers. For $600 you’ll get a new look, new case, 128 GB hard drive (and SSD option at some point), 3.5G modem, 1GB of memory, Windows XP and the awesome Intel Atom N270 processor. Look for the MSi Wind U120 to make its way in Asia in November, and possibly the U.S. soon after.

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If netbooks weren’t getting small enough for you, or you were disappointed you couldn’t put a computer into your pocket, IMOVIO has the solution for your woes. Judging by those photos, it looks more like a novelty item that will hold your bubble gum, but the IMOVIO actually has some pretty decent features. First, you can connect to the internet via Wi-Fi or tether your phone as a modem via Bluetooth. It has a built-in webcam and it does all your typical browsing, email, and IM with the convenience of a QWERTY keyboard. Why someone would pick this up instead of a netbook or Internet tablet, we have no clue… oh yeah, it only costs $175 and is based off Linux. Even then, is it really worth it?

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If you own a Dell Inspiron Mini with Ubuntu and paid extra to upgrade your hard drive from the stock 4 GB to an 8 GB or 16 GB SSD drive, you better get sudo fdisk-ing and check your partition sizes. A savvy Inspiron Mini owner noticed his 16 GB SSD was only showing up as a 4 GB inside Ubuntu. A quick check of the bios revealed that the physical drive was indeed 16 GB leaving him to wonder what happened to that extra 12 GB. He was not the only one to notice this discrepancy and bring it to the attention of Dell. It did not take Dell very long to admit there was an error in their manufacturing process. Turns out their technicians were using a disk image for a 4 GB install on each and every one of their Ubuntu machines. In other words, all 8 GB and 16 GB machines were partitioned as 4 GB machines. Oops! As of Friday, Dell announced that each and every new Ubuntu system will be installed with the correct partition size. Yay! Dell has kindly offered a solution to the problem if you are one of the unlucky early adopters: use your system restore disk to repartition your disk and re-install Ubuntu. If you are a Linux junkie, then you can attempt to resize your partition with gParted and skip the whole re-installation hassle process. Whichever method you choose be sure to backup your data first, ok? Wouldn’t want anyone to lose the one and only picture of dear Aunt Ethel at her 100th birthday celebration in the backyard of her beautiful Victorian house on the day before it was unexpectedly destroyed by a hurricane. Priceless.

[via Liliputing]

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After months of waiting, the Nokia N810 WiMAX edition went live on Nokia’s online storefront this week. No longer “Available Soon” the WiMAX version of the popular Internet Tablet is now “In Stock” and ready for shipping. A member over at Internet Tablet Talk reported that he has already received his and, to everyone’s surprise, is able to connect to Chicago’s not-yet-launched Xohm WiMAX network. He had to work a little tomfoolery and enter in a Baltimore zip code during the activation process but now he is enjoying the WiMAX wireless experience in Chicago. Awesome! The N810 WiMAX edition is currently being offered with a $50 instant rebate, bringing the price down to $433 plus shipping. Just a heads up, Nokia still has the N810 classified as a “phone”. With this being the fourth version of the Internet Tablet, you would think they would have created a new category for this niche device. Alas, that is not the case so you will have to click, not run, to the online Nokia USA store, phone category please, and order yourself a heap of WiMAX Internet Tablet goodness.

Thanks, Mister Ecua.

[Via Internet Tablet Talk ]

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What happens when you mix together a NetBook, a portable GPS, and a PMP? You get the Clarion MiND, “Mobile Internet Navigation Device”. The new MiND uses the low power Intel Atom processor (running at 800Mhz) found in many netbooks and Linux as the core behind its multimedia and navigation features. The MiND uses Wifi and Bluetooth to establish an Internet connection so you can browse websites on its 4.8 inch, WVGA 800 x 480 resolution touchscreen. It utilizes Firefox as the browser and offers a full HTML browsing experience as well as Flash support. As a PMP, it supports MP3, WMA, AAC, Ogg, H.264, WMV, MPEG-4 and Real video. An optional in-car dock will deliver real-time traffic data and will also route the audio from the navigation directions and music files through your car speaker system. Very Cool! Every rose has its thorn and the thorn for the MiND is the battery life. Rated at only 2 hours for the standard battery and 4 hours for the extended battery, you won’t be using this baby for very long without a power source nearby. Nonetheless, this is an innovative mashup of some the most popular mobile technologies out there. Kudos for that, Clarion.

[Via DAPreview]

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The CEO of one of the most innovative companies in the UMPC market has decided to leave his post. Dennis Moore, the now-former CEO of OQO has decided to jump ship. He’s leaving the company effective immediately, reportedly with the intention of starting his own company. No word on what his next venture might entail, but given the nature of modern non-compete agreements, we’re guessing it’s not going to be a direct rival to anything that OQO has to offer. The new head honcho at OQO will be Andy Popell, who is well acquainted with the OQO brand, as he was one of the original co-founders of the company. Let’s hope that this management shake-up leads to a quicker release of a new handheld machine, as our 02s are growing a bit long in the tooth.

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It’s a bundle of 3G joy for you mini notebook owners. Starting in November in Taiwan, the Acer Aspire One netbook is expected to ship with integrated 3G for $95 (NT$3,000) more than the standard non-3G model. Add in some bundled 3G service through Taiwan Mobile and you can save yourself $155 (NT$5,000) instead. Woohoo! Not to be outdone, it appears as if HP and Dell may be offering similar bundles in Japan. A post at jkOnTheRun has the newspaper flier above that appears to offer the recently announced Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and the HP 2133 mini notebook with a respectable $370 subsidy. The subsidy requires a two year commitment to a 3G data plan with Emobile. Wow! Not too shabby considering Dell just announced the Inspiron Mini 9 last week. Cant wait to see a similar bundle coming stateside. Sooner rather than later, please.

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Man, that thing looks tiny next to the 17″ Amilo notebook to the right of the picture above! Consider this confirmation that Fujitsu is indeed working on an ultra-portable Asus Eee competitor. The ultra-portable space has been a proven sector of late as more and more companies set their sites on mini laptops, the latest being Fujitsu. The 8.9″ unit pictured above will be its first entry into this space and if word on the street is correct, its success it anything but guaranteed. For starters, the rumored $640 base price will be enough to deter a generous number of potential buyers. There are plenty of decent full-size notebooks that can be had for that price. Does Fujitsu have some secret weapons packed into this puppy that may justify the high price point? We’re not sure yet but with Eee PCs starting in the $300-range and Dell working on a $299 ulrta-portable due out in August, Fujitsu better have something special to bring to the party at that price.

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According to a report recently published by AU Optronics, the mini-notebook market is about to hit the fan. Sales of the tiny computers numbered in the “several hundred thousand” for the entirety of 2007, but if AU is to be believed, we could see exponential growth this year. The report predicts somewhere in the range of 8-10 million mini notebook sales for 2008. Whoa! Normally we’d pass this off as baseless speculation, but AU is one of the biggest suppliers of LCDs for mini notebooks, so we’re inclined to trust them a bit more than the average Joe. See a mini notebook in your future, BGR faithful?

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Dell’s upcoming Mini Inspiron is a nod to the relevance of the Eee space as Dell has apparently realized that they need be playing in kiddie pool. Its first entry, a sub-$500 UMPC, is presumably Windows-powered and looks to be a solid entry into the space, barring the candy coated shell. Specs are a bit scarce at the moment but we can all recognize Dell knows how to build a computer so this will likely be workable. For the time being, all we can tell you is what’s on the outside. Three USB ports, an ethernet port, VGA out and a card reader. Exact size is unknown as well but Dell press shots show that it’s just a bit wider than a standard pencil. Translation: that’s one tiny keyboard! For the teeny PC market this will surely make a splash however, and it’ll match your lip stick.

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You might have seen us post something on the new Garmin GPS solution for the OQO model 02. It’s a great concept and we’ve had the opportunity of reviewing it recently. If you buy the whole package, which is the car mount for the actual OQO and the Garmin USB GPS device, you’d have what we have. While it’s nice in theory, you can see from the above video what sort of trouble we ran into. If you totally want to skip the video, these are our issues with the package:

• To get an initial satellite lock took around 20 minutes. Open sky, clear and sunny day
• The mount for the OQO covers the speakers so you can’t hear didly squat from the GPS software
• When trying to enter an address, it actually made us write in the city, street name, and street number with the friggin’ pen! (Yes, as we later found out you can use the hardware keyboard, but there should totally be a huge on-screen keyboard)
• The suction cups that comes with the GPS unit totally suck. Actually, they don’t suck. They fall off everywhere
• This isn’t a fault of the GPS unit or the OQO really, but since the device has an active touch screen, you can’t use your fingers at all to tap different menu items. This is a royal pain in the ass since you either have to use the included tablet pen, or fiddle around with the trackstick mouse.
• This is quite possibly the hardest setup to use while driving. We know, you shouldn’t use it while driving, but let’s be honest, are you really pulling over to the shoulder to enter in an address?

Hate it or love it, Samsung has been relatively successful with their Q1 line of ultra mobile PCs. Currently in its second revision, the computer has a loyal cadre of devoted followers. The form factor isn’t our favorite, but as firm believers in the UMPC model, any success is good success. Hoping to build on the existing platform, Samsung is preparing to revamp the Q1. While specifics are notably absent, the company has promised to improve specs and performance, while investing a further evolution of the current form factor. Samsung hopes to deliver the 3rd version of the Q1 by the beginning of next year. Let’s just hope that they’ll “evolve” the form factor into something a bit more practical. You know, with like usable keyboards and things.

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The OQO 02 has always seemed like the perfect match for purpose-built GPS unit. Thanks to Garmin, that dream is now a reality. The two companies have combined forces to bring a special OQO-edition Garmin GPS unit. The bundle includes a Garmin Mobile PC adapter, RAM car mount, and a car/airplane power adapter. Garmin apparently customized the user interface to match the OQO UI. We haven’t had a chance to test it just yet, but we’re pretty confident that both companies are capable of pulling this off successfully. It’s available now for $237. Hit the link for more info!

UPDATE: The software and GPS receiver is only $99. The whole set of accessories with mount, charger, and extra fun stuff is $237.

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Wilcom has been touting these miniature handhelds for quite some time now, but the D4 has yet to get a Stateside release date…until now. The diminutive UMPC sports a full version of Windows Vista, running atop a 1.33 Ghz Intel Centrino processor, 40GB hard drive, 1GB RAM, Bluetooth, 802.11 b/g, and a 5 inch WSVGA touch screen. Pretty appealing stuff, but running Vista on a 1.33 Ghz Celeron processor with only 1 GB of RAM? Sounds like a potential train wreck to us. Regardless, if this is something you’re after, you’ll be able grab one from GeekStuff4U on June 20th. Sadly, the $1,526 excludes any sort of wireless broadband connectivity, but small is still appealing in its own right, we suppose.

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The Eee line keeps getting more interesting. Asus has just confirmed that they will be launching a touchscreen-enabled Eee PC by May or June of this year. The new model will also sport GPS. Pricing on the touchscreen Eee is expected to come in at around $500, which isn’t bad at all. No word on any other specs, including screen size, processor, and other features, but it will most likely fall in line with the current generation Eee specs. Asus also plans to launch the $199 E-DT PC at the same time, which is essentially a desktop variant of the Eee laptop, sporting 1GB RAM, and 4-12 GB of SSD space.

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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!

If you were asked on the spot to describe and sketch the perfect mobile device that accommodates all of your needs, wants and beyond, it would probably look absolutely nothing like MIU’s new HDPC. In terms of functionality however, MIU probably came pretty close to hitting the nail on the head. Its latest offering, dubbed HDPC (Hybrid Dual Portable Computer) is giant and ugly as sin but regardless of which handset you currently carry, the HDPC makes it looks like a barbie doll. Combining the functionality of a PC, PMP, mobile phone, GPS navigation device, electronic dictionary, eBook reader, IPTV, portable gaming device, digital camera and more, it would probably be much quicker for us to tell you what this beast doesn’t do. Instead, we’ll just try to cover some highlights:

• Dual-OS: Windows XP and Windows CE 5.0 core or Linux Qplus
• QWERTY keypad and joystick-mouse
• 4-inch 800 x 480 resolution Samsung touchscreen display
• 1.3-inch 30 GB or 60GB hard drive, or 4 GB SSD hard drive
• Up to a 1GHz VIA C7M ULV processor and up to 4 GB DDR2 RAM
• Cellular (presumably CDMA) / 802.11b/g / bluetooth 2.0
• 3 or 5 megapixel camera with flash, secondary camera for video conferencing
• 7 hours of battery life at high power (XP-booted?) and 90 hours at low power
• 2 USB ports, A/V in & out, E-ant Port, mini SD slot, micro SD slot

Sure the HDPC needs its own zip code, but look at those specs! The device is expected to drop around July in the Korean market only, and will fetch around $500 for the base model. No word on the fully-loaded price or whether or not the HDPC will ever make it out of Korea, but stuff a quad-band GSM antenna in there with tri-band UMTS and we’re on the next flight to Incheon.

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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!

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.

After all the drama, the delays, the promises, we’ve got a HTC Shift and we’re hooking you up like only BGR can! That’s right, y’all! We are giving away a brand new HTC Shift before anyone has it! Has that for competition? If you’d like to enter, here are the official rules:

• Only one entry per person. Multiple entries automatically disqualifies you!
• All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below!
• The giveaway runs until Sunday, March 9th at 11:59PM. The winner will be announced Monday, March 10th
• This is open to anyone, anywhere!

Good luck! 

Yeah dudes, we actually have the HTC Shift in hand! We haven’t had a chance to put it through our normal tests yet, but believe we’ll have that soon. The Shift isn’t as big as you’d think even though it has a 7" screen, and the while the slide mechanism is not spring-assisted like the AT&T Tilt, it’s pretty smooth and solid. The low processor freaks us out a little bit, but again, we haven’t really used it yet. Hit the jump for the full unboxing gallery, and we’ll have our full review up soon! Oh yeah…we’re in the "giving" mood. You know what that means!

Click on over to our HTC Shift unboxing gallery!

Does the low clock speed of the stock processor in your Asus Eee PC bother you? Well lucky for you, an extreme modder by the name of "guryhwa" has pulled of a Herculean feat, somehow managing to cram a 1.2 GHz Pentium M processor into his tiny Eee. To be clear, this is a hack for someone with a lot of experience and comfort with soldering irons and circuit installation, but it’s clear that it can be done. For all of its drawbacks, the Eee is quickly becoming the device of choice for a growing community of dedicated hackers and modders.

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Engadget’s got some product shots of the rumored HP 2133 UMPC, and we’re hearing it could see a May release. The specs are kind of sexy, too: 8.9-inch 1366 x 766 (WXGA) display, Wi-Fi, almost full QWERTY keyboard, webcam, an option SSD drive, and an ExpressCard/54 slot. Weight? 2.5 pounds. Hey, we’re happy. The more competition in the UMPC sector, the better, no?Read

Man, they must be itching to get these things moving! $699? At the end of the day, the specs are pretty impressive at that price point, but, well, you already know our feelings. Any takers for some clam shell ultra-portable PC Rev. A action at $699 a pop? Damn HTC, you’re really friggin’ this whole thing up…

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What’s better than a single GSM/HSDPA model HTC Shift UMPC? Try another iteration of the same computer running on a CDMA/EV-DO frequency. Not too shabby, right? As we’ve said before, we think that the best thing for HTC to do here is to simply release a Shift…any Shift, before spending too much energy concentrating on new versions of the device. That said, it is nice to know that when this thing finally makes its way to our store shelves, we’ll have options regarding which mobile carrier we’re able to choose. The EV-DO Shift passed through the FCC testing labs under the name Cleo 200 a while ago, and the model you see above is the Cleo 100. We can only assume the Cleo 200 would be the HTC Shift with CDMA. You excited now?

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We tend to shy away from providing specific shopping advice, as there are already plenty of sites that can take care of you. That said, when a deal like this comes along, we’re happy to spread the news. Woot.com has the Sony UX390 Premium on sale for a cool $1,299. For those that don’t know, the UX390N Premium is, bar none, one of the hottest UMPCs on the market. While we tend to lean towards the OQO Model 02 due to its integrated 3G radio, we think the Sony UX390N is a very, very close second. This is a $2,000 computer, sporting a 1.33 Ghz processor, Windows Vista Business Ultimate, 1GB of RAM, 32GB solid state flash hard drive, 4.5" touchscreen, and onboard EDGE radio, among many other features. The only real difference between this model and the current UX490N is that the 490 sports a 48GB SSD. These things usually go pretty fast, so if you’re interested we suggest that you head over pretty soon and hit that "buy" button.

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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.

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