HTC has seen prominent and growing success in the smartphone market in recent years, and now they apparently want to jump on the UMPC bandwagon. Using their expertise in mobile computing, it would seem that the UMPC is the logical next step for this Taiwanese smartphone company. And with a healthly dose of Windows Vista (in Business Edition guise) and 3G connectivity, the Shift UMPC offers full Windows productivity as well as mobile phone functionality.
The HTC Shift, code-named Shangri-La, incorporates a very familiar form factor. The Shift uses the sliding qwerty keyboard design that HTC pioneered into an industry standard. But this sliding keyboard has one neat little trick up its sleeves – the tilting function. We’ve seen this feature recently debuted on the HTC Kaiser, and the idea of a tilted screen is used quite awkwardly on the HTC Advantage (Athena).
But, unlike the cumbersome and bulky detachable keyboard design that is puzzling incorporated into the Advantage, the Shift integrates the tilting function into the sliding keyboard (as seen on the Kaiser). Still, whereas the Kaiser is a Windows Mobile-based smartphone, the Shift is a full-fledged Windows Vista computing platform. With a 7 inch touchscreen, the Shift is considerably larger, and puts the tilt function to better use than on the Kaiser.
And to power this larger device, the Shift packs a more powerful VIA CPU clocked at 1.2 Ghz, with a generous 30 GB of hard drive space. Of course, Wifi and Bluetooth 2.0 are included, as are Tri-band UMTS / HSDPA, quad-band GSM / GPRS / EDGE radios.
All this hardware helps keep Windows Vista Business Edition running Aero graphics and wirelessly connected wherever you go. So start saving your lunch money! This baby is expected to drop for under $2,000!