HTC’s UMPC is the Shift
March 27, 2007
Jenn over at Pocketables makes a great point about how confident HTC must be to have given the device this name. If it fails as essentially all other UMPCs released thus far have in the eyes of the mainstream media, it’s name will surely be altered/satirized the way the BCS acronym has been by college football fans. In fact, what if we were to acronymize the name Shift: Shangra La (the codename for the device until now), Hotware, Impossibly Functional and Tiny).
The only real disappointing spec especially in light of the last week’s Samsung Q1Ultra announcement, is the screen resolution of 800×480. I’m using that resolution now whilst I type on the Q1P via USB keyboard and it’s tolerable until you need to use the TIP. Resolution switching is an answer (and a hi res picture at UMPCPortal appears to confirm a hardware button on the Shift that does this), but not the answer: which is a native res of 1024×600 and the Q1Ultra will bring it.
The sweet keyboard and sliding/tilting though look to overcome any shortcomings the device may have, save for battery life though with a Via processor and the aforementioned 800×480 screen juice should not be an issue.
The only real question in my mind is what I will name it when I own it: something Snoop Doggesque, or will I gain inspiration from Samuel Jackson’s wallet in Pulp Fiction 🙂
