Combining the power of Windows Vista with a QWERTY keyboard

Mar 27, 2007 09:20 GMT  ·  By

It looks like HTC is preparing another cutting-edge device that is meant to provide all the functionality business users need, known as the Shift.

Although not the same thing, judging from the looks of it, the Shift does kind of look like the Advantage. But while the Advantage's QWERTY is detatchable, the Shift sports a sliding and flipping screen, and by sliding it horizontally, a QWERTY keypad will be revealed underneath.

The experience provided is thus as close as possible to the one of a laptop, and the user will also be able to adjust the angle of the display. The Shift provides all the power, functionality or connectivity the business user would ever need, all packed up in a sleek and stylish device with a size that is somewhat more pocket-friendly.

Running Windows Vista Business, the Shift includes a brilliant (and huge) 7-inch widescreen touch display and a 30GB hard drive, so that its users will most likely rarely complain about having too little storage space. It also provides high-speed global connectivity with tri-band UMTS/HSDPA, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE, Bluetooth and WiFI.

Moreover, it offers Windows Media Player 11 and easy access to music, videos and photos, providing to be quite useful while out of the office as well. Since this is all the information that was provided regarding its specs, hopefully HTC will be kind enough to offer more details regarding this handset during CTIA. The estimate price of the device was not revealed, but it is expected to start shipping in Europe as well as the US during the third quarter of the year.