HTC sucks big time.

[greatestkelvin]

I leave my htc shift at home. I found that its quite A HANDICAPPED device. Windows mobile is useless as the ram is so tiny. After liberating it and putting just a few software it runs out of memory. I cannot access the SD card. Although some guys here are trying, this should have been the job of HTC. Those HTC programmers are truly sleeping or simply lacking in talent. To have Vista on this device is a joke. Why can't they learn from OQO or Asus EE where they realize the user experience is better with XP on such a small device.
Lastly the battery life is so short. There is no extended battery. Even if there is, the weight will increase to 950gm. 100 grams more will get me a Sony TZ 18GN which last for at least 8 hours, on a big screen. HTC should not have sold this product as this has tarnished their reputation. Most of the retail shops tell me if u want a good machine buy a Sony. If u want a cheap machine buy the Asus. Forget about HTC SHift. This is a pure waste of money.
I was conned into buying this from the video presentation by Hugo on youtube.com Don't believe that guy anymore. No drivers for XP, lousy windows mobile, lousy support.... can we have dopod back. At least they gave us lots of free software and good support for my Dopod U1000

[wu5262]

I leave my htc shift at home. I found that its quite A HANDICAPPED device. Windows mobile is useless as the ram is so tiny. After liberating it and putting just a few software it runs out of memory. I cannot access the SD card. Although some guys here are trying, this should have been the job of HTC. Those HTC programmers are truly sleeping or simply lacking in talent. To have Vista on this device is a joke. Why can't they learn from OQO or Asus EE where they realize the user experience is better with XP on such a small device.
Lastly the battery life is so short. There is no extended battery. Even if there is, the weight will increase to 950gm. 100 grams more will get me a Sony TZ 18GN which last for at least 8 hours, on a big screen. HTC should not have sold this product as this has tarnished their reputation. Most of the retail shops tell me if u want a good machine buy a Sony. If u want a cheap machine buy the Asus. Forget about HTC SHift. This is a pure waste of money.
I was conned into buying this from the video presentation by Hugo on youtube.com Don't believe that guy anymore. No drivers for XP, lousy windows mobile, lousy support.... can we have dopod back. At least they gave us lots of free software and good support for my Dopod U1000

I think you end up with this because you haven't done enough research. All your points are well known issue but certainly there are quite a few advantage that no other device have. That's why there are people happy with this device. EEE doesn't suit everyone's need, same as sony, same as Shift, don't blame Hugo for this, it's your own mistake not to do research and think whether this device suits you.

Lastly, don't blame HTC too, and bring back DOPOD won't help at all, you should do some research about dopod and HTC too, they are not separate company, dopod=HTC.

[Settembrini]

Hi wu5262,

yes, I agree with your points. Everything was known or could be known. But there is one thing I find unbelievable. It is the arrogance or sheer stupidity how HTC treats its costumers. The support is lousy, more than lousy. I have sent them 3 emails, but I do not get any answer.
That they treat us like idiots is beyond me, as they should be aware that this arrogance might spread over the net and might lash back hitting a dent in their reputation if there is any reputation to lose when it comes to consumer support.

S.

[koala996]

I leave my htc shift at home. I found that its quite A HANDICAPPED device. Windows mobile is useless as the ram is so tiny. After liberating it and putting just a few software it runs out of memory. I cannot access the SD card. Although some guys here are trying, this should have been the job of HTC. Those HTC programmers are truly sleeping or simply lacking in talent. To have Vista on this device is a joke. Why can't they learn from OQO or Asus EE where they realize the user experience is better with XP on such a small device.
Lastly the battery life is so short. There is no extended battery. Even if there is, the weight will increase to 950gm. 100 grams more will get me a Sony TZ 18GN which last for at least 8 hours, on a big screen. HTC should not have sold this product as this has tarnished their reputation. Most of the retail shops tell me if u want a good machine buy a Sony. If u want a cheap machine buy the Asus. Forget about HTC SHift. This is a pure waste of money.
I was conned into buying this from the video presentation by Hugo on youtube.com Don't believe that guy anymore. No drivers for XP, lousy windows mobile, lousy support.... can we have dopod back. At least they gave us lots of free software and good support for my Dopod U1000


I really disagree your point of view about Vista.. Vista is the best OS I know... and it's the best solution for them to put Vista on it.

Sure the lack of ram is really sad (but it's still better than the HTC TOUCH because of the better CPU).

[koala996]

Hi wu5262,

yes, I agree with your points. Everything was known or could be known. But there is one thing I find unbelievable. It is the arrogance or sheer stupidity how HTC treats its costumers. The support is lousy, more than lousy. I have sent them 3 emails, but I do not get any answer.
That they treat us like idiots is beyond me, as they should be aware that this arrogance might spread over the net and might lash back hitting a dent in their reputation if there is any reputation to lose when it comes to consumer support.

S.

yeah sure... a year after the demonstration .... they should have a "good" support.

I think that HTC is lacking knowledges about support.... I have sent them a mail for 2 big issues I have with the HTC TOUCH and never get any answer :(

[Vukile]

They'll send you a customer feedback email soon,asking what you thought of their service. Ironic, considering therell be no service to speak of!!

[use4s]

I leave my htc shift at home. I found that its quite A HANDICAPPED device. Windows mobile is useless as the ram is so tiny. After liberating it and putting just a few software it runs out of memory. I cannot access the SD card. Although some guys here are trying, this should have been the job of HTC. Those HTC programmers are truly sleeping or simply lacking in talent. To have Vista on this device is a joke. Why can't they learn from OQO or Asus EE where they realize the user experience is better with XP on such a small device.
Lastly the battery life is so short. There is no extended battery. Even if there is, the weight will increase to 950gm. 100 grams more will get me a Sony TZ 18GN which last for at least 8 hours, on a big screen. HTC should not have sold this product as this has tarnished their reputation. Most of the retail shops tell me if u want a good machine buy a Sony. If u want a cheap machine buy the Asus. Forget about HTC SHift. This is a pure waste of money.
I was conned into buying this from the video presentation by Hugo on youtube.com Don't believe that guy anymore. No drivers for XP, lousy windows mobile, lousy support.... can we have dopod back. At least they gave us lots of free software and good support for my Dopod U1000


At least I have to agree with some parts of your oppinion.
Yes, we have to face the trouth: what you get for your money is a crippled pocket pc and a limited pc. Both parts, pocket pc as well as the pc part doesn't meet the today's specifications for mobile computing.

Sure, it's sad. I also longed for this device, but after studing the forum and all the problems I also decided not to buy the shift. :(

Don't misunderstand me:

!!!!!!!! The idea of the shift is great !!!!!!! :)

Hope, they (HTC) will soon launch a product which is worth the money and will have the functionality of the today's needs. :)
Well, integrated GPS is nice and windows xp would also be fine for me. Why don't they let the customer choose?

I will be the first who will buy.

[pitt1983]

i must say that Sangri-la is fantastic! for many many features. esthetic, tecnique portability, display. i'm enthusiastic about it.

but there some issues that almost make to hate this jewel.

1 snapview and not winmo
2 blocked sd
3 very limited ram
4 no gps
5 no phone (i know that the device is not compliant with comfort etcetc) but some call with an auricolar..
6 no bluetooth and no wi-fi!! why why why!!
7 only 1gb of ram!! i love vista, i use it on all my pc's and laptop, but is a very bulls###t to put an os with this weight on a machine like shift
8 no cd, no driver to make an individual installation of many versions of os

[pitt1983]

and i think some others things.

but the reality is that this machine is marvelous.
htc made some big mistakes with it.
but i waited since the presentation in the start of 2007,
and now that i bought it with my work, with the sweat of my front
Shift became my mate and inseparable from me.
is fantastic, usefull, little, comfortable.
now i'm writing while i'm traveling.

shift is not perfect, but all of us who can say to be perfect?

[skin57]

I LOVE my Shift - maybe because i bought a Tiny VISTA PC, not a big WindowsMobile Device.
Why is the shift shipped with Vista?? Well, remember: Microsoft will stop shipping XP in June. Yeah, there are ways arround (Vista with XP downgrade rights) - but as the Shift is not a low cost device, it can't participate in Microsofts new XP for lowcost devices approach.

Regarding the WindowsMobile part: BLAME DUALCOR! They patented the idea of a DualCore-Subnotebook - HTC had no other choice to design the Shift arround their patents. THIS is the main reason for the extremly limited WindowsMobile Part (remember: They sell you SnapVUE, not WindowsMobile, and yeeeeees, i know that SnapVUE is a crapped down WindowsMobile flavour).

The only thing i'd blame HTC for is the bad support - it was really hard to get SP1 running correctly (well, nearly correctly).

[gr8]

i love my shift and do not want to miss it anymore....

sure, it has a few points (already mentioned) which could be improved. but i replaced a notebook with this device - and with snapvue the battery lasts longer..

[Flanimal]

I think what we all agree on is that the shift is not perfect.
But many of us, myself included think that it is the best solution out there.

If someone stole my shift and replaced it with the cash equivelent, I'd be straight out to the shops to buy another one.

[Computersylvia]

The Shift is the best PC/PPC I have had in my life.
There are some problems (SD-Card, 3G-Connection is slowly),
but I can take it every day with me. And this is for me very importend.
Bevore the Shift was coming I was going with Ameo (Advantage) and with my Thinkpad T60p. This was a big bagage for every day.
Now I take my Shift and all is good.
I think that some updates will help in the next furture to solve the problems.

with best wishes
Sylvia

[Nighthawk]

i must say that Sangri-la is fantastic! for many many features. esthetic, tecnique portability, display. i'm enthusiastic about it.

but there some issues that almost make to hate this jewel.

6 no bluetooth and no wi-fi!! why why why!!
7 only 1gb of ram!! i love vista, i use it on all my pc's and laptop, but is a very bulls###t to put an os with this weight on a machine like shift
8 no cd, no driver to make an individual installation of many versions of os

My SHIFT has both Bluetooth and WiFi, not in WM but in Vista (where I want it).

I too would like 2GB, but I've been able to run all Office Plus apps (especially OneNote) without any major issues. I don't open or leave open a bunch of windows, device ISN'T a full fledged notebook so I don't treat it as one.

I agree with the lack of drivers issue, but HTC isn't exactly known for their stellar support. We should start some blog, website about the poor support in order to put a bigger public face on it.

My BIG complaint is the lack of backlighting for the keyboard, unless I missed how to enable it.

[koala996]

the keyboard is wonderful .. and there exist usb-light if you want to lighten up (enlighten?) the keyboard.

Vista has 2 virtual/visual keyboards... so even with no backlight, it's not that important to have the light.

are you using the shift in the dark to write a text? If yes, it's not good for you and you should use a light somewhere in the room.

[pitt1983]

I love more my shift.
im in travel in switzerland, now i'm in a starbucks of Geneve with a cup of coffee,

there are manu people here with all kinds of noteboos, apple etc, but they all have 15,4 or 14 notebooks,

and everyone is watching my shift.. and they all envies it..

what kind of satisfaction!!

[Settembrini]

I agree with the lack of drivers issue, but HTC isn't exactly known for their stellar support. We should start some blog, website about the poor support in order to put a bigger public face on it.

My BIG complaint is the lack of backlighting for the keyboard, unless I missed how to enable it.

Hi Nighthawk,
I really, really agree with you. The support of HTC is a pain in the behind. I do not know enough about the practical side of things, but yes, we should try to put pressure on them to change their practice. But as I said I do not know how to do it.
In sort of regular intervals I send them the same email, so far three without any success of an answer.

Yes, key backlight would be a nice thing. If you have to spare some bucks maybe the Logitech dinovo mini is the gadget to satisfy the last of your wishes.

S.

[optimuspt@mac.com]

you are reason

[greatestkelvin]

was wondering we should inform htc about this forum? So many unhappy users. their support is so bad they will probably agree. Probably they are busy applying jobs to work in Sony or Asus

[facdemol]

An official complain would be fine. Some sort of petition with some signatures should also be good. However let's not forget that the site xda-developers who's activities includes hacking phones and making rom's, this site's users are telling htc something like "hey htc, give some drivers and better support (so we can hack the shift in a safer and more productive maner)". i don't think they will bother.
They aren't that stupid not to realise that the shift could have been a better device if it had (...) . So there must be something or some serious reasons making them to take this position.

[thaihugo]

Do we really have to go on this whole class action process for each HTC product?

I mean come on, we all now what is HTC support for years. Do you expect putting a petition and threatening for a class action for every single product is a good way to go?

HTC provided a fine tool, and people wants to try to hack it. It's ok with me, and I'm in the game for this. I hope WM will be fully hacked soon. But I bought the product knowing it was snapvue only. I might be disapointed for this, but I dont bark at my local restaurant because they don't cook pasta the same way I do.

Do you make a class action when you didn't read the fine prints in a contract? I don't see anything not explained by HTC for month now. Just do a class action against Hugo ortega for giving us false hope if you want to blame somebody, and just be gratefull people are trying to change then current situation.

[Settembrini]

Koala996 came up with this idea:

It's not good to make a blog "against" HTC... but we should make a blog or a site FOR htc shift users ... something like a Q/A... but we already have the XDA forum and it is less offending to HTC than a blog "against them".

We have to make them react but not this way. A blog like "We need HTC Support" and with examples of answers we got from them.

Hi Koala,
yes, I guess you are right. My reaction was triggered by frustration and that is probably not a good guide to do things.

I really like your idea to make a blog or maybe you could make a thread (sticky) here, in which all the answers by HTC are collected. Something like: Questions/Answers from HTC. Or just Answers from HTC. And it should be just for that. Maybe some of the administrators could do that.

Thanks
S.

[jlingo]

Agreed Wholeheartedly and very well spoken.

I leave my htc shift at home. I found that its quite A HANDICAPPED device. Windows mobile is useless as the ram is so tiny. After liberating it and putting just a few software it runs out of memory. I cannot access the SD card. Although some guys here are trying, this should have been the job of HTC. Those HTC programmers are truly sleeping or simply lacking in talent. To have Vista on this device is a joke. Why can't they learn from OQO or Asus EE where they realize the user experience is better with XP on such a small device.
Lastly the battery life is so short. There is no extended battery. Even if there is, the weight will increase to 950gm. 100 grams more will get me a Sony TZ 18GN which last for at least 8 hours, on a big screen. HTC should not have sold this product as this has tarnished their reputation. Most of the retail shops tell me if u want a good machine buy a Sony. If u want a cheap machine buy the Asus. Forget about HTC SHift. This is a pure waste of money.
I was conned into buying this from the video presentation by Hugo on youtube.com Don't believe that guy anymore. No drivers for XP, lousy windows mobile, lousy support.... can we have dopod back. At least they gave us lots of free software and good support for my Dopod U1000

[jlingo]

I really disagree your point of view about Vista.. Vista is the best OS I know... and it's the best solution for them to put Vista on it.

Sure the lack of ram is really sad (but it's still better than the HTC TOUCH because of the better CPU).

Is it really the best? What is it so good about Vista that can't be done under XP? I also only noticed a big performance hit under Vista compared to XP.

[jlingo]

The Shift is the best PC/PPC I have had in my life.
There are some problems (SD-Card, 3G-Connection is slowly),
but I can take it every day with me. And this is for me very importend.
Bevore the Shift was coming I was going with Ameo (Advantage) and with my Thinkpad T60p. This was a big bagage for every day.
Now I take my Shift and all is good.
I think that some updates will help in the next furture to solve the problems.

with best wishes
Sylvia

I also use Athena and Thinkpad T60. I was thinking of replacing them with the shift. But I found that I couldn't really type as fast with shift as I did with T60. The keyboard is a bit too small for me. My work involves typing a lot of emails everyday, and being able to type very fast is very important for me. Unfortunately, Sony TZ series seem to serve me better in this case.

[koala996]

Is it really the best? What is it so good about Vista that can't be done under XP? I also only noticed a big performance hit under Vista compared to XP.

FOR ME ... it is ... I can not come back to XP since the 1st day I used Vista (Beta 1 only... at the time !)

It's not so much about "what's not in XP" but what's better than in XP.
Performances are for me the same as XP .. EXCEPT the cold boot which is slower .. but the hibernate et sleep are faster.

But Vista is so FAST in everyday life.... applications shows up faster than in XP (really..) the superfetch is so much better than prefetch (no need to empty the prefetch folder every week).

look at that site :
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_feature_focus.asp

This is a list of features that vista brings... and many are important.


But under the hat... there are MANY things that many customers don't understand ! Like the complete rewritten kernel, the minwin kernel, the new architecture by layers, ...

And what does vista have that XP doesn't :
- speech recognition (working very good.. and much better than what I was used to use...)
- flip 3D (still the best solution I found for switching windows)
- desktop in alt tab (nice even if there are shortcut like Win+M and Win+D)
- better format for media (paint better, voice recorder in WMA and no more WAV)
- the snipping tool ... faster than print-screen + paste in paint... + choose the size... + add lines on it .. etc...
- the network center ... not perfect but a real innovation !
- the ability to choose and optimize computer power settings (was too hidden in XP)
- the ability to choose background easily (choose a picture... and the whole folder is added to the choice.. NICE)
- the sound by layers... so BIG INNOVATION .. never found that in any other OS.... and I can't live anything without this thing !
- .NET 3.0 by default (no need to make people install the framework !)
- the mobile device center
- the mobility center (not the same thing)
- the collaboration program (don't remember the name in english...)
- readyboost... (and you should see how GOOD it is for the shift and low power device !!!!!!)

.. and so other many things !

[jlingo]

FOR ME ... it is ... I can not come back to XP since the 1st day I used Vista (Beta 1 only... at the time !)

It's not so much about "what's not in XP" but what's better than in XP.
Performances are for me the same as XP .. EXCEPT the cold boot which is slower .. but the hibernate et sleep are faster.

But Vista is so FAST in everyday life.... applications shows up faster than in XP (really..) the superfetch is so much better than prefetch (no need to empty the prefetch folder every week).

look at that site :
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/winvista_feature_focus.asp

This is a list of features that vista brings... and many are important.


But under the hat... there are MANY things that many customers don't understand ! Like the complete rewritten kernel, the minwin kernel, the new architecture by layers, ...

And what does vista have that XP doesn't :
- speech recognition (working very good.. and much better than what I was used to use...)
- flip 3D (still the best solution I found for switching windows)
- desktop in alt tab (nice even if there are shortcut like Win+M and Win+D)
- better format for media (paint better, voice recorder in WMA and no more WAV)
- the snipping tool ... faster than print-screen + paste in paint... + choose the size... + add lines on it .. etc...
- the network center ... not perfect but a real innovation !
- the ability to choose and optimize computer power settings (was too hidden in XP)
- the ability to choose background easily (choose a picture... and the whole folder is added to the choice.. NICE)
- the sound by layers... so BIG INNOVATION .. never found that in any other OS.... and I can't live anything without this thing !
- .NET 3.0 by default (no need to make people install the framework !)
- the mobile device center
- the mobility center (not the same thing)
- the collaboration program (don't remember the name in english...)
- readyboost... (and you should see how GOOD it is for the shift and low power device !!!!!!)

.. and so other many things !

I understand about all those features. Don't get me wrong, my laptop T60 came with Vista. It's just I found it slower for my purpose for my day to day activity. Although prefetch should help, but my laptop seemed to run faster with XP on.

Besides many computer magazines I glanced over now, appeared to concentrate on how to downgrade from Vista to XP.