Friday, April 27, 2007

Steve Ballmer and HTC Shift

It's interesting how "The Shift" is being evangelized by Microsoft seniors now. It must tick a lot of boxes to have Steve Ballmer show it off on a recent television interview in Germany. Here is a great video posted by JKKMobile and here is more information from Chippy regarding the interview.




This confirms for me a couple of things:
  • The Shift is thinner than expected (well spotted ELO)
  • The tilt on the keyboard is solid which means the screen will not rattle when you touch-type
  • It seems to have a bright screen - given the amount of fluorescent lights used in a Television studio the screen still seemed pretty well lit

What it does not confirm:

  • Cost
  • Cost
  • Cost
  • Cost
  • Pen features
  • Touch Features

Overall it looks the biz! Great job Chippy and JKK!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seeing the Shift in this video is a true revelation. We can see how this one is going to be popular.

It is thinner than what we expected from the pictures isn't ? The screen is probably a LED screen with that kind of brightness.

Let's also take note of Ballmer's words: available later this year! It looks like a 2007 release is still in the plan.

Like you said, Hugo, there is definitely something in
the fact that the Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft himself is talking about the Shift and holding one in his hands in a televised interview.

The Shift is on a good start to rock the stage!

William Luu said...

Nice...

Good to see it being shown off.

I still reckon, unless bundled and subsidised by a Telco (or other wireless internet provider) on a plan, the takeup will be limited to enthusiasts, corporates and not many others. Then again, perhaps that's still the market it's targetting (given the likely price). The others who need something similar will probably just go for a PDA/Smartphone type device.

Other than that, it's definately on my list of "keep an eye on" gadgets!