HTC Announces Availability of the HTC Shift in the United States

HTC announced the nationwide availability of the HTC Shift. Harnessing the power of Windows Vista and Microsoft Origami Experience 2.0, the HTC Shift blends advanced wireless connectivity with a sleek design that is half the size and a fraction of the weight of a standard notebook. Operating on the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network, the HTC Shift can leverage always-connected CDMA-EVDO connectivity and features true push email with up to three days of battery life. Today, Sprint covers more square miles, cities, and airports with mobile broadband than any other carrier, offering the nation’s largest mobile broadband network to HTC Shift users.

“For the first time, customers can experience an extremely small, touch-optimized PC with high speed cellular connectivity and push email. The result is an unmatched mobile computing experience,” said Jason Mackenzie, vice president of HTC America. “We are pleased to meet our customers’ growing mobility needs by bringing this state-of-the-art product to the United States.”

Device Features

The HTC Shift features the power and connectivity the travelling, busy professional needs. This is the first device to feature HTC's innovative new SnapVUE™ technology. SnapVUE provides instant access to emails, calendar, SMS messages and contacts, without the need to fully boot up the device, which helps conserve power and extend battery life. Also a great multimedia companion, the HTC Shift utilizes Windows Media Player 11 to provide easy access to music, videos and photos. Other features include:

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  7" touch sensitive 'slide-n-tilt' screen
  
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  Windows Vista Business edition
  
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  40-gigabyte hard drive
  
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  Light weight of 1.8 pounds
  
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  802.11 b/g Wi-Fi connectivity
  
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  High-speed data connectivity with CDMA-EVDO service through Sprint
  
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  Bluetooth® 2.0
  
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  Windows Media Player 11 to provide easy access to music, videos and
  photos.
  

Pricing and Availability

The HTC Shift is available for pre-order in the United States for an approximate retail price of $1,499 and will begin shipping on Monday, March 24.

Sprint Delivers First EV-DO Rev. A-Capable Handset with Enhancements for the Mogul by HTC

Newly available software update enables faster data speeds of EV-DO Rev. A technology and enhanced GPS functionality

Sprint announced that it is offering the industry’s first EV-DO Rev. A-capable handset as part of a software upgrade available for the Mogul by HTC. Introduced in June 2007, the Mogul is a Windows Mobile device operating on the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network and is packed with advanced wireless capabilities to keep users productive and connected for personal and professional reasons – all at SprintSpeed™.

EV-DO Rev. A technology supports faster data rates and higher system capacity enabling users to send and receive large amounts of data at broadband speeds (speeds comparable to basic DSL). Wherever EV-DO Rev. A coverage is available, average download speeds will increase from 400-700 Kbps to 600 Kbps-1.4 Mbps and average upload speeds will increase from 50-70 Kbps to 350-500 Kbps. These increased data speeds provide customers the instant gratification of quickly downloading large e-mail files on their phone while in a taxi cab, finishing and sending the sales report before their plane takes off and wirelessly downloading music to listen to directly from a Sprint handset. Because Sprint embraces an open approach to mobile Web access, customers may access the Web sites of their choice and download third party applications to enjoy anytime, anywhere. The Sprint Mobile Broadband Network (inclusive of data roaming) reaches more than 234 million people, 13,453 cities and 1,321 airports, with the vast majority upgraded to the faster EV-DO Rev. A technology.

Besides enabling increased data speeds for e-mail, Web, document management and other tasks, the free software download also provides advanced GPS functionality allowing support of popular applications such as Sprint Navigation. Sprint Navigation provides audio and visual turn-by-turn directions, more than 10 million local listings, and one-click traffic rerouting on compatible phones, similar to an in-vehicle GPS system.

“The Mogul by HTC now delivers the full power of the Sprint Mobile Broadband Network from the convenience of a handset, giving our customers a speed and capacity advantage unavailable anywhere else in the marketplace,” said Danny Bowman, vice president of customer equipment for Sprint. “Besides accessing core capabilities like calendar management, contact lists, personal and corporate email, and viewing documents, customers can use the benefits of SprintSpeed to stay connected, informed and entertained at anytime.”