HTC Shadow

Permalink: HTC Shadow by Franz Bicar

You might wonder what kind of phone the Shadow is. It doesn’t look like a Windows Mobile smart phone to begin with. In fact, it looks like a Research-In-Motion type of phone with a 20-key keypad hidden beneath the slide-up screen. But once you take this handset through its paces, then you’ll appreciate its features and functionalities.

Well, as for it not looking like a Windows Mobile phone, T-Mobile along with Microsoft and HTC, changed its primary interface to match its physical attributes. The result is a phone with easy-to-use controls, which include a back arrow to move back screen-by-screen and a masterful jog wheel that doubles as a five-way navigation button.

Its eye-catching feature is the inverted L design. It has several menu choices such as MyFavesSM, Notifications, Inboxes, Calendar T-Zones, Media Player, Photo Viewer, and Settings. These are all located at the left side of the display. Pressing on the five-way navigation button lets you quickly cycle through them. On the right, any submenu options that are available to you for a given menu choice appear; you spin the jog wheel or press the wheel right or left to cycle through them.

The handset also has predictive-text technology that makes it easier for typing on this device. However, it all depends on the user. Some would prefer the dedicated QWERTY keyboards or same as the Shadow’s keyboard layout.

There are weaknesses for this phone too.

The biggest of those was the call quality where you can hear tinny and slightly echoed audio through the handset’s earpiece, almost as if the other party were on speakerphone. Likewise, people you are talking at the other side will hear your voice that sounds a bit high-pitched compared with how you will probably sound on another handsets.

The camera operations is not that good too. It took reasonably good-looking pictures for a 2.0-megapixel device. But, the shutter lag is frustratingly slow. Saving pictures between shots was slow, too.

Sources:
http://www.lockergnome.com
http://blogs.zdnet.com
http://www.crunchgear.com
http://reviews.cnet.com