This post was published 1 year 5 months 9 days ago which may make its actuality or expire date not be valid anymore. This site is not responsible for any misunderstanding.

Product: HTC Shift CDMA version
Vendor: Sprint
Price:  $1499 from Amazon
Reviewer: Stephen Borders (badersk)
Rating: 8.5 of 10

I know What you are thinking; ‘Not another review of the Shift, everybody has done this thing to death’. Well I hadn’t got to review it and I had a special reason to test this device.

I am by trade and Automotive Technician who now is an instructor. However I still love, and probably always will, working on and especially diagnosing automobiles. As many of you may know, the automobile has become increasingly more advanced in technology. I fact the average automobile today has an average of 42 processors on board, multiple communication networks with speeds up to 1mbps, and some even have satellite and or cellular connections. On many of the cars and trucks we drive even the windows and seats are operated by computer. Well, you may say, all that’s fine but what does that have to do with another review of the SHIFT?

With all the technology comes the need to repair it when it breaks. When something doesn’t work or work correctly, you can’t just pull out a test light and a volt/ohm meter and figure it out. You need powerful tools to be able to access the systems and determine what the problem is. Over the last 6-8 years independent developers have been developing computer based Scanners and Oscilloscopes that really are necessary to diagnose today’s advanced automobiles. Also many of the automotive repair information systems have moved from printed books – to computer – to online subscriptions. So I find myself needing a computer that is small, light, has at least  wireless capability, and has a touch screen. Other pluses would be long battery life integrated keyboard and a rugged design. The shift is almost perfect, while well built I wouldn’t call it rugged.

I primarily use two applications one is a full function On Board Diagnostics II (OBDII) Scan tool and the other is an Oscilloscope. Both are USB interface and the software displays the data or patterns you need to observe.

Well first let me say that the device is beautiful. It feels good in the hand and while not too heavy feels well built. The Screen is perfect, both in size and resolution in the interpolated mode looked just fine to me. It allowed me to get everything I needed to see on the screen. Boot time from a cold boot was rather long, but I rarely, for the week I had it, shut it down. From hibernation I did not experience some of the long reboots that others spoke of who reviewed the device. Battery life was indeed 2 hours with the CDMA modem on all the time, but I had days where I only had to charge it once using push mail and vista occasionally. If you turned off the modem you probably could get 2.5 hours maybe more if you spent some time optimizing the system, but I didn’t try.

Having windows mobile on the same device was wonderful. If I had one, and I still may end up with one, I would be tempted to give up my PDA phone and use this device for email and such. I agree with most reviewers that the crippled version of Windows Mobile is a waste of equipment, but many have "liberated" the Windows Mobile side and are enjoying a fully functioning device. I also read today that if you plug in a USB mouse, keyboard and external monitor you can use vista and windows mobile at the same time. How cool is that!

As for performance, I am not a Vista user so I don’t have something to compare it with, but I have seen some stronger hardware not run XP as well as this runs Vista. I will agree that it really should have 2g of ram, but even an XP machine can benefit from more than 1g. For my tests Vista caused no problems running my applications. As you an see in the picture above I was running 9 data parameters on a vehicle I was connected to and the data refresh was just as good as the Toughbook I have been using. The Oscilloscope performed just as well. I was able to look at the patterns I needed to diagnose an ignition problem and find a dirty Mass Air flow sensor.

The keyboard is a little small but I have problems with anything smaller than a standard keyboard and end up using two fingers to type with. The writhe recognition though is fantastic. Anything that can decipher my chicken scratch for handwriting is pretty amazing.  Speakers sounded really good for such a small device. and I really didn’t have much trouble with the tiny mouse pad although I used the touch screen most of the time.

With technology constantly changing in the automotive world the need for computer based tools will continue to increase. In fact some of the manufacturers are going away from dedicated Scan devices to computer based ones that will have to be online to work. So without a cellular modem attached you would not be able to leave the shop to test drive a car to duplicate a problem. So devices like the shift will not only become more popular, they will be necessary.

As for the pictures you see, the one in the middle of the article is of the data parameter display, as you can see it has 9 windows open and different data on them engine rpm, air flow, temperature, fuel trim and oxygen sensors. The two patterns above are of Ignition coil current, the one on the left is a bad coil, actually it is a bad transistor built into the coil but you have to replace the whole thing. The one on the right is a good one. The software I use for the scanner allows me to display data as you see above and also display graphs and do bi-directional test and controls, like turn on relays, roll windows up and down, check the radio, transmission, anti-lock brakes, transmissions, airbags and so on. Depending on the vehicle of course.

Overall impressions
The shift is a very capable device that really, other than battery life performs well under normal conditions. Is it for a power user, probably not. However for this user I would be more than satisfied with it. For someone who doesn’t need all it’s features there are cheaper solutions out there. I think more than anything it shows us what can be done and what we have to look forward to in the future.

Pros:

• Form factor
• Full keyboard
• Slide/tilt screen
• Full connectivity
• Dual OS

Cons:

• Battery Life

• Crippled Windows Mobile
• I didn’t get to keep it : (

Thanks for reading and to Sprint for providing a review copy. Oh yeah and to Chris Leckness for not keeping it for himself.

Stephen Borders (22 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

Stephen is an Veteran Automotive Technician turned Instructor who after getting introduced to computers on Automobiles, became interested in home computers and handheld PDAs. His love for cars and gadgets is second to his love for his wife of 27 years, his kids and grandkids. He resides and works in the Atlanta Georgia area.