[Review] T-Mobile Shadow

[Nightwind Hawk]

T-Mobile Shadow

This phone is made by HTC and uses a custom version of WM6, made specially for this phone. It uses an interface called the "Neo" interface, which is a homepage that consists of different pages, including Home, myfaves, Notifications, Text Messages, Settings etc.) that you are able to scroll through. It's the first Windows Mobile phone that is not fully a PDA nor a phone - it's in the middle.

Basics, Apperance and Size:

I was first attracted to this phone because of the amazing screen quality. The screen isn't larger than most phones, yet the resolution is 240 x 320, which makes it very sharp pictures and texts.

The outside if very sleek and cool looking in my opinion. It has 2 soft keys and 4 seperate buttons below: Home, Back, Call, and End Call. In the middle, there is a scrollwheel and OK button. The keyboard slides out, which is a 24 key QWERTY keyboard. I think HTC could have done better with the looks of the keyboard, however, it does the job and we'll get to that later.

The size and weight of this phone is also just like a normal phone. It's .6" thick, and weights 5.3 ounces. It has no problem fitting into a pocket.

Some Features:

• Camera: The camera is 2 MP and has fair quality. The pictures are a little grainy. It can take up to 1600 x 1200 resolution, videos, and does not have a flash.
  

• 24-key Keyboard: It has a QWERTY keyboard, except each letter is 2 to a key. If you've seen the BlackBerry Pearl, this is the same thing. It takes very little time to getting used to, and I was quickly able to write messages faster and easier than using my old RAZR. However, it still uses xT9, but after a little time, the phone predicts what you will say and saves you a lot of time.
  
• Applications: You can install any mobile application onto the phone, either by USB or downloading it directly from the phone.
  
• SD Card slot: You can add an SD card for more storage for listening to music, watching videos, or saving files/apps. It includes 256 MB of memory initially, AND 128 MB of RAM for operating.
  
• Wi-Fi: This phone is able to recieve wi-fi signals, and through my experience with it, it works awesome. When I downloaded a program with it, I was surprised to see such a fast speed (perhaps 80 KB/sec?). I expected it to be a slow weak connection, but it has proven itself otherwise. I currently only turn it on when I need it to save battery.
  
• Wonderful contacts management and integration with "myFaves": I currently have my Shadow synced with Outlook, so all my contacts are on my phone, including their pictures, multiple phone numbers, e-mails, addresses, etc. Yesterday, I heard a story about how their phone reminded them that it was their anniversary coming up, and put a heart with a countdown of days next to their wife's picture. Amazed by this, I spent last night putting in some of my friend's birthdays! To access or call any contact, all you have to do is start typing their name and it will instantly give you results.
  
• Apart from these few features, this phone has what any normal phone has: Bluetooth, Voice recognition, e-mail, etc.
  

Cons:

• Battery life: The battery life is the most popular diss against the Shadow, however, it has bothered me at all. Leaving it an entire night untouched, when I wake up, the battery is about 10% less - so it has about 100 hours of standby. I do not have bluetooth or wi-fi enabled on my phone, but I use it a lot, and I only HAVE to charge it every other day. However, since I have access to a USB chord frequently, I charge it whenever it's halfway down.
  
• Scroll wheel: The scroll wheel isn't that sensitive... it takes a lot of scrolling to get anywhere, but luckily, the wheel can also be used as a 4-way directional button (up/down/right/left). So until an option arrives where you can change the sensitivity, I don't see the purpose of it. The Blackberry Pearl has a much better scrollball.
  
• Text Messaging isn't "normal enough" - Coming from a RAZR, text messaging was much easier to access. On the Shadow, I set my side shortcut button as the Message center, so once I press that, it gives me an option between Texts and E-mails. After clicking on Texts, from there, I must click Menu --> New --> Text. Perhaps a software modification would make creating a text message easier. The other con about text messages are that when you recieve one and miss the ringtone, the only way you can tell is by looking at the icons on the top of the screen. The LED light doesn't change, and there is no notification box.
  
• Speakerphone call quality is not too good
  

Conclusion:

I love this phone! :) One of my favorite things about it is the beautiful screen and another is the ease of accesing contacts (and how much you can do with them)! The cons are nothing to be turned off by - I had to think hard to write that section in the review. Basically, the Shadow is for anybody who does not want a large PDA to carry around but would like the same features.

More Pictures:

View: Full List of Specifications (external website)

Edited January 3, 2008 by Nightwind Hawk

[brayan27]

real nice, BTW is that your house?

if so, O.O. lucky...

[Nightwind Hawk]

real nice, BTW is that your house?

if so, O.O. lucky...

haha yes it is, and thank you

[BorisZX6R]

Hi Nightwind Hawk,

very nice review and you hit the problems right on the spot.

I have this phone as well, just purchased it a week ago.

Here is a tip for the text messaging.

If you miss the tone alert for your sms you can always (assuming you are using the NEO theme) from your home screen scroll one icon down to the Notification Icon which actually shows you who the message is from and it reads you the first 32 characters of the message.

Also when composing messages, from the home screen you go 2 icons down to the message center icon and you can click on the right soft key which reads compose, and it opens up the message compose window.

Regarding the scroll wheel, i noticed it functions better when you turn it slower rather than turning it fast. It seems it is adjusted so that every quarter turn scrolls through the menu or the appropriate window.

I am using wifi and bluetooth throughout the day and the media player as well and it still lasts the whole day without a problem, so considering the features of the phone I would say it is not that bad actually. Of course if there is ever a 3rd party battery available with a mAh rating higher than 1100 I would definitely buy it.

Also one important thing about the battery is that the indicator that shows you how much battery is left is quite accurate.

I have a Samsung T809 and the battery is worse although the phone doesn't have half the features of the Shadow.

But when it comes to the quality of the screen that is where Samsung is definitely the better phone, but that is mostly because the Samsung display is capable of displaying 262k colors(18 bit) also in 240x320 resolution and the shadow can displays only 65k colors (16 bit)

From the first day i bought this phone I loved it because you can customize just about anything and there are many tweaks and little programs for it available on the web.

Hope this helps a bit.

__

BorisZX6R