HTC Shadow
Average Ratings
Software blahs
I got my shadow in April and am now on my 3rd one, waiting on my 4th to arrive. The features on this phone are awesome, I loved it when I first purchased it. I've been dealing with software issues on each phone I've had. It starts out with text duplicating, the caller ID becoming a blank white screen and progresses to not ringing or even lighting up when a call comes in. Other than the software issues, this phone is awesome! I'm hoping #4 works out, I'd really hate to give up on this phone. You cannot set multiple alarms, which is a problem for me since I use it to get up in the am...it would be nice also if it had more home screen options. Overall it's a pretty good phone unless you end up with the software issues I've been having...my husband absolutely loves his!
T-MOBILE SHADOW Copper
I love this phone! Its awesome, almost everythings awesome about this phone, except for its battery life...if it had a longer lifespan i'd rate this a 5, other than that, i love it!!!!
Almost there...
I've tried several phones. Been a TMO customer for years now, and I decided to try this smartphone. Depends on what you're looking for, but for me, this phone had too much for me to use and for the price I got it for, it wasn't worth it for me. (Cost me about $180 after rebates).
Here are the pros/cons.
PROS:
*GORGEOUS screen
*Call quality great even reception is low (i live in pasadena, ca)
*internet pretty quick
*music player sounds great even in low volume!
*active sync great! really quick and easy.
*Wonderful camera pics! Wish it had flash, though.
*phone itself feels solid, not flimsy like other phones.
*can use mp3s for ringtones, don't have to buy off of tmo!
*LOTS of sound options, even if you don't want to upload mp3s.
CONS:
*texting is a challenge (xt9 is the default option, but offers ABC text too)
*occasional phone freeze
*menus are challenging...REALLY have to at least SKIM the manual
*BATTERY SUCKS!!!!! It's terrible!! Even with just two calls and browsing menus, the battery dies at the end of the day (even after constantly quitting all tasks in the task manager!)
*speakerphone not too clear at times...
Really, it's the battery that kills everything, because this phone has SO many great features to use, but by using them you basically wipe out your battery in such little time!!! I was hoping I'd love this phone, but I'm going to send it back to TMO. It didn't fit for my needs, but maybe it might fit for someone else who doesn't really want a blackberry, but wants something CLOSE to it. Hope this helped! HAPPY PHONE HUNTING!
My first windows phone
Have owned for several months now. First off, it recently went for a dunk in the pool in my cargo shorts pocket and it still works! I was out of the pool very quickly so I don't think much more than the battery compartment got wet, still impressive!
I really wish there were more options to make low level registry hacks on the phone without having to use a registry editor via activesync.
Overall I really can't complain as I extended my contract with T-Mobile and got it through a special call in deal for $49.99 after rebates.
Looking forward to new devices from HTC as they seem to have their finger on the pulse of what people are looking for. The new Diamond looks awesome.
Pros:
Beautiful screen.
WiFi.
Can hack to use $5.99 tmobileweb plan via IE browser.
It's Windows Mobile and has a real browser.
Can charge with any mini USB cable.
Does what I want and ask it to do for the most part and does so fairly intuitively.
Battery life is good for the type of phone it is and how I use it.
Cons:
No way to turn keypad backlight back on except pressing a keypad key (pressing d-pad does nothing).
When active keypad times out during call have to hit key twice to actually get keypress to register.
Non customizable side button.
Camera app is slow.
Task manager is buggy, sometimes doesn't like to display.
I have found no way to hack the scroll wheel to scroll more quicky, it's SLOW!
T-Mobile MyFaves app replaces neo home screen.
Crappy alarm options.
A bit underpowered processor-wise.
No GPS.
No built in countdown timer or stopwatch function.
Can't turn off answering a call when phone slides open! WTF!
I thought the two letter qwerty would be easy to get used to, it isn't.
Plastic screen cover, shows minor scratches, would have preferred glass for such a nice screen.
Randomly locks itself up and key input does nothing, can't even turn off, screen stays black but power light blinks, has happened from day 1, have to pull battery at least once a week.
Nice Smartphone
Let me start by saying this is a great smartphone. I previously owned the Nokia 6133 from T-Mobile. It was a great phone. Lots of personalization features. Well the Shadow doesn't come with all the personalization features like the Nokia 6133, but one can add software (lots of free stuff out there for this phone) to customize the phone to one's liking. Since I am visually impaired I will be purchasing a screen magnifier. Now to pros and cons.
Pros:
Big screen.
Accessibility features (large font works great for me. I'm visually impaired.)
Voice command works great.
Livesearch is awesome.
Windows Media player
Wifi works great.
File explorer is easy to use.
Sure type keyboard is easy to learn.
IM client works well.
Internet explorer runs well.
Active-sync works great for backing up files and updating your windows media player.
Cons:
Fingerprint magnet (keep a soft cloth around)
No GPS (not a big deal to me, Livesearch works just fine.)
Runs slow if too many programs are open.
Sometimes phone must be rebooted. (Had similar problem with Nokia 6133)
No FM radio. (Nokia 6133 has a radio)
All in all, I feel I made a good choice. Since T-Mobile does not offer the high-end Nokia business phones (what I really wanted), the Shadow works great for me. It is not bulky like the Wing, but it does lots of the same things as the Wing. The Shadow has Microsoft Pocket Office, too.
Great entry level Windows Mobile Smartphone.
Think it's great!!
This is the best phone I've had! I have a disability and the fact that I do not have to open the phone to use the key board it terrific! I can access all I need to do from the main screen! I do use the text and internet when I need to.
I've had the phone now for about 2 months and have not had any issue. I previously owned a dash which
also was a good experience. My daughter now has my dash and she is happy as can be cause she used to have a sidekick III which to her was a piece
of junk!
One thing I've realized is that there are phones out there meet all needs for all people just have to research!
Its has its moments
One of the reasons I upgraded to the Shadow was because I needed more organization. I've already had it replaced once and I've only had it since November 2007. When you first get the phone the volume is usually extremely low on it for the first few days, for some odd reason, then it goes to a normal as if nothing were wrong at all.
The battery life on the phone is bad, but you have to pay attention to how many programs you are running at once. Just because you go to the home screen does not mean that the program isn't still running.
This phone is pretty good for texting, the keypad just takes some getting use to. All in all, it's not a horrible phone, but I think it can still use some work.
I dont think Im alone here...
I don't think I'm the only person out there that feels this way about the phone. I read the reviews which helped me decide to purchase this phone in the first place, but I am overall pretty dissatisfied.
Pros:
-great color screen
-Windows Mobile 6 very user friendly
-Picks up better reception in my home than previous phones with my carrier T-Mobile in northern Idaho
-camera great, auto edit feature really cool
-Windows Media Player 11 love it!
Cons:
-Slow connectivity, I know its like my PC and clear my cache everytime I connect
-freezes all the time and yes my task manager was virtually empty except for the program I was trying to run when it did freeze, or it will freeze during the night and say that is 4 am when its actually 7, oh now I'm late for work!
-my battery dies after just 4 hours of which is inactive, Ive mostly been shutting it off now except to use it because I cant stand it dying and having it resend my emails it thinks I missed, and now If I want to use it to wake me up in the morning I must plug it in(not to say it might freeze still)Several co-workers have experienced poor battery life with this model also.
-already had a warranty replacement because first one screen stopped working and was just plain white and would not make or receive calls
-finally the charging port does not like to keep the charger in place, sometimes slides out
I really think I would enjoy this phone if I didn't have those cons :( I think I have to start using my trusty old V330 again.
Sad days with my Shadow, why cant you just let me love you!!
HTC makes another pretty impressive smartphone.
HTC usally makes pretty good devices. That being said I was a little disappointed in the design. I felt that HTC should have just stuck with their usual sliding style, but then again thats just a personal opinion as this slider has some descent build quality. The slide springs right up and doesn't feel cheap.
When you slide it, it reveals the suretype QWERTY keyboard which works surprisingly well. I though it would be as cumbersome and annoying as the T9 format but it was pretty intuitive. The jogwheel worked well too. What surprised me is how fast it rolled. Compared to the Blackjack 2 which kind of slugged along.
Windows Mobile works as well as on any other WM smartphone. The 200mhz processor isnt too bad, but does start to bog down as multiple applications run in the background. So keep closing them and you'll be fine. You also won't find any MS document creating or editng either so thats something to consider to from a business perspective.
Camera and video qualtiy could have been better but still wasn't that bad. Screenwise it could have been better and could have used a little more of that space below it but still not bad. Voice quality was not very good to be honest. It was kind of low from my experiences. But may not bother others. Phone reception was great no complaints about that.
It also has Wi-Fi so thats a plus considering T-mobile uses a slow data network. But can't use their hotspot at home service.
So all in all its a solid device that has shortcoming but cannot be overcome.
The Shadow or should it be called The Headache?
The title says it all. This is just from my own experience with this so called "awesome" phone. I've had The Shadow since its debut and have had major and minor problems with it and have been through three replacements since then. Major problem one is that there are two features that can not be altered. For instance if a ringtone is assigned to incoming texts the sound, when text is received, doesn't stop playing when the message is opened and if your on a call and you receive a text, and a sound of some sort is active, the sound interrupts the call and plays its entire time fragment while your on the phone. So annoying! Also one other major problem that i've had is that my WiFi deleted itself from the phone and I don't know how it happened. Minor problems include having to go through so many steps to assign ringtones to contacts or other functions on the phone such as the alarm, email, and text message alerts. The phone has great things about as well like a very big Yes to a big and bright screen, fast browsing, great design, and all those things but in my opinion all those things aren't enough good to out weigh the bad. Overall The Shadow is a great but for the price but if you purchase it just have patience and calmness.
