HTC Shadow
Average Ratings
Aweful Device Made me Want to Leave T-Mobile
I have gone through 4 of these Shadows and they where all junk. I have always liked T-Mobile and never really had any issues with them but this phone made me almost fork over the 200.00 plus an extra 200.00 for my other phone on the family plan just to get out of my contract. I have had many smart phones as well as regular and have never had a more broken peace of equipment. The Pearl I have from T-Mobile works great unfortunately that phone belongs to another family member while sticking me with the shadow.
Cons:
Alarm Horrible Can't shut it off without practice.
Glitchy, or whatever you call it when you open your phone and all you see is QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ running down the screen. (This happened with 3 of the devices)
The screen would also break into quadrants and shuffle whatever image was being displayed all over the screen.
Battery life is actually what I would expect from a windows operated smart phone however I would like it if the remaining battery life display, gave an accurate reading.
I could go on with the cons but I only have 950 remaining characters.
Pros: None really other then a semi cool display and nice feel of the rubberized skin on the back of the phone. The look of it is actually what sold me on it.
All and all this phone has been a nightmare I am a major gadget and tech user and this phone fails on many levels. For any serious phone users who want a good practical smart phone or PDA device avoid this phone at all cost. It's a cheap toy and nothing more.
MAN IT'SLOVE
I've dealt with about 11 different phones in the past 4 years of ever owning a phone and this one by far is THE BEST ONE EVER!
The Screen is absolutely amazing I have to say. The camera is amazing, it's just missing a flash but that's not a big deal. I love all it's applications. comparing it to my old nokias samsungs and motorola is just so much better than all of them. I get better signal with this even in a dead spot i'll get a bar or two.
It's absolutely amazing and it's cheap!!!
The phone is great!
I have to admit I never owned a blackberry bur was leaning towards the Curve. But all I really wanted to be able to do was check work email, view word, pdf, excel files, and reply back to work emails. All else was for fun. I liked the bulky WIng because it was rouch screen and the keyboard was a slide. This is what I missed on the Curve. Just before getting the curve I found the shadow and it does all the things I need it to do. and it 's smaller. I love the screen, the 2 mgpx camera, video is nice (the curve was missing),... The phone is awesome to say the least.
I have to agree with the previous review. Read the manual people. The phone operates just great, sound is great, ear volume is great, the scroll wheel is easy, not problems with applications running slow unless I was playing a video, downloading email, receiving a text, the typical slowness you receive on a computer when running several applications at once.
I love this phone and amd glad I didn't the wing or the curve. If this phone were missing something it's a flash for the camera. Oh, and I don't feel like I have a "girls" phone like I would have had I gotten a pearl. The copper color is the way to go!
Ridiculous!!!
I don't know what the others are talking about, but I suggest those that don't like the screen or in call audio remove that plastic sheet over the entire face of the phone and start enjoying the phone!
Just a little background: I've been in the cellular field for about 7 years in technical, sales, and now customer service. I am a Wing user, but bought a Shadow because I could.
An accurate review or one that should be taken seriously does not have things like "I've had it for 24hrs" or "Had it half a day" in it, what do you really know about the phone?
I have been using mine since the release date and must say that it is an awesome phone, but since I'm limited to 2000 characters here's the cliff notes:
Pros:
Gorgeous Screen
Easy Navigation
Audio through ear piece and speaker(I'm partially deaf)
Wifi is easy to use even with a WEP key
Weight - Light as a Feather
Sure-type - I don't even like Sure-type!
Shadow exclusive menu - Looks good!
Email clients(pop3) works much smoother than on the Wing.
Speedy in stock form, but borders on telepathy when overclocked to 286mhz
Cons:
Memory Card is a PITA to get in
Memory Card door doesn't stay closed(emailed HTC for replacement)
No thumb or finger stud to assist with the slide
Non customizable menus, this is a big deal for a phone like this, but it can be corrected with software which I am currently seeking out.
Can't program side button for exactly what you want, if I could lock the phone with that button my life would be easier!
Neutral:
Battery life - It isn't that bad
That's it, it's a nice phone for not too much cash, if you're a new customer expect $149 with a 2 year agreement, but I paid more and it was worth it as I may sell my Wing!
Shadow...great work HTC.
I left a review on my Wing, and I think this one will be just as good if not better. Let me start by saying that I could not have made a better choice, because this phone is just what I need.
Screen; WOW. This is one of the best screens I have ever seen from HTC, and it really looks good. I think that you will be happy with this.
Keypad; I am truly not a suretype guy, but this one has really caught me by surprise! I think that by using this keypad, I can text and send emails just as fast...if not faster. I was very pleased with how fast I could send text messages, and the more you text on it I think you will get faster as well.
Side buttons; The voice command keypad doubles as a quick link to your messages. Speaking of the voice command, its a great feature if you are on the go and don't want to dial. The camera button is well placed, and it feels more like a real camera when taken picture. The microSD card and the charging port could have been designed a little better, because at times they can be hard to open. The charging port is someone difficult open, but it just takes a little work.
Sliding feature; When you end a call by closing the slider, it does not end. So you are forced to hit the end button. Very annoying!
D-Pad; I think this is one of the best features of the phone, and it really compliments it in a very good way. You will find yourself zooming through pages, and menus as well.
The body is very well put together, because I have been waiting on a slider Windows Mobile phone. I used to carry my T629 and my Wing, to make me feel better! LOL
The software is basically the same version of Mobile 6, and nothing really special about it to me. It looks cool though, because you can change it to the old style if you like or stick with new style which is very nice for the most part. (Change is always good.)
Overall, the phone will sell because it is a cheap smartphone, with lots of cool features.
BUY IT!! YOU WILL BE HAPPY!!! GO GET IT!!!
Don't listen to the Negative Reviews; they fulla it!
People, it's time to get with the program and RTFM (Read the $%^&in Manual) for once. More than a handful of things listed by the others on this board as "Cons" are entirely not accurate.
Examples:
1. Can't Slide the phone shut to end a call (Clearly someone does not know where in WM6 to locate this setting. This is blatantly clear)
2. Call quality sucks OR I can bearly hear the person on the other end OR I cannot hear what the other person is saying, etc (Hello! Every figure to take the frikkin' plastic that wraps around the ear piece at the top of the phone? And what about may be raising the volume key?)
3. The Phone occasionally freezes or slows down to a crwaling halt (People, this is a Windows Mobile Phone and has a WINDOWS OS preloaded on it. Like on a PC that you may have at home or at work, you need to go to the TASK MANAGER and STOP ANY OR ALL services that you are not currently in use or needed for use. You need to clear the Cache too in the even that your slowness happens to be while you are online. Common principles that PC User should be aware of in this day and age.)
4. My Battery life absolutely sucks (Well did you even think that your phone Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Active Sync may be powered on. How about shutting them off when they are not in use, similar concept to the slowness issues above in #3).
5. Cannot turn off the XT9 typing feature (Folks, page 44-45 in the manual please)
If you don't have the phone then don't come on to the boards like this one at Phone Scoop and bash the daylights out of it. Trust me, the proof is in the pudding and these types of reviews become blatantly obvious to someone who has used the phone. This kind of behaviour is commonly seen from Reps outside of T-Mobile from other providers. In all honesty and for what it's worth, those idiots are just jealous that T-Mobile has got the mac daddy of "Fun Smartphones in the current market. That said, get this phone if you have not done so yet, no regrets!
Not Too Shabby
After upgrading from a Samsung sgh-e635, this phone is amazing. It's my first smart-phone, though I've played with many. The Shadow for the most part is top notch.
Pros:
-GUI is pleasant to work with
-Windows is actually fairly pleasant to work with
-Battery life is sufficient(went 3 days without a recharge and that was with a moderate amount of WiFi usage & a couple hours of talk time)
-Scroll wheel actually works well when viewing web pages(I'll admit that I was really worried when I first got the phone)
-WiFi is extremely fast
-Ringtones are extremely loud. I work for a contracted food service company at a university and can hear the phone over the students in the cafeteria.
-Setting up email accounts & viewing them is a piece of cake.
-Nice crisp camera
-Bright Screen
-Minimal lag when switching between programs. But with a 200MHz processor it handles everything very well.
Cons(I Have to be nit-picky for these):
-Active Sync doesn't always work like it's supposed to. More a Microsoft Issue than the phone.
-NO TOUCH SCREEN-
This isn't much of a con because of how well the scroll wheel works, but it would always be nice to have.
-WiFi can be difficult to set up do to lack of options. Trying to set up on my secured wireless home router took well over an hour.
-Cannot disable Edge. Maybe more T-Mobiles fault then the phones, but if I'm not paying for it, I don't even want to accidentally connect to it.
-Screen doesn't display contact information of whose calling while it's closed.
-Crappy alarm. The only alarm settings are Everyday/Weekdays only/Off. Kinda sucks when you have to get up at a different time each day.
-The case that comes with it is horrible. Don't even think about trying to get your phone out of the case if you're in the car. Damn near impossible.
Overall it's a great phone. Reception is amazing compared to my old phone and to my wife's Samsung Trace. I've gotten lots of oooo's & awwww's about its looks.
HTC Shadow Review
I have been using the Shadow since October 31. I write this review coming from a T-Mobile SDA which used Windows Mobile 5. So here we go.
Let's get the Cons out of the way first.
The battery life on this phone is not as good as it could be. I was very dissapointed when I learned that the phone would use a much smaller battery than any other smartphone. I know that it supports the style and form factor of the phone, but it feels like if I am just looking through the phone that the battery will begin to drain. It feels like it's getting better over time, but that may be that I am just getting used to it.
2nd the phone freezes from time to time when I close applications in the Task Manager. If you dont push anything it will pick itself back up, but it can be frustrating.
3rd, this is just a personal con, you can't listen to music while you take pictures. On my SDA with half the memory I could do that! But it isnt really a big deal so I wont take that out of the score.
That is it for cons.
The phone is BEAUTIFUL! The screen is amazining and clear. So what that it is not VGA resolution, that would destroy the battery even more. The scroll wheel is a little sluggish, but it works well and gets the job done when I dont feel like using the d pad.
I am really enjoying using WM6. It displays the icons very crisp and clear, and if you are coming from WM5, then you will appreciate the tiny differences between them.
The body of the phone is built very strongly. If you have the phone and dont want to get the screen smudged, then slide the phone up from the bottom.
Initially the call quality concerned me, but the more calls that I have made, the results have been better. The speakerphone is loud, but sort of has a high pitch to it. The camera pictures are very crisp, but are kinda poor in color saturation.
Using SureType has been a snap for me. When I first got it I was concerned, but now I really like it.
Its a great, inexpensive smartphone
THIS PHONE ROCKS...AND YES THE NEGATIVE REVIEWS ARE WRONG!!!
FIRSTLY, the phone, well i have actually had this phone for a couple days now and can't keep my hands off of it! all the features delivers as promised and the quality is great. Had the DASH and loved it...but sold it to get this one and it was the best choice ever!
PROS:
apps
sounds great! even the headphones surprisingly
UI
ergonomic
slick
Cam is good
and very fast (so what 200mhz processor...well this thing has got some RAM!)
CONS
fingerprint magnet (i knew that going in)
where did the flash go?
the baklight on the keypad does dim along the edges
LOVE/HATE
WM6 (I personally like it)
not a touchscreen (Hate touchscreens)
The charger/audio splitter (it's growing on me)
20 key Qwerty (learning that too)
...........
Now the wrong negative reviews
-killa??? (whatever his name is) is right! read his review on this website
They phone has a plastic cover over the facing and the hole for the earpeice (punch holes...i did...sounds loud to me)
The phone is slow because of startup apps... let them run then turn them off in TASK MANAGER (plus you can see you available memory)
The customizable ability is AWESOME with this phone... the slide can do what ever and the softkey/shortkey can be changed between popular apps/screens.
That's about all for me.
Hope this helps and GO BUY IT NOW!!! $150??? it's a steal!!!
HTC shadow
WOW this phone is better than all my htc phones!!! i've had an MDA, dash, wing ,sda, even a motorola m220 , THIS IS THE BEST so far!! windows mobile fone ive ever had. I had this one week before release as a present and it has been a great. It responds faster than my dash and wing the internet picks up alot faster than all the other previous phones the clarity on photos are just insane (for a celphone!) everything works perfect the slide is graceful what more can you ask for.
