The HTC strives to be a jack of all trade but unfortunately fails to live up to being the best in any of its aspirations s a laptop, smartphone and tablet. A lot of products have strived to be two different things and some succeeded.

While the HTC Shift is an email-pushing gadget it is however voiceless so there’s no way you’re going to throw Blackberry in its place. Had it succeeded in providing all three purposes efficiently the price tag of $1,499 would have been great. As it is, the Shift works as a convertible tablet without swiveling features but it does slide up to reveal a QERTY keyboard.

As the name suggests, the HTC Shift is able to shift between a Windows Mobile-like interface and a Windows Vista Business. With phone functions it would have been the smart one. If you’re a heavy computer user who wants portability without becoming a slave to power ports then the two hour battery life of the Shift is a big burden. The Shift runs on Intel A110 with a speed of 800 MHz and has 1GB RAM, and 40GB storage capacity.

The HTC Shift is indeed very light at 2.2 pounds with a 7-inch widescreen size. So if you’re up for a concept device that is slightly functional but will make your friend’s jaws open up in awe then you have to get this as part of your collection. The only fear is that like most collection, it might end up in your cabinet rather than perform its business.