I have had a chance to use the T-Mobile Shadow for a few days now and I would like to report on my findings.
Overall it has a solid smooth feel when in hand. The Screen is slick and although you can get some fingerprints on it quickly they do not inhibit viewing the screen at all. The screen is vibrant and bright and works well with the device.
The sliding action is great. It is smooth and silent, almost like a well oiled folding blade. It doesn’t accidentally slide open either. There are settings to allow the opening/closing of the keyboard to answer/end a call. By default it is set to answer when opened and no effect when closed.
The 20 Key pad takes a little getting used to. For years I have used the HTC Wizard slide out qwerty keypad with a different key for each letter and before that I used the standard keypad with T9 input. This is in-between the two styles. The word recognition is fairly comprehensive. I only needed to add a few lesser known words while using it. At first I found myself looking at the keypad while typing but after awhile I adjusted to the new keys well.
The camera takes nice clean images and has several options in settings to further customise the picture taking function.
The Neo interface is truly something to be admired. I can perform nearly every common task from the main screen intuitively with out needing to dig through repetitive menus.
Coming from a touch screen user’s point of view, I really like the Shadow. It’s becoming more a part of a daily activities with it’s usefulness than I thought possible.
Come back soon for another in-depth video of the T-Mobile Shadow.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:29 am
I’ve also found that it is very easy to modify many different things on the interface through your home computer as well. By removing one plug-in from one of the included home layouts (T-Mobile Blue) and adding a weather plug-in to the home screen I am able to get to everything I use directly from the homescreen since the last 8-10 programs you have used are available to scroll through at the top of the home screen. I don’t think most people will go through more than that plus you still have the plug-ins on the homescreen to get you directly to text/email, media player, calendar and whatever else you can add a plug-in for. I think the ability to customize the interface is something that is left out of so many reviews and should be noted.
November 28th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Are you talking about editing the Neo interface panes? or the standard Windows Mobile Today Screen?
December 5th, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Here are some initial obsrvations I’ve made. I’ve had the phone for one week and I was using the Blackberry Pearl. So far, I’m considering returning the Shadow.
1. My biggest pet peve is that when I view my call history, it only shows who called, and not the time or date. I know that I can click on each call and it will give me the details but I think a basic time stamp on the initial screen is not too much to ask for.
2. I’ve noticed that if I miss a call from someone on my myfaves, it shows up twice in my missed call history making it look like they called two times in a row.
3. The phone seems to have many gliches. It seems to freeze up a lot as though the processor can’t handle any of the simple tasks that are pre-loaded on the phone. I’ve hade to turn the phone off and back on a few times just to get it to simple things.
4. I haven’t seen the ability to customize the overall appearance. I would love a smaller font size but the only options are normal and large.
5. The alarm clock is terrible. I’ve been used to using my phone as an alarm clock and this thing is wacked out. I don’t know any other way to explain it.
6. I don’t like the fact that applications remain open, sucking away your memory. I haven’t noticed a way to close applications, but when I go into the “manage memory” section, apparently they are still open.
Overall, the BB Pearl is better and MUCH easier to use. I was mainly looking for a better camera and the ability for video capture but now that I’ve had a chance to use the Shadow, I don’t think it’s worth the trade.