Hands-On With HTC’s First Laptop

ORLANDO – Smartphone maker HTC announced the first major surprise of the CTIA wireless trade show this year by unveiling the Shift, its first Windows Vista PC. The company also displayed a US version of the Advantage, a device that straddles the line between a large PDA and an ultralight laptop.

These products are the two most impressive of HTC’s planned 10 to 12 product launches this year, marketing vice president Todd Achilles said during a meeting with PC Magazine last week. Among the other product launches will be new smartphones for CDMA carriers with Verizon, Sprint, Alltel and Telus using a new Qualcomm chipset that “lets us get down to a price point never reached before,” Achilles said. (read more)