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Following earlier releases in the US, the ultra-mobile PC HTC Shift gets another release this time to the Canadia mobile market courtesy of Rogers Wireless. Yes dear readers from Canada, it’s time to pay homage to Rogers for bringing this powerful UMPC to your beloved country. If you have no idea how rich the HTC Shift in features and functionality, take a gander at the following specs.

The HTC Shift X9501 touts Windows Vista for its OS, touch-screen technology using Microsoft Origami Experience 2.0, push email and SMS using HTC SnapVue, Windows Media Player 11, 7-inch touch sensitive “slide-n-tilt” screen, front facing camera useful for video conferencing, biometric finger print scanner, 40GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, 3G connectivity through Rogers Tri-band HSPA, and Bluetooth 2.0.

If those features are not enough, how about if Rogers throw in a software update which will enable GPS connectivity, map and navigation capabilities? Well, that would come within three months as promised by Rogers. In the meantime you might want to prepare $1,599.99 to snag one HTC Shift for yourself. The HTC Shift is available at selected Rogers Wireless outlets in Canada today.

Via [Into Mobile]

It was just a few weeks ago that finally saw the HTC Shift officially land here in the US and now we learn of a second version. The latest addition will be a Sprint-branded offering and come with built-in EV-DO support. Overall the specs will remain the same as the ‘standard’ Shift, which features a 7-inch touchscreen display, a full QWERTY keyboard, 800 Mhz processor, 1GB RAM, a 40GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0. The EV-DO Sprint, well actually the “HTC HTCX9000 Shift CDMA” version will retail for $1500, and is already available for pre-order on Amazon.

Via [jkOnTheRun]

It seemed like forever before HTC released the Shift, and then it was initially only available in Europe, leaving all of here in the US to sit back, drool and continue to hope and wait. Well good news for anyone that was holding their breath on this one, that wait is now over and the Shift is officially available here in the US.

The features remain the same and include a 7-inch touchscreen display, a full QWERTY keyboard, 800 Mhz processor, 1GB RAM, a 40GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0 and quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE along with HSDPA/UMTS.

Sadly the same factor that limits the desire for owning the Shift in Europe will be the same for potential US customers, the price is more than a lot of standard laptops. The HTC Shift will retail for a little more than $1600.

Via [Gizmodo]

The long awaited HTC Shift will soon be available in the European market. Beginning February 19, 2008 Expansys will be offering the device for $1720, about 1185 Euro. Orange is also rumored to be launching a branded version of the Shift in March, but no pricing has been leaked from Orange.

The HTC Shift features a 7-inch touchscreen display, a full QWERTY keyboard, 1GB RAM and a 30GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0 along with support for quad-band GSM/GPRS/Edge, 3G HSDPA.

While the HTC Shift is a solid device with a nice set of specs, the price tag does seem to be a bit limiting. Ultra-mobile prices are starting to drop and this seems to retain that price premium. For $1720 you can get an average full sized notebook or desktop along with a budget UMPC for those on-the-go needs.

Via [SlashGear]