HTC Shift, Touch Dual and S730 available in October

Smartphone manufacturer HTC announced four new models today, including the Shift and a version of the Touch smartphone with a slide-out keyboard.

The Shift is HTC's long-awaited take on the UMPC. It runs Windows Vista Business, weighs 800g and has a near-A5 form factor (207 x 129 x 25mm). The design, similar to that of the TyTN II, allows the Shift to be used both in tablet and laptop modes - the 7in touch-screen has an 800 x 480 resolution and the slide-out keyboard, while small, is still very usable.

More info on the other handsets and lots of pics after the cut.  

Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and HSDPA connectivity is provided as standard and while battery life with Vista is reported to be an unimpressive three hours, an HTC-modified version of Windows Mobile called SnapVUE provides instant-on access to email, appointments and contacts - and a two day standby time.

The Shift will be available in Europe at the end of October for €1199 (around £837) unlocked, or for less from mobile phone operators.

The Touch Dual adds a much-needed physical keyboard to HTC's dinky Windows Mobile 6 smartphone, the Touch. Available with either a 12-key numeric or 20-key Qwerty keyboard, the Touch Dual adds tri-band HSPDA to the mix, but at the expense of Wi-Fi - a strange swap, but one that makes sense for the target consumer market (the Touch Dual will be available from Orange for free on its £35/month plans). The processor also gets a speed bump to 400MHz and there's a fat 'n' friendly virtual keyboard that will also be offered as a free download to Touch users.

The S730 is an update to our favourite Windows Mobile 6 smartphone by far, the HTC S710. There isn't much that's new here, but the S730 gets the same HTC Home Today screen replacement as the HTC Touch, HSDPA and a redesigned slide-out keyboard.

Finally, HTC is taking its first steps into the mobile enterprise market with the P6550. Designed for use in logistics, warehousing and transportation applications, it has a 3.5in anti-glare screen, 1Gb of RAM, 3-megapixel camera, fingerprint scanner, barcode reader and two SDIO slots. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, EDGE and tri-band HSDPA are standard, as is built-in GPS.

All of the new models will be available by the end of October, but apart from the Shift (see above), pricing has yet to be announced.

[ HTC Europe]