Two weeks ago I posted my T-Mobile Shadow first impressions and had 14 days to decide if I was going to keep the device or take it back and pick up the BlackBerry Curve that I intended on buying when I went to the T-Mobile store. So here it is on day 16 and the Shadow is now a part of my mobile device collection. My YouTube videos of the Shadow are getting quite a few comments and questions so I plan to post a couple more videos posted another video below to answer people’s questions and continue to demonstrate the functionality of the device.
I consider myself a “power user” and even though I think the Shadow is targeted to help make people coming from a feature phone to a smartphone more comfortable (you actually turn it on and off by holding the End button just like a feature phone and there isn’t a separate power button like those found on most Windows Mobile devices), I find myself living in the Neo Home screen area. Like the iPhone, I think the Shadow is a “fun” device and I love sliding it open and shooting off a quick email or text message right from the Home screen with the cool keyboard. I am getting very fast with the keyboard (I’ll shoot a video of that this weekend) and like the tradeoff for a narrower device with a SureType keyboard and would like to see it implemented on other devices, like the Nokia N95. I view and create appointments, view my text messages and email, manage my profiles and connections, and listen to tunes right from the Home Screen. I was excited when I heard that my Mobius buddy, Paul, from MoDaCo.com was getting a T-Mobile Shadow because I knew he would be able to hack the registry and help me make my Neo Home screen even more functional (I never view T-Zones Wallpaper or Ringtones so these are wasted plug-ins). It turns out that Paul has had the device for less than a day and already has performed some T-Mobile Shadow customizations on the Home screen. Be aware though, that hacking the registry my void your warranty so take that into consideration.
I was also initially very worried about the battery life and while I do think a larger capacity battery would have been nice, I am able to go just about a full day before completely killing the battery. It hasn’t completely died on my yet since I have been able to get a charge on it via a PC or the Proporta USB Mobile Device charger (this is a great portable product!). The Shadow call quality has been very good, it feels great in your hand and fits into any pocket, and I am quite pleased with it. I also have 19 third party applications loaded on my Shadow, including ShoZu, Dashwire, Agenda One, fring, PocketBible, Mobipocket, Opera, SlingPlayer, StyleTap, and more.
