How long have I been saying that I wanted to buy an HTC Shift? It’s been a desire of mine for quite a while, but I think I may have finally squashed it. Of course, it is easy to say that as I sit typing on my new MacBook Pro, but that is neither here nor there. ;-)

I was able to hold and check out a Shift while I was at CES, and although I found it to be a very solid and cleverly designed device, I have come to realize that I am probably not this portable computer’s target audience. Why? Because if I honestly examine my motives for buying one, I would have to admit that while I like the idea of having and using one, it wouldn’t be very practical for my use…at all.

But could it be what you need?

Shiftreview4

To give us the highs and lows of this portable computer, is a freshly posted review at Boy Genius Report.

Here are a few tasty tidbits…

You’d be hard-pressed to find a UMPC that is as cleanly designed as the HTC Shift. Taking into account the mechanics with the tilt + slide mechanism, they did a wonderful job. There’s not a huge amount of ports or buttons or switches on it, and that’s a good thing.

and

You’ll have to adjust the brightness if you’re outside, but we’re happy to report the screen is perfectly viewable even in direct sunlight.

But as expected, battery life is a concern:

This could be be one of the biggest hurdles the HTC Shift has to face. To be fair, the specs are exactly as HTC specified: 2 hours of battery life in Windows Vista. You might be able to squeeze out a couple extra minutes, but don’t fool yourself — you’re not watching a whole Lord of the Rings movie on here anytime soon. On the upside, SnapVue lasts for a hell of a long time, even with the 3G connection on. HTC states around 2 days with push email enabled, and we agree. This is awesome for anyone on the go. A great move on HTC’s part is the power adapter. The charging brick is tiny and the charging cable itself is super lengthy. They get points for that one.

The eye-candy published on BGR makes me salivate just a little bit, but in the end - I think that this UMPC is best left to those who require a larger screen and keyboard while answering email on the go.

If I had to make a choice, I think I would rather spend a bit less and get the quite capable 16GB Advantage. But that’s just me…

Read the full review here, and then let us know what you think. Do you have a spare $1600 - $1800 earmarked for the Shift?