Toshiba TG01

Available now
18th February 2009

Toshiba first gave people a peep at the Toshiba TG01 a few days ago, and they have now announced the full details of this powerful Windows Mobile phone.

Unusually, the headlining feature in the TG01 is the processor. This is a 1GHz Qualcomm QSD8250 which Toshiba say is twice as fast as the processors usually found in Windows phones. The memory is larger than most too, at 256MB RAM. In a lot of ways, running Windows Mobile on a phone is like running Windows on a PC.. the more memory and processing power you can throw at it, the better.

The big 4.1" touch-sensitive display has a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels in 262,000 colours. This is ideal for web browsing or just about anything else you might want to do with the TG01. The display has been enhanced using Toshiba's REGZA technology lifted straight from Toshiba's well-regarded TVs.

Toshiba are very keen to tell you that the TG01 is incredibly slim for a phone of this type, coming in at just 9.9mm. What they don't tell you is that the rest of the phone is huge. Measuring 129 x 70 x 9.9mm, the Toshiba TG01 has a 25% bigger "footprint" than the Apple iPhone, and it is almost identical to what Windows phones looked like in 2003, although about half the thickness. Despite this large size, the TG01 weighs only 129 grams which is a shade lighter than its Apple rival, probably due in part to the magnesium alloy casing.

We have lost count of how many custom interfaces that we have seen running on top of Windows Mobile 6.1 recently, but Toshiba have added yet another one. This uses "three stripes" on the menu and has animation going on as you navigate through the various options. Whether or not these custom interfaces will survive the new Windows Mobile 6.5 is an interesting question.

On the back of the TG01 is a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, which is nothing particularly special.

This is a GPS-enabled phone with support for A-GPS. It's not clear what personal navigation options are included, but there are a number of add-on applications available for Windows Mobile devices. The large touchscreen will also be idea for any kind of satellite navigation tasks.

The Toshiba TG01 is a quad-band GSM phone with support for 2100 MHz UMTS with HSDPA download speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps and HSUPA upload speeds of up to 2 Mbps. Alternatively, you can use the phone's built-in WiFi connectivity. Talktime is quoted as a maximum of 5 hours, although it is not clear if this is on 3G or GSM.

All the standard features are here: the TG01 has a web browser, multimedia player, supports push email, it comes with Bluetooth 2.0, microSD expandable memory and a micro USB connector.

There are an awful lot of good touchscreen phones due for release in 2009. What sets the Toshiba TG01 apart from the rest of the pack is the large, high-resolution screen. It also helps that this is a very attractive looking device that is significantly sexier than some older Toshiba smartphones.

Toshiba have not said exactly when the TG01 will become available, or how much it will cost. The two available colours at launch are "deep black" or "vivid white",and interested customers can preregister on the product website.