Toshiba TG01 Smartphone
The TG01 has the sheer size of it. At 129 x 70 x 9.9 mm in size it feels more like a 80s throwback tablet PC than a mobile phone. Even with the disbelieving WVGA resistive 4.1-inch screen and its wafer thin thickness at 9.9mm, it still feels cumbersome. Having said the screen size is ideal for those who watch films on the go, or like large web browsing.
Toshiba TG01 hailed as the ultimate mobile phone, and announced eons ago ahead of Mobile World Congress; we had big prospect for the Toshiba TG01. Claiming to be faster than all other phones with its 1GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor it should whiz past competition such as the Samsungs, Androids and the Apple iPhone 3GS. But will the need for speed be enough to push Toshiba and its TG01 to the top.
We could forgive Toshiba for the design faux-pas if the specs lived up to their expectations. Unfortunately they don’t. Running on Windows Mobile 6.1 it’s extremely sluggish even with the speedy Snapdragon processor. The accelerometer takes its own sweet time, and opening an app takes an age. Add to this the pixelated icons on the Toshiba paint job, and it’s not a case of burning out of the blocks for the Japanese company.
Dip your feet into the WinMo 6.1 OS and the reasons why it should never be used with touch screens come screaming back. It’s the sheer unwillingness for it to work that makes it maddening. In equality to Toshiba there has been an attempt to tame the beast with its own 3D Menu, and UK users also have the option of an Orange skin with a Touch-Wiz feel. Unfortunately, both are fleeting glimmers of hope and one tap on an icon will have you deep in Windows Mobile. Word of a free over-the-air download of WinMo 6.5 later this year could see a vast improvement on the TG01, but for now it just isn’t working the way we hoped.
Another word of warning, the TG01 uses Internet Explorer Mobile 6. There’s no deny that on the face of it, browsing on the phone is a quite enjoyable experience, with loading time proving speed thanks to the Snapdragon processor, HSDPA internet, and the Wi-Fi was also fairly simple to set up. But start playing around with a webpage and the thing slows to a crawl. Using the touch bar at the bottom of the screen will only allow you to, rather shakily, zooms in so far and the text never feels easy to read. The Flash Player is a welcome addition but grinds the phone to a screeching halt when viewing videos.
The 3.2-megapixel camera has fewer options than a back-alley burger van. Various resolutions, a timer and thankfully auto-focus are all in haul, but pictures can’t compare with the likes of the similar pixel-packing iPhone 3GS. With no flash to speak of and the omission of the night mode setting there’s no hope of snapping in low light conditions either.
Video sees a slight improvement recording at MPEG4 in either WVGA or VGA quality. Unfortunately by the time you’ve got the darn thing up and running the moment’s gone. This is mainly due to the sheer size of the screen, at 4.1-inch in size it’s one of a few phones that you could possibly watch a full length movie on-the-go. There was some dilemma with the slightly shiny screen and from time to time our attack did appear in the midst of Blade-runner, but a quick alteration of the angle sees the problem rectified.
But the video just isn’t enough to save the flailing TG01. It’s a shame that the TG01 just doesn’t quite cut it, as mentioned before we had very high hopes for this Smartphone. In essence this isn’t a awful mobile phone, we give credit to Toshiba for being the first with the Snapdragon processor and at times the phone is pretty speedy, but it just doesn’t come close to its Smartphone rivals.
The TG01 has the sheer size of it. At 129 x 70 x 9.9 mm in size it feels more like a 80s throwback tablet PC than a mobile phone. Even with the disbelieving WVGA resistive 4.1-inch screen and its wafer thin thickness at 9.9mm, it still feels cumbersome. Having said the screen size is ideal for those who watch films on the go, or like large web browsing.
Toshiba TG01 hailed as the ultimate mobile phone, and announced eons ago ahead of Mobile World Congress; we had big prospect for the Toshiba TG01. Claiming to be faster than all other phones with its 1GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon processor it should whiz past competition such as the Samsungs, Androids and the Apple iPhone 3GS. But will the need for speed be enough to push Toshiba and its TG01 to the top.
We could forgive Toshiba for the design faux-pas if the specs lived up to their expectations. Unfortunately they don’t. Running on Windows Mobile 6.1 it’s extremely sluggish even with the speedy Snapdragon processor. The accelerometer takes its own sweet time, and opening an app takes an age. Add to this the pixelated icons on the Toshiba paint job, and it’s not a case of burning out of the blocks for the Japanese company.
Dip your feet into the WinMo 6.1 OS and the reasons why it should never be used with touch screens come screaming back. It’s the sheer unwillingness for it to work that makes it maddening. In equality to Toshiba there has been an attempt to tame the beast with its own 3D Menu, and UK users also have the option of an Orange skin with a Touch-Wiz feel. Unfortunately, both are fleeting glimmers of hope and one tap on an icon will have you deep in Windows Mobile. Word of a free over-the-air download of WinMo 6.5 later this year could see a vast improvement on the TG01, but for now it just isn’t working the way we hoped.
Another word of warning, the TG01 uses Internet Explorer Mobile 6. There’s no deny that on the face of it, browsing on the phone is a quite enjoyable experience, with loading time proving speed thanks to the Snapdragon processor, HSDPA internet, and the Wi-Fi was also fairly simple to set up. But start playing around with a webpage and the thing slows to a crawl. Using the touch bar at the bottom of the screen will only allow you to, rather shakily, zooms in so far and the text never feels easy to read. The Flash Player is a welcome addition but grinds the phone to a screeching halt when viewing videos.
The 3.2-megapixel camera has fewer options than a back-alley burger van. Various resolutions, a timer and thankfully auto-focus are all in haul, but pictures can’t compare with the likes of the similar pixel-packing iPhone 3GS. With no flash to speak of and the omission of the night mode setting there’s no hope of snapping in low light conditions either.
Video sees a slight improvement recording at MPEG4 in either WVGA or VGA quality. Unfortunately by the time you’ve got the darn thing up and running the moment’s gone. This is mainly due to the sheer size of the screen, at 4.1-inch in size it’s one of a few phones that you could possibly watch a full length movie on-the-go. There was some dilemma with the slightly shiny screen and from time to time our attack did appear in the midst of Blade-runner, but a quick alteration of the angle sees the problem rectified.
But the video just isn’t enough to save the flailing TG01. It’s a shame that the TG01 just doesn’t quite cut it, as mentioned before we had very high hopes for this Smartphone. In essence this isn’t a awful mobile phone, we give credit to Toshiba for being the first with the Snapdragon processor and at times the phone is pretty speedy, but it just doesn’t come close to its Smartphone rivals.
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