back to article Toshiba TG01 smartphone

It seems like it's been a long time coming, but the TG01 is finally here. Toshiba's latest venture into the smart phone market is a Windows Mobile device but, in terms of size, looks unlike anything we've ever seen. Toshiba TG01 Toshiba's TG01 It’s bigger, thinner and, according to Toshiba, faster any other phone out there …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Redundant

    "Windows smartphone" "...can be a bugger to use"

    Yes, we knew that before the product was announced.

  2. 419onscene
    FAIL

    Nicest looking WinMo, but hey, it's still WinMo

    Don't forget to mention they had to stall shipping these in Germany, due to a virus outbreak that came preloaded with the handset..

  3. RichyS
    Jobs Halo

    Resistive is Futile...

    I must admit, I stopped reading at 'resistive'. This is 2009 people... I don't want original Palm Pilot touchscreen technology on my new smartphone.

    I suppose the verdict and score of 70% goes to show that it's not the bare specs that count, but the actual usability of the device. Which seems to be the point that most iPhone Haters miss (disclaimer: I don't actually own or use an iPhone).

  4. Dr Richard

    Reasonable kit ruined by software .. again

    WinMo is yuck and causes the problems. Apple gets away with less than bleeding edge hardware because of the great software (leaving aside any moral issues about app store lock-in or the approval process which does not affect most customers).

    With help from ex-Apple employees Palm also "gets it" with the Pre software and hopefully it will cause Apple to succumb to the "no background" apps restriction and allow some extra services to run in the background (GPS tracking and Skype would be my favourites).

    The only hope for the WinMo handset makers is to move to Symbian and press for a better UI ... I would not bet on MS providing a better WinMo unless they start from scratch.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Oh, there's a shock

    A slightly poncy skin for the home pages to draw people in, but as soon as you use the device in anger you end up with the crappy WinMo GUI (and anger...).

    WinMo is dead - Android / iPhone are the future.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    wants to be an iPhone

    but fails - due to letting M$ be involved - no big surprise there...

    also, FFS (this goes for apple as well) we want massive power capability as well!! we love to use our devices, we dont want them on charge every 5 mins

    someone please read comments here, kthnksbai

  7. Jim Coleman
    Alert

    @ RichyS

    Regarding Resistive screens, I had fun watching a woman with long nails trying to use her iPhone on the train this morning. She had a hell of a time trying to lay her finger flat on the screen. Capacitive is not always best, it seems. Especially if you're wearing gloves...

  8. Andrew Garrard

    Sounds like they messed up another one...

    I'd pretty much discounted this after the trouble I had with my Tosh G900 - while I don't dislike Toshiba as a company (I love my Librettos) I'd like good proof that they can produce a glitch-free mobile before I consider another one. I hope the camera app crashes less this time, at least. I'm not surprised that a faster CPU and a larger screen doesn't help the battery, either.

    I like the sound of the drag-on-screen (from the zoom bar) d-pad, though - the absence of one is what's making me nervous about the TP2 I have on order, since a number of (especially Java) apps assume there is one. I have to say I use my G900's hard d-pad a lot just to avoid getting finger grease on the screen. I'll look out for a third-party version.

    As for resistive touch pads... they at least *work* with a stylus, which is (I assume) why it makes a difference to the OS what kind of screen you're using. I like capacitive screens for quick gesture work and for their robustness, but if you want pixel-perfect editing then they're not useful. Pick your choice of functionality; I'll put up with the screen being a little less sensitive in return for the extra accuracy, but I completely defend Apple, Palm and Google's right to focus on casual interaction.

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    WinMo 7

    ... can't arrive soon enough. Except that might not be all that wither and there's another extended wait for WinMo8.

    Either way, until MS sort their shit out, I won't go near a Windows smartphone, which is a shame as I need a new phone and I don't want to buy Apple.

    Pre - poor hardware

    WinMo - poor software

    Android - GOOG is teh evil

    Apple - Lockdown

  10. netean
    Thumb Down

    windows Mobile = fail

    I doubt I could ever be persuaded to try another Windows CE/Mobile device. They're just too clunky, too slow, too bloaty and the User experience is always severely disappointing.

    For now I'll stick with symbian, sure has it's own issues, but at least it isn't windows mobile.

  11. Kevin Bailey

    Even the non-techies...

    ...dont seem to like WinMo.

    I occasionally buy 'Stuff' and 'T3' magazines and they are more like ordinary users - and they can tell that WinMo is not the best. They don't really care about the politics like many on El Reg - so it's interesting to see that in this market place it's quality that counts.

    The shame is that without the support of the Win/Office monopoly WinMo would not be around - and that would save some unsuspecting users from what sounds like a none too great mobile. Same for the XBox and it's repeated problems with RROD

  12. Giles Jones Gold badge

    WinMo

    If Microsoft could get a decent modern non clunky version of WinMo out there now then they would clean up in the business market.

    WinMo is a right dogs dinner at present and having each phone maker provide their own GUI on top is really bad for businesses. You learn one interface and then a completely different one is on your next handset.

  13. Cameron Colley

    RE: WinMo 7

    You missed Symbian. It feels a little restrictive after WinMo (can't edit the registry etc.) but for phones it works well.

  14. Goat Jam
    FAIL

    Why

    I keep seeing smartphone after smartphone being released onto the market and apart from the iPhone & Blackberry they are all universal FAILS.

    Some of them even look like they could be pretty good but they still end up being just one big bag of fail.

    The one common denominator that they all have is WinMobile which is a horrible, horrible PoS, so much so that even the non-evangelical types will avoid it at any cost.

    Why do manufacturers keep crippling their devices with this abomination of an OS? They clearly think that if maybe they were to make that plastic case just that little bit shinier then the next model will surely be da bomb!

    Well, I won't be holding my breath, I assure you.

  15. John Square

    Gah...

    ... I quite liked the look of this phone- until I saw it in the flesh. It's absolutely huge.

    I mean, think how large it could reasonably be, and then add on a bit more, and you'll still be a bit too small.

    It's really surprising that Tosh took trhe risk on making it that big- corporate culture tends to weed out a phone the size of a phonebook (particularly after 20 years of miniaturisation in the phone market).

    And as for WinMo- yes, it is a dogs dinner, but the basic (without touchscreen) version is pretty usable- better than Symbian, anyhow, and worth a shake for good email interaction and exchange calendar support. I'll never buy another WinMo touchscreen phone again.

    I wonder why no android?

  16. Dangerous Dave
    FAIL

    yawn

    i wish they'd stop flogging the dead horse that is WinMo6/6.1 - it's awful. I had an XDA Trion that went back to O2 after a month, it was horrible.

    3.2mp camera with no flash? what? this is 2009 FFS, i had a better camera than that on a Nokia N73 about 4 years ago!

    And no, i don't have an iPhone/gPhone either :)

  17. David Farinic
    Thumb Up

    Still most capable device

    remember Iphone is fast as it dictates how many and which processes you can run parallely... their strength is focus on responsivnes of their device something witch M$ forgot...

    But still this device can do much MUCH more than any other device you compared with...

    WinMon has any app you want as there are no restrictions for developers. thats shows when

    you simply compare number of Web Browsers available right now I am counting 7.

    Review is missing some points about main attraction ... processor... usually reviewers shows fps statistics from various formats from dcore player

    or at least you could try youtube HQ video ... also missing video what would be fair if you talking about speed of the device.

  18. Stu
    Megaphone

    iPhone vs WinMo

    I recently did a presentation at my workplace which included a comparison between WinMo and the iPhone OS and hardware.

    Once more, M$ have proven that no matter how much processor power you throw into the device, it still feels/behaves sluggish, and so my 'argument' was proven correct once more!

    Its a real shame, I had high hopes, because some WinMo devices come in really nice form factors, eg HTC touch diamond & diamond 2, its just a real shame about the OS.

    Throwing a 1Ghz processor at a dead dog of an OS (same goes for Windows Vista & most Intel CPUs for instance) just doesn't fix the original problems with the OS. And M$ cant blame it on Tosh/HTC/Sony Ericsson etc for plonking a groovy looking UI on top of it all either.

    The ONLY way MS can fix this is to ditch everything above the OS kernel, improve the driver model to allow MUCH better hardware accelerated graphics support from the get go, allow other handset makers to replace the shell (WinMo Explorer?) in its entirity with their own developments.

    I've no idea how ingrained the Windows mobile Shell is into the OS, but it needs to be ripped out, stamped on and burned alive!

    At the moment, HTC have dug pretty deep, but nowhere near as deep as need be to make it worthwhile - remember the arguments HTC had a few years back with the development community, when they totally failed to leverage the already in-built 2D / 3D acceleration hardware back in the TyTn?

  19. JeeBee
    FAIL

    Well, will be giving this a miss

    70% - that's appalling on the scale of reviews - i.e., all devices usually fall within 75% to 95%.

    The device is last year's technology (resistive touchscreen, WinMo) running on a fast CPU and high-resolution display, with low storage (8GB), an appalling UI (even the launcher UI, not just the underlying WinMo), etc.

    And WinMo can't recover without a total reinvention, a la Palm.

  20. Robert E A Harvey
    Paris Hilton

    Yawn

    Yet another me-too winmobile phone with improbably minor differences from all the others.

    For glod's sake, surely a company as big as Tosh can have an original idea occasionally?

    Paris, 'cos she always likes what she's already had.

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