Toshiba unveils TG01 smartphone, takes aim at iPhone
Toshiba plans to wow us all at MWC 2009 with a Windows Mobile handset that rocks a blazing fast processor and jaw-dropping display. The TG01 will be the first mobile handset to incorporate the 1GHz snapdragon processor from Qualcomm and will sport a 4.1″ WVGA resistive touchscreen with on-screen trackpad, HSDPA, aGPS, G-sensor, microSDHC support and DivX support. Toshiba calls it “faster, slimmer and better than the iPhone” – fighting words if we’ve ever heard them. The handset is reported to run Windows Mobile 6.1 with full flash support which suggests it will ship with Internet Explorer Mobile 6 as well. With Toshiba boasting that “We’ve taken all the technology from our TVs and put that into the screen”, we are already lining up our favorite movies and converting them to DivX for viewing on this drool-worthy screen. Will this be enough to revive Toshiba’s smartphone business? Only time and some solid carrier deals will tell.
[Via T3]
@Pythagoras
dude, it has nothing to do with being a “fanboy” !! I can not stand it when people ( mostly windows users) don’t realize that Vista, and windows mobile is a failure. Don’t get me wrong. at one point in time I was a huge Windows fanboy. I purchased Vista with such high hopes. It was a poorly coded OS. I decided to switch to OS X.
From that point on, I will never go back to using Windows again. Why do I have to choose from 7 different types of OS, when with OS X, everything is included on 1 version.
Do I am not bragging. Just speaking the truth.
@boogalooboy
It is a great device that’s for sure. But most peoples hatred for WM started before iPhone. A long time before the iPhone was released download sites for WM apps were brimming with software projects to try and replace and hide the interface. Why would there be so many projects if people actually liked the interface? Manufacturers like HTC even come up with new interfaces to hide WM as much as possible from you. Why is this? The WM interface obviously is not good enough and it was like that before iPhone. iPhone just made it worse though, because we finally see what a well made interface looks like. WM just seems so last generation now.
OMG! This looks like such a delicious piece of techy goodness! Good job Toshiba! T-Mobile! Pick it up! I’m sure it’ll go to either Verizon or Sprint; maybe even go down the same route as the Xperia?
Personally, I’m quite content with WinMo. I think the newer UIs especially fit the usage of all types of consumers ranging from executive to students such as myself.
My Wing, though old now, has pulled through for me in some tough times. Don’t like the clunky body but definitely wouldn’t trade it in for any other device in the T-mobile line up.
^_^
@ALEIS
People make new interfaces for WM not because they can. It is because they want to hide an ugly OS and make it more presentable and usable. Both Android and the iPhone OS are good examples of next generation interfaces for mobile phones. Windows mobile feels like Windows 3.11 compared to Vista after you use either Android of iPhone.
Heck. Windows Mobile marketshare is falling like a rock to RIM and iPhone. WM fanatics are always quick to point to people being drones to marketing hype just because the OS they love is failing. Can’t it just fail because people are tired of it? RIM has surpassed WM marketshare. And now the new iPhone OS has even surpassed it. Symbian is currently the mobile phone OS king as far as market share goes. WM is falling like a rock and BlackBerry and iPhone are rising. So why use a failing OS?
I hear Moto is going to put their own interface on their new Android phones also.
Android interface= teh phail?
or do companies just want to differentiate their offering from other companies selling the same OS?
@Christopher Cox: Well I don’t mind the WinMo UI, but I freely admit I seem to be out of touch with the majority’s opinion- I still use and enjoy Palm OS, after all.
The big issue with the WinMo UI I think that companies are trying to solve with these interfaces is finger-friendliness, as it’s a pain to take the stylus out for short tasks… on Palm OS Handspring’s solution to that problem was to make the UI less touch-based and more button-based, but buttons take up space that could otherwise be used for the screen, as Apple noted in their iPhone presentation.
can anyone explain the printed
“Qualcomm 3G CDMA ”
on phone?
“We’ve taken all the technology from our TVs and put that into the screen”
geesh, for a minute there I thought it was an iPhone killer until I read that line
nothing to see here folks, move along
Quickpost this image to Myspace, Digg, Facebook, and others!
Why do all the pictures of the TG01 have those ugly colors running down the screen? Looks like a broken lcd.
@EPS
LOL I love PalmOS too. I have had just about every platform starting with my old Psion back in the day. Everything from my Psion to iPhone including the Sharp Zaurus and a device with just about ever version of Windows Mobile. My favorite mobile operating systems have been Palm and the one that comes on the iPhone. I loved my Blackberry too.
iPhone will continue to blow everyone out of the water. It’s not just about the phone specs anymore. Ease of use, apps, developers, accessories, etc. The app store is it’s own perpetual motion machine now, on a steeper trajectory than the original iTunes store.
Read this article:
http://apple20.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/02/03/why-there-are-so-many-iphone-games/
Jeff Holden, CEO of Pelago software, who calculated that the 17 million-plus iPhone users had downloaded as much software as 1.6 billion other cell phone users.
“To a developer,” he wrote, “what this means is that if he launches an app for non-iPhones (assuming he has deals with all carriers and has ported to every handset in distribution on which people can download apps), he needs to have a reach 94 times as large as the reach he needs in the iPhone community (which does not require any carrier deals and is via single platform, so no porting) to achieve the same number of downloads.
“Why,” Holden concludes, “would I ever build for anything but the iPhone?”
Also, by June/July, Apple will probably have 30 millions iphone users, (not including iPod touch users) and a new iPhone ready as well.
I DO love that 800 x 480 resolution. WOW! And it’s so thin, I wonder if the battery is user replaceable. Be interesting to see if everyone grouses about that like they did with the iPhone.
Toshiba needs to partner with Verizon to sell this phone. I really like the specs and the picture.
Battery is user replaceable. It also has removable memory.
So much for apple’s excuses.
^This has _nothing_ to do with Apple. This phone also has little to do with WinMo, outside of its dressed-up UI. With all the hints being laid at MS’s feet [Read: Every phone mfr's UI additions], you would think they would get the hint that they are insufficient in today’s market where ease of use, thoughout the entire OS, is concerned.
You’re still tilting at windmills, ya pitiful lil hater.
I currently have an iPhone, but not particularly because of the OS. I wanted a responsive VGA touch screen phone that did what I needed it to do. Currently, the 3G does that for me.
But, I like Windows Mobile better. It’s made for power users. You can use a large number of programs to make the UI do whatever you wanted it to do, essentially. There’s next to nothing you can do for the iPhone, and that’s with it being jailbroken.
I left WinMo phones because the hardware specs didn’t match my needs. WinMo is ugly on its own, but it’s biggest strength is its ability to serve as a solid platform for creating whatever experience you want.
Phones of this caliber + Something comparable to the App Store + Win Mo = Great phone, in my opinion. Better than an iPhone, too.
winmo UI is changing.
new update coming in two weeks!
i reallly hope MS shows and proves on that front.
even though im good there.
i have an omnia with ilauncher
Windows mobile? i mean who buys windows mobile!?
Lollll so many WinMo haters here that jumped on the bandwagon and badmouthing it just because they HEARD that WinMo sucks or w/e. I bet the majority of your haters have never tried the OS, just stfu if you don’t have anything positive to say.
With that hardware this thing is probably going to be expensive so its not just WM that is the problem its WM + $900 = Fail.
I don’t know. I’m a happy Tilt owner, but ever since the Pre announcement my interest in phone news unrelated to the Pre has dropped significantly. Give me a 16gb Pre and I won’t look back. Bye bye ATT, bye bye Windows Mobile.
I happen to dislike WinMo immensely. And I HAVE used it. I had a Verizon 6800 HTC for several months.
Reasons I hated it:
-battery lasted LESS than one day – it usually dies by about 9PM and was charged every night (and never over-charged)
-system froze on a daily basis and needed to constantly do battery pull
-need that damn stylus to do anything
-poor UI at best compared to my current
-I hated the desktop inteface and hated using Verizon’s link. I like BB’s POP system much better
-The search features where terrible
I think those where the major issues.
I like the iPhone but will never be able to go to a keyboardless phone (i need a solid QWERTY). The Pre looks awesome but time will tell. And Android has proven itself to be more of a toy than anything else thus far, although it’s potential is as limitless as WinMo’s I believe. I love my BB but their UI is totally outdated at this time compared to Android, iPhone and Pre, even the Storm (bugs and all) is just a fancy BB UI in touchscreen styling
.
We are ALL ignoring one simple point that gives WinMo a HUGE ENORMOUS TREMENDOUS advantage (at least until Adobe and iPhone work it out) – FLASH baby!!! WinMo 6.5 runs FLASH. And that’s huge!
NO smart phone out there can do this. If they can fix the UI (all touchscreen), give it a QWERTY keyboard, fix the battery issues and make it work the way a smart phone should these days (BlueTooth, WiFi, removeable storage, etc.) than I will re-visit the WinMo concept.
The Omnia is NOT an improvement. Hopefully this will be.
-Matt
Yikes, way too much fanboy-ism going on here. I know it’s hip to bag on WM (because it’s not pretty and can multitask), but this looks like a darn good phone. I’m curious to see how the Snapdragon architecture really works, and how it handles power management.
Jeez, I sure wish I was going to Barcelona to check this think out.
Hey, that is what WinMo needs – a decent hardware! Given it’s speed, there is nothing better on the market (if the performance doesn’t disappoint). I hope they also put capacitive screen on it. Then iPhone – beware!