Windows Mobile fans take note — 30 new handsets powered by your mobile OS of choice will supposedly be debuting before you again sing a drunken version of Auld Lang Syne. Benjamin Tan, senior director of the GCR Mobile Team Unit at Microsoft China, let loose the rumor that an avalanche of new Windows Mobile 6.5 handsets from HTC, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Acer, Toshiba, HP and more will be released in the waning months of 2009. Carriers who have jumped on board this Window Mobile bonanza include AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Orange, T-Mobile, Vodafone, NTT DoCoMO, Softbank Mobile,  SKT, Telstra and Telus. Bottom line: no matter where you are located or what you prefer in a smartphone, there will apparently be a Windows Phone to suit your needs in 2009.

Read

Following a long a grueling battle that forced the company to bury its now-defunct “next generation” home entertainment media tech, Toshiba was left bleeding worse than a naked cheerleader in an axe murderer flick. It’s been just over a year since we all attended HD DVD’s $1 billion funeral and now it appears that Toshiba is done grieving. A year is enough time, right? According to the the Japanese newspaper the Yomiuri Shimbun, the beaten electronics giant plans to join the dark side and issue a Blu-ray player by year’s end. It’s first BD offering will reportedly play DVDs as well as Blu-ray discs, though the price point is still unknown. Tosh is supposedly considering a Blu-ray recorder as well but no time line was specified so odds are we won’t see it this year. The move makes sense of course — Toshiba has to keep up with the times and 1080p is hotter than Hansel right now. It’s going to have to sell a whole lot of players to make up for that $1 billion it lost in the format war, however. Best of luck to you, Tosh.

[Via HD-Report]

Read

Know this right now, NTT DoCoMo subscribers… We hate you. Ok fine, we don’t really hate you at all — we’re just insanely jealous right now because the Japanese carrier just launched the Toshiba TG01. Sure NTT DoCoMo tried its best to minimize jealousy by renaming this screamer of a WinMo handset “T-01A”, but to no avail. If you don’t recall this beast for one reason or another, allow us to refresh your memory: 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 4.1-inch WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) touchscreen with on-screen trackpad, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, GPS, G-sensor, microSDHC support and DivX support. Enough said. Pricing is still a bit unclear but it doesn’t matter really — unlocked imports are likely going to be the closest we come to this puppy, at least for the foreseeable future.

Thanks, Rev!

Read

If these newly-leaked docs turn out to be authentic, Toshiba has apparently gone Snapdragon and Windows Mobile 6.5 crazy! The reported 2009-2010 roadmap reveals two new TG-series mobile phones, two K-Series MIDs and one larger L-Series Internet tablet. All five devices pack the 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and run Windows Mobile 6.5. Expected release dates start in Q4 2009 and extend to Q1 2010. Hit the jump for a full rundown and mock-ups of these five rumored mobile devices.

First off is the Toshiba TG02, a slim handset with a massive display, targeted for the mobile warrior:

• 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• HSDPA
• Integrated GPS
• IPX4 water resistant
• Thickness of 9.9 mm

Next is the multimedia-centric Toshiba TG03 handset:

• 4.1-inch WVGA touchscreen
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• 5 megapixel camera
• 5.1 channel speaker
• HSDPA

Following the handsets, we have two smaller and three MIDs starting with the Toshiba K01:

• QWERTY slider
• 4.1-inch display
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor
• 3.2 Megapixel Camera
• Windows Mobile 6.5

The Toshiba K02 is a smaller and presumably more affordable MID:

• 3.5-inch display
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor
• 3.2 megapixel camera
• Windows Mobile 6.5

Last but not least is the larger Toshiba L01. Details are sparse on this model:

• 7-inch screen
• 1GHz Snapdragon processor
• Windows Mobile 6.5
• What looks to be a removable or separate wireless keyboard

Read

Ok, we’re not exactly sure what happened here but someone definitely screwed the pooch when assembling a recent FCC application. We’re guessing someone at Toshiba fell asleep at the wheel when slapping its FCC application together but the bottom line is it looks like we now have preliminary details on another new handset from Toshiba. Despite the fact that the well-covered TG01 is pictured throughout the filing, the documents cover a handset dubbed TM5-E01 — a Windows Mobile clam shell with specs as follows:

• Tri-band GSM (900/1800/1900), UMTS2100 connectivity
• QSD8250 CPU (Snapdragon), 256 MB of RAM, 512MB ROM
• Windows Mobile 6 Professional OS
• Primary display: 3-inch 800 × 480 WVGA touchscreen
• Secondary display: 0.8-inch 96 × 39 black & white OLED LCD
• Camera (unknown resolution)
• Wi-Fi
• aGPS
• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• miniUSB
• microSD memory card slot
• Dimensions: 117x 64×19.8mm, 183g

Hmmm. This thing could actually be kind of sexy… A Snapdragon-powered Windows Mobile flip phone. We’ll definitely keep an eye peeled to see how this unfolds.

[Via Unwired View]

Read

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]

Read

Toshiba upped the ante in SSD storage capacity by announcing the latest additions to its NAND flash SSD drive portfolio. Coming in at a whopping 512GB, its 2.5″ SSD is the current reigning champion in terms of sheer storage capacity. For those who don’t need or can’t afford such a large-sized and presumably hefty-priced drive, Toshiba is also offering its 2.5″ drives in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. Notebook and netbook owners have not been left out in the cold as Toshiba is also producing 1.8″ drives and 1.8″ SSD flash modules in capacities of 64GB, 128GB and 256GB. The drives promise to deliver a maximum sequential read speed of 240MBps and a maximum sequential write speed of 200MBps along with AES encryption. The new drives will be on display at CES 2009 with samples available from January to March 2009. Mass production and general consumer availability will not begin until April to June 2009.

Read

Read

Netbooks are neat little computers and are making internet tablets obsolete. The only problem with these little laptops is that, well, they’re little and that doesn’t allow for much in terms of power, memory, and hard drive space. Well, Toshiba has answered the call for the latter and will be making 256GB solid state drives. Pretty soon, spinning hard drives will likely be phased out in favor of more reliable, not to mention faster, SSDs. The Toshiba SSD is expected to have a read and write speed of 120MBps and 70MBps, respectively, and will use an SATA 3.0-Gbps interface. Small, lightweight, and power-packed, these drives are perfect for increasingly shrinking computers such as the Dell Mini 9 and Asus Eee PC.

Read

Following in the footsteps of several other notable retailers, Amazon has just announced a mercy program for customers that purchased an HD-DVD player from their website. In exchange for your foolish courageous adoption of a doomed technology, the company will kindly reward you with a $50 Amazon.com gift card, redeemable for anything your little heart desires. There is a catch, however. This rebate program only applies to customers that purchased an HD-DVD before February 23rd. This means that anyone that took advantage of the cut-rate Toshiba player sales after the 23rd is SOL. Sorry guys.

Read

We know that some people have moral reservations about Wal-Mart and everything, but this one is just too good to pass up. Today only, the mega-retailer is selling a Toshiba HD-DVD player for the unbelievably low price of $98.87. The Toshiba HD-A2 isn’t the most impressive player on the market, not by a long shot, but for under $100, we don’t want to hear any complaints. None. The stores will have limited numbers, so make sure to call ahead before making the trip. Unless Blu-ray can step their budget game up movies like this could prove to push HD-DVD over the top. HD-DVD anyone?

Read

Can you imagine a car display that sports miniature TFT screens instead of a traditional dial cluster? That day may not be so far away, friends. Toshiba has just unveiled a set of circular TFT displays that are pretty close to being ready for prime time. The little 62mm diameter buggers are pretty powerful, sporting a contrast ratio of 600:1, and resolution of 240 x 240. It’s no Sharp Aquos, but for its intended purpose it should be more than suitable. The displays will be prominently featured at the upcoming Yokohama auto exhibition on October 24th, and we wouldn’t be too surprised if a high end auto manufacturer or two decided to integrate these into their upcoming product lines.

Read

If there’s one thing we can’t get enough of around here, it’s iPhones / BlackBerrys / HTC Handsets gigantic LCD TVs. Thanks to Toshiba, we just got our fix for the day. They had a couple of their high-end Regza screens on display here at Digital Life, and the stunning TVs didn’t disappoint. Sporting full HD (1080p), a High 10-bit LCD panel, 3 HDMI inputs, a PC input, and a number of proprietary Toshiba imaging technologies, this thing doesn’t play around. It’s available in 56", 52", and 42" screen sizes, with the 56-er on display here, and while we for some reason have reservations about Toshiba products, we’ll let this one slide. Check out the jump for more pics of this bad boy, and don’t run anyone over rushing down to Best Buy to buy one!

Toshiba has one of the biggest setups here at Digital Life (The Guitar Hero main stage notwithstanding), and we’ve been generally impressed with what they have to offer. We got a chance to play around with one of their Qosmio G45 flagship laptops this morning, and came away with a favorable impression. First things first, the Toshiba G45 is not your momma’s OQO 2. Whereas a lot of companies are moving towards lighter, more streamlined designs, Toshiba seems content to churn out massive, hulking bits of metal and plastic. If you’re in the market for a desktop replacement, though, then the portability aspect isn’t of the utmost concern. Feature-wise, the G45has you covered. It sports a gorgeous 17" High Definition 1080p WUXGA screen which really has to be seen in person to fully appreciate. It’s stunning, powered by a NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT graphics card. There’s an on board HD-DVD-R drive, allowing for archiving and HD-DVD movie burning. It also sports an Intel Core 2 Duo processor running at 2.0 GHz, 2GB of RAM, and 320 GB of standard storage. There are a couple of illuminated circular controllers on either side of the keyboard that allow you to manage whatever media files you’d like, and the touch sensitive strips worked quite well. All told, if you need an incredibly powerful desktop replacement computer, the G45 is an excellent bet, though with a base price of $3,099 it’s not the most affordable machine on the market. Hit the jump for some more shots!

There are a ton of new and exciting products here at Digital Life, but the overwhelming focus clearly seems to be on gaming. Toshiba’s entry into the mobile gaming market is a pretty solid one. Their Toshiba Satellite X205 SLI Ultimate Gaming Console is very elegant looking and it still brings some serious 1-2 gaming punching power to the table. It’s a laptop (but we don’t recommend toting one of these beasts around) that sports a number of impressive features. For starters, it rocks an HD-DVD ROM drive with an HDMI output to enjoy your favorite Hi-Def movies and games on an external display or HDTV. The graphics card…impressive! It s an NVIDIA SLI Dual GeForce 8600M GT card with 512MB of on board RAM and native DirectX 10 support. At the booth, Toshiba actually had this laptop hooked up to an external TV and we were extremely pleased with the resolution, clarity, and frame-rate we saw. If you’re not privileged enough to have an HDTV worthy of displaying greatness, it really isn’t a big deal. Your picture on the actual laptop will look great thanks to a 17" WSXVGA+ TruBrite display. You’ve also got not two, but four Harmon/Kardon speakers on here to bring the bass and thunder, a built-in web cam, fingerprint scanner so your roommate can’t play Command and Conquerer when you’re not there, and an external HDTV tuner to finish things off. Not bad at all, guys! While Toshiba was mum on pricing, it seems as if the Satellite X205 SLI Ultimate Gaming Console is already available from a number of online retailers, including Best Buy for a little less than $2,000. One more shot after the break!

Read