As I woke up this morning, I was happy to discover that the entire Web (OK, at least all the geek sites that I visit first thing in the morning) was covered with a story about a truly amazing new cellphone. I was pretty surprised that this new cellphone does not originate in the Apple kingdom, not Palm, not Samsung, not even Nokia. So who is left you ask (Yea yea, I know the title kinda gives it away)? Toshiba.
Toshiba announced a new mobile device that seems to outdo ALL of the competition in almost all its specs. The new TG01 sports a gigantic 4.1 inch touch screen display. That is more than a half an inch bigger than the iPhone, pretty impressive. But we have seen big screens before, right? OK, I didn’t sell you on that one? How about a 9 mm package? This thing is a whopping 3.3 mm thinner than the already thin iPhone and 3.5 mm thinner than the Omnia.
Form factor is not your thing? OK, are you sitting down? The new Toshiba TG01 is significantly faster than any other mobile device on the planet. The reason I am confident enough to make such a bold statement is its 1GHz Snapdragon chip, the fastest processor on the current market, by far. Other specs include a WVGA (800 x 480 pixel) touchscreen display, HSDPA data, GPS, WiFi, a microSD slot, and custom Toshiba 3D GUI. Sounds all awesome, doesn’t it?
Two main problems. The first reason I will not be purchasing this phone is the OS. In today’s day and age, you’ d think Toshiba would be intelligent enough to jump on the Android wagon, right? Maybe Symbian? Negative! The TG01 runs Windows Mobile 6.1. Now, I have to admit, I have not used 6.1, in fact the last Windows Mobile I used was Windows Mobile 5, but there is a reason for that. It gave me nightmares at night. I used to have a recurring dream that I had some awesome DIVX movie on my phone that I so badly wanted to watch, but I could not press the Play button as it was too small for my fingers, and I left my stylus at home. So scary. No, but in all seriousness, after WM5, I was not going near another WM OS, until they totally redid the thing. Why cant Microsoft make the icons on their touch screen devices a wee bit bigger?
Now, in all fairness, Toshiba supposedly did some amazing customizing of the OS, and made it look a lot prettier, as you might see in the video below. Looks like the icons are pretty big and it might actually work. But, the last time we heard that it was the TouchFlo of HTC on the Diamond, and other such devices, and we know how that went. So, for me to buy this device, I would have to wait for reviews, in which I must hear the following words “The Windows Mobile OS of the TG01 has absolutely nothing in common with its predecessors, and if I did not ask, I would not even know this is a Windows Mobile device”. Then I would consider picking me up a TG01.
However, the biggest issue I have with this new handset is not the OS. It is the release date. Why is Apple the only company that has figured out that unless you start selling the announced device, the day of the announcement, you are just causing damage to the success of the phone? Take the XPERIA X1 for example. Who was not excited when it was announced? It was the hugest news. Then, when they released it, what seemed to be lifetimes later, the hype was all gone. There were phones like the iPhone, the G1, and of course the Pre, that made us get over the XPERIA before we even held it in our hands. Anyway, the TG01 (that name really bothers me, really hard to type), is supposed to be released this summer, 6 months from now. If you think Apple is going to sit back and let a company like Toshiba steal their thunder, you are sorely mistaken.
So, as I conclude this post, my excitement level has decreased significantly, and what is left is the hope that Toshiba raised the bar a little today for next gen phones made by Apple, Google, Nokia, HTC, and Palm. Thanks Toshiba and as pretty as it might be, good luck selling that thing.
-Hillel
Update: Mobile Crunch joined the party and have posted their review of the device, including the video below. What they add to the list of disappointments is the lack of a 3.5mm headphone jack and an excruciatingly long startup time. Oh and the name of the customized OS is “Strike”. Well, the way I see it, Toshiba has two more strikes to go.
After using the HTC Diamon and knowing how Choppy the Touchflo system really is, I’m with you on waiting for the reviews before jumping on this one. The form factor looks just about right. Very thin and I’m liking the white frame.
I have to disagree with you on knocking it down due to being WinMo based. I like the verity of apps that are available for windows mobile devices.
I just have to mention a point that you wrote about that was spot on, if your going to be serious about building up excitement and buyers, release the damn thing on the same day you announce it. Think modu, it was announced at MWC last year… Anyone see one of those yet?
Good point Oren. Although, the Modu is pretty darn cool, and thanks for getting me a hands on with it last week, I think the hype is gonna ruin the company. As for WM, yes, there might be apps, but one CANNOT compare the experience of installing an app to that of the iPhone. As for the number of apps, I do not think there is anything important missing from the iPhone app store, except maybe a Windows style task manager.
Here is sumthing more abt this super device..
The Toshiba TG01 is the first device in the world to run on the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, which is powered by a 1GHz mobile CPU and hosts GSM, HSPDA, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS connectivity all on one chipset. The CPU has dynamic speed control and Toshiba and Qualcomm claim it’ll go for a whole day without recharging. TG01 have the huge display – a 4.1-inch large touchscreen display has a WVGA resolution (800 x 480 pixels) and it’s certainly the biggest one we’ve seen on a GSM mobile phone. The Toshiba TG01 also packs unprecedented size for its hardware capabilities – it’s only 9.9 millimeters thick. The device is obviously quite wide and tall but that’s mostly because of the display as there are hardly any hardware buttons to take up place – even the receiver keys have become part of the user interface present throughout the whole UI. The connectivity section of the Toshiba TG01 includes HSPA and Wi-Fi plus a GPS receiver with A-GPS functionality. The internal storage is “only” 512 MB but you get a microSDHC card slot with support for up to 32GB. The TG01 also comes with support for DivX video, and finally, the Toshiba TG01 makes use of a built-in 3.2 megapixel camera.
Sntradersonline.com
F0nefan Thanks for that. I think most of what you said was in the post, except maybe the battery life. Thanks for your feedback. Keep reading. BTW watya think of the new look?
What use is a high spec machine without a decent and extensible operating system? Toshiba needs to get out of the 90’s.
I could not agree more, Toshiba, Samsung, and any other closed OSs are making a huge mistake.