Toshiba might not exactly be renowned for its mobiles, but it has really set the cat among the pigeons with the surprise announcement of the new TG01, just two weeks before the industry's showpiece event – Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
There's no doubt the TG01 looks impressive, so we've put together eight reasons why the TG01 is an iPhone-beater – oh, and one why it isn't…
1. There's a better screen
The iPhone's screen may amaze, but its 3.5-inch widescreen display is beaten by the TG01. The 4.01-inch screen has a Wide-VGA resolution - 800x480. Yep, that's better than the iPhone which lags behind with a paltry 480 by 320.
2. It's thinner
The depth of the TG01 measures 9.9mm – more impressive than the iPhone's 12.3mm. A quarter shaved off (well, almost).
3. There's better video support
There's support for DivX as well as Windows Mobile formats, so the device will be able to handle far more video than the iPhone can with its poor H.264-only support. There's also other clever features for video playback such as Colour Matching, Colour Image Control and Dynamic Gamma, so you can get the perfect picture.
4. It's got speedy internet
There's full support for fast 3G HSPDA/HSUPA, meaning you'll be able to get super speeds from the TG01's web-access.
5. It's fast
The processor is a brand-new 1Ghz Qualcomm Snapdragon, although it's based on the tried and tested ARM architecture. The TG01 is the first phone to feature the silicon. Snapdragon is designed for mobile multi-tasking – the iPhone clearly struggles at times. Snapdragon is designed to be different.
6. It's expandable
Toshiba has pitched this as an entertainment device. The addition of a card slot always helps, so it's added in microSD for the playback of music and movies from other sources.
7. You can have proper GPS
As with the iPhone, the TG01 has Assisted GPS, which relies on cell towers. As it runs Windows Mobile, however, the phone can be used as a proper sat-nav with some Windows Mobile software, such as TomTom Navigator.
8. You can shake to answer
Surely the best new feature is the ability to shake the TG01 to answer calls. Best turn this off while you're doing that 4x4 driving experience you got for Christmas.
And one why it isn't as good...
It runs on Windows Mobile 6.1. Which is poor. But like HTC with TouchFLO 3D, Toshiba has overlaid this with a more graphical 3D interface to give one-touch application switching. And with Outlook Mobile, at least you'll actually be able to respond to those meeting requests properly…
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Your comments (5) Click to add a new comment
jeremydouse
February 7th
5. The Key Question (please excuse the pun). Does it improve on the fiddly iphone keyboard? While I've got both iphone and Blanckberry, I'd love to convert the company over to iphone - but can't see us weaning off querty buttons.
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jmace86
February 3rd
4. The majority of these improved features seem to be things that are simply due to the fact that the TG01 is much newer than the iPhone 3G (which is getting on for a year old and is even older if you consider that it is really just a modest upgrade of the original iPhone).
Also, can you really say that "shake to answer" is a really beneficial feature? Really?!
The next version of the iPhone (which will probably be out by the end of this year if Apple's track record for product updates is anything to go on) will undoubtedly have at least five of the HT01's seven "trump cards" accounted for (it probably will not have an expandable memory and it might well not have quite the same video support as Apple tends to be rather picky about that sort of thing).
Not to mention that the iPhone and all further iterations of it will not run on that absolutely atrocious Windows Mobile OS!
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vassar
February 3rd
3. Having had Windows Mobile in the past, I would say 8 - 1 = 0 for the Toshiba TG01. A bigger screen and faster processor will not help the Win Mobile bloatware (maybe it will just crash faster?)
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mitel5215
February 3rd
2. Isn't aGPS a better version of GPS? It uses mobile phone towers to give a rough estimate when the GPS is off and can't find signal. I think both the TG01 and the iPhone 3G are a match on this point, though I agree with the rest of the ideas!
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calcio
February 3rd
1. One reason why it isn't Windows Mobile 6.1
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