Toshiba's entry into the UK smartphone market is being headed by a high-spec 3G device equipped with high-speed HSDPA technology.

The Toshiba Portege G500, a Windows Mobile smartphone, also introduces another interesting feature to the UK mobile market for the first time - fingerprint recognition, a security feature previously seen on laptops and PDAs.

Toshiba may not have much of a reputation for mobile phones in the UK, but it has a great reputation for producing laptops, and PDAs. It's not much of a surprise then that the new range borrows the Portege name from Toshiba's tablet PCs.

The new range currently consists of two smartphones using the Microsoft Windows Mobile operating system. The G500 uses a standard 12-key numeric keyboard, whilst the G900 offers a more extensive Qwerty console. Both support higher-speed 3G HSDPA connectivity.

The G500 is a chunky slider phone. At 23mm thick and weighing in at 135g this is a serious bit of kit. But although it does not have a touchscreen or typewriter keyboard, its size can be excused by its specification list. In addition to its support for 3G, it has a 2.3-inch LCD screen, and provides built-in Wi-Fi. And, unlike some smartphones, it does offer a reasonably decent 2-megapixel camera.

One of the plus points of using the Windows Mobile platform, is that the interface for the phone is usually predictable. Any PC user will be able to find their way around. You simply press the Microsoft Start key to get your list of programs and menu options.

Although there is a traditional joypad and softkey arrangement for finding your way around, Toshiba has introduced a rather novel interface. Open up the slider and behind the screen there is a touch-responsive sensor which is perfectly placed for your first finger of your left hand.

No fuss

Stroke the sensor up and down or from side to side and you can control the onscreen cursor; lightly tap your finger twice, and the highlighted option is selected or opened. It may not be quite as easy to use as a thumbwheel or trackball, but it certainly does the job with the minimum of strain.

This sensor is also capable of fingerprint recognition. Interestingly, this facility can be used to allow you to allocate a shortcut command to each of your digits. More usefully, it can be used as a way of protecting certain files, databases or applications from being accessed by others. It's a biometric technology already widely used on Toshiba laptops.

The phone also premieres a new, improved version of T9 predictiive text. The xT9 system adds a word prediction system, similar to that used on Motorola phones, so you don't usually need to even enter all the characters for a word to get it onscreen. Another refinement is a spelling correction, which will suggest words even if you didn't quite type the right sequence of keys.

The pewter and black coloured phone is currently being sold SIM free by Expansys (www.expansys.com) for around £260. There is 64MB of memory on board, but to make full use of the facilities you also need to budget for a MiniSD card, which slots into position below the battery cover (although there is no need to power down to access the card). Cards of up to 2GB are supported.