Toshiba attacks smartphone market with TG01

News
By Benny Har-Even
published

Touchscreen device with full Flash support hoping to make a strong impression in the growing smartphone space.

Toshiba has launched its take on the touchscreen smartphone with the Windows Mobile 6.1 powered TG01.

The device features a large 4.1 display with wide VGA (800 x 480) resolution, besting the half VGA used on Apple's iPhone and matching that of HTC's Touch HD.

While this is ideal for viewing business documents on the move, Toshiba is promoting its suitability for watching movies on the commute to work, with display features such as Colour Matching, LCD Backlight Control, Colour Image Control and Dynamic GammaCorrection. There's also an SD card slot for storing said movies, with cards available up to 32GB.

The device is also super slim at only 9.9mm. Despite its svelte dimensions, Toshiba has packed a 1GHz processor inside the thin frame, based on the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform. Toshiba is touting its low power consumption through the use of dynamic speed adaptation'.

Significantly, Toshiba said the phone will have full support for Adobe Flash, enabling many sites to be viewed that can't be on Apple's iPhone.

While there's no multi-touch, there is a 3D one touch interface overlaid over Windows Mobile for navigation and users can move between applications by tilting the phone from left to right. Owners can also simply shake the phone to answer an incoming call and there will be one touch access to social networking sites such as Facebook. It's naturally HSDPA capable and also has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and both a-GPS and GPS.

The phone will be available this summer, but more details will emerge at the forthcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Benny Har-Even
Benny Har-Even

Benny Har-Even is a twenty-year stalwart of technology journalism who is passionate about all areas of the industry, but telecoms and mobile and home entertainment are among his chief interests. He has written for many of the leading tech publications in the UK, such as PC Pro and Wired, and previously held the position of technology editor at ITPro before regularly contributing as a freelancer.

Known affectionately as a ‘geek’ to his friends, his passion has seen him land opportunities to speak about technology on BBC television broadcasts, as well as a number of speaking engagements at industry events.