back to article Toshiba wows crowds with sexy touch smartphone

As if from nowhere, Toshiba has unveiled a supremely sexy touchscreen mobile phone. Toshiba_TG01_01 Toshiba's TG01: slim design, 800 x 480 display The firm’s claimed to have taken all of its TV know-how and crammed it into the TG01’s 4.1in, 800 x 480 touchscreen, resulting in a smartphone that’ll “revolutionise the mobile …

COMMENTS

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  1. Jerome
    Heart

    Sexy indeed

    This thing looks the business. If the camera's not too shabby and it's got a proper headphone socket, I'm in.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Niice

    Sweet.... do a version with a physical keyboard and they've got a sale right here :D

  3. Paul
    Thumb Up

    Good to see some real competition

    After the embarresment of the G1 it's good to see someone applying a bit of style to it.

    Competition helps everyone and stops Apple resting on their laurels.

    Paul

  4. moylan
    Alien

    beautiful

    it's beautiful right up to the point were you see its running windows.

    after that forget it.

    if it had of been

    symbian, i'd be interested

    android, i'd be interested

    macosx, i and apples legal department would be interested

    other than that nope.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Up

    Well that was unexpected

    I hadn't heard that Toshiba were doing anything like this at all, but sounds very nice, certainly making my Touch HD blush... 1ghz??

    As always though, it'll be a question of "How well can we hide Windows?" that'll make or break it.

  6. James

    "and direct access to " ...

    "Facebook and YouTube is supported"

    Why is this major disadvantage trumpeted as a plus ? Although I assume it can be switched off permanently.

    Surely these must be the ultimate channels for "Moron shall speak unto Moron".

    That said - the phone itself looks good.

    If it uses a standard mini USB port (for charging / comms) and a 3.5mm headphone socket and costs less than £100.00 (good price in these recessionary times) then I'll take one!

  7. Tom Chiverton

    sigh

    "opted to base the TG01 on Windows Mobile 6.1"

    They just do not get that 'start' has no place on a phone do they...

  8. brimful

    I just hope

    that this phone isn't made by HTC as every phone I've had of theirs - I've had 3 - seem to fall apart after 1 year of regular usage.

  9. OrsonX
    Jobs Horns

    Reminds me of another phone I once saw

    Nuff said.

    But I suppose if it has downloadable offline maps to go with the GPS, then it's better than my iChocoTpot.

  10. Scott
    Thumb Up

    I have to admit...

    ...that actually looks like a smart bit of kit...

    Well, except for that HORRENDOUS colour scheme it's showing - that seriously needs to go!

    1Gz CPU? Even WM might be usable on it... better still, get Android on there!

    Yes... I quite like the look of it.

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Wot no Android?

    I almost got excited and then saw that it's a Windows-based gadget and thus hobbled from the start. If it were Android-based it would have a strong chance of being very desirable indeed and hence a target for my cash. As it is, looks (for me) merely somewhat desirable.

  12. Rob

    First Impressions

    They are definately taking on HTC in a big way.

  13. Jamie
    Linux

    About time

    Now if there is some way to get a good GPS style program to run with it then according to the article and the photos it is a phone I would like to have.

  14. Neil
    Gates Horns

    ZunePhone?

    The Zune is based on Toshiba tech, and this looks the ideal candidate for a Zune Phone. Not that anyone will be interested in a Zune Phone, just like the original whatyamacallit.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Looks nice...

    ...but the damned iPhone has single-handedly (phonedly?) homogenized the cell phone market. I'll be buggered if I use a phone without a QWERTY keyboard - I use it for email far too often - but the way things are going, it'll be hard to find a physical keyboard at all in a year or so. I'm going to have to start stockpiling BlackBerry 8700s...

  16. Neil
    Thumb Down

    Video of UI has surfaced

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YdmPyZ5a0vo

    Oh dear, it's not looking too finger-friendly (or eye friendly for that matter with that colour scheme). Lots of ineffectual stabbing at the screen, small icons, very little eye candy - not good! I can only assume the entire UI is still under development and they're running some sort of early test version that isn't intended for release? Yeah, that would explain it...

  17. vincent himpe

    lemme at it !

    lemme at it . I need one . like right now. stuff that (cr)apple.

  18. sleepy

    @Neil

    You could be on to something there. This could easily have been developed by Toshiba for Microsoft, but be launched as a Tosh for now. I look forward to a re-run of the Zune launch (a rebadged Toshiba Gigabeat). Zunephone can be quickly launched as a rebadged GT01 when MS's "manufacturing partners" can't deliver growth for MS's broken Win Mobile business model.

  19. Simon Barker
    Thumb Down

    Re: First Impressions

    Judging by the first impression I doubt it'll give the touch HD a run for its money, the saving grace of the touch HD (besides the screen) is the fairly useful and well thought out interface they've come up with, surely the first step for making a touch screen user interface should be making it comfortable to use by touch in which case they may as well have just stuck with the default windows interface.

    Much like my first time seeing the G1 that thing looks too polished for it to still be under development but hopefully I'm wrong.

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Gates Halo

    @Neil & sleepy

    WM6.5 is very much on the horizon remember... Various prerelase builds are circulating and since I believe it's essentially 6.1 with a pretty face it would make sense to launch this with 6.5 if possible, given the specs and screen size.

    Even if WM6.5 isn't as good as say the iPhone UI it will still be a success - if WM can be reasonably popular with its unsuitability for touchscreens (and indeed the 21st Century) then a usable version is bound to be a winner!

    At the moment however, using a vanilla WM is an uncanny simulation of trying to use Win9x for day to day tasks after someone's nicked your a mouse.

  21. Stewart Midwinter

    support, or not?

    Hey Toshiba, remember your last foray into the world of mobile media devices, the e830? After a big splash in N. America, you found that sales weren't up to your expectations, and soon afterwards, announced you were leaving the continent and would no longer support those who had purchased your devices... and were beginning to feel in droves the effect of the crappy build quality.

    So, have you learned any lessons, or is it more of the same low-quality effort as last time?

  22. Dale Le Page
    Stop

    Eek!

    Put android on it and they'd have got a million and one sales! As it is, it'll be another Omnia that has great paper specs but is held back by a truly awful OS.

  23. Stef
    Coat

    Just the Jobs

    How many iPhone killers are there going to have to be before fanboys stop buying bloody iPhones?!

  24. Laurent_Z
    Coat

    darn other posters ! shut up :)

    Please, stop pestering my reading time with "Put Android on It" memes

    Look, if they do it right, it's :

    a multitouch Iphone-like

    with camera

    where you can install tomtom

    and use a gazillion other pre-existing softs

    that you can sync with Linux

    and that has a 1GHz low power cu.

    If they do it wrong, it's just another p.o.s.

    if they do it right I'll take one.

    Now could please all shut up with your "Android it" / "Uuugh! Windows mobile" / "Gahhhh ! No Keyboard :" and let me dream in peace about the replacement for my n95 ? ( "Uuugh! Symbian !")

    /me is taking his coat to browse facebook in the pub...

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    IT'S NOT AN IPHONE

    IT'S RUNNING WINDOWS MOBILE.

    All the time it's running windows, it will NEVER be an iPhone. Ever. Full stop. Period.

    You can polish a turd and put lipstick on a pig, all it proves is you're weird.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    Ugh, Windows Mobile

    As AC above says, it's running WM. So all bets are off in terms of usability or user-experience.

    Did nobody consider this when making the crass (and predictable) "iPhone Beater" comments?

  27. Francis Fish
    Unhappy

    WM

    Does WM have cut & paste?

    Does WM allow you to forward text messages?

    Does WM not boot up if one of your apps is broken and takes more than a minute to sort itself out?

    Does it do flash - so you can look at TV from places other than the BBC?

    It's already an iphone beater - I like my iPhone but won't get another when it goes because of these stupid annoyances.

  28. Martin Lyne

    Er

    No decent flash by the looks of it. If my K800i can have a Xenon in it.. c'mon guys, I want to spend this money!

  29. Robert E A Harvey
    Gates Horns

    Mee Too

    I'd like to add my vote for the 'not with windows on it' lobby

  30. netean
    Thumb Down

    windows mobile

    no iPhone fanboy here, whilst I think the iphone has some levely features, it's missing a load more (like not needing fecking itunes for a start!)

    but: windows mobile, sorry.. been down that road too many times before, with the promise of improvements with each new iteration of the WM sputum.

    why oh why oh why do companies go to all this trouble to produce something with such potential only to stick the pile of shíte operating system on it.

    FFS accept it, WM is and always will be utter utter shíte, move on now and use something else.

  31. Miles Bader

    one huge problem

    Ewww, Windows mobile....

    Android it!

  32. Nathan
    Thumb Up

    FLASH SUPPORTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Finally a decent phone with full on, no joke, flash support...

  33. Philip
    Jobs Halo

    Special Delivery!

    Another would-be 'Apple beater' for the Reg ediitorial office?

    " Just put it over there on top of that big pile in the corner, mate...."

  34. Giles Jones Gold badge

    @Just the Jobs

    The iPhone's success is due to its software not the form factor. This is something that the makers of "iPhone killers" don't seem to understand.

    No matter how good the hardware or form factor, if the OS blows then it won't be much use. WM at present is a 90s take on what a UI should be. No amount of welcome screen replacements will change that.

  35. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Its funny

    As soon as I saw the start button sitting at the top of that UI, I realised the comments would be filled with "Durhur, I haet windoze mobiel!".

    Good to see I wasn't dissapointed.

  36. Josh
    Stop

    Toshiba PDAs = FAIL

    They're SLOW, often released in a BETA state... I had an e350 which I then upgraded to an e740 only to be told they were being discontinued... and it was a bit like a prototype PDA. Completley unusable and they refused to release the latest Windows Mobile upgrade.

    So if you want a decent, high quality phone/PDA which has long-lasting support DON'T get a Toshiba.

  37. Anonymous Coward
    Jobs Horns

    Re: IT'S NOT AN IPHONE

    "You can polish a turd and put lipstick on a pig, all it proves is you're weird": but that describes the iPlop to a T!

  38. Chris Gibson
    Stop

    37 comments?

    37 comments here, all passing verdict on this mobile or indulging in the usual juvenile "I hate the iPlop!" / "Windows suxx!" nonsense. This is based on a *picture* of the handset? With only very brief specification? And no details of the interface, or how it'll work? What a complete joke.

    I'm sure this used to be a serious IT website -- now it's just a forum for teenagers and help-desk drones to slag each other off, based on their OS or mobile of choice. Pathetic.

  39. Roger Garner

    I cannot be the only one reading these comments...

    ...who is thinking who the feck cares what OS its running?

    does it make phone calls? Yes!

    What difference does it really make if there's a windows icon next to your ear when using it or an slightly chewed on apple?

  40. Ken Hagan Gold badge

    Re: does it make phone calls? Yes!

    If *that* is your only criterion, then you aren't in the market for something with a 800 by 480 pixel colour touch screen, are you? If they want to charge more than a fiver for it, it *has* to be much more than just a phone, so the choice of OS is going to be pretty important.

  41. Periquet dels Palots
    Unhappy

    Count me in for Android, out for WM

    The hardware looks fantastic, but WM6 needs much more than a little make up to make it palatable. I have an HTC Touch, and it can fool you at most for a very few seconds before you realize that Windows CE is just there, almost unchanged for YEARS, with the same bugs and defects it had ten years ago.

    As for how many iPhone killers we need before we go to iPhone, well, it is an intelligent comment. However, I don't want to go for iPhone as long as Apple censors contents (iBoobs out, iFart in nonsense), censors functionality in apps, disallows virtual machines, disallows Flash, disallows alternative music shops, disallows alternative software shops, disallows alternative media players, limits communications with your own PC, has no bluetooth stereo profile, has no good support for SMS/MMS, has no multitasking, has a shitty camera with no video, has no cut and paste, has no memory card reader,...

    With the other platforms these limitations are either not there, or may mostly be lifted by installing additional software, but the iPhone is Limited by Design (TM).

  42. Pete
    Flame

    iPhone's

    These tired old comments about 'iPhones being limited by design' are just lame now.

    The whole reason people buy iPhones is because they are SIMPLE.

    The average Joe User doesn't want alternate this and that.

    It makes me wonder if you 'haters' have actually ever owned or perhaps even used an iPhone.

  43. Tony Hoyle

    Actually I've owned 2 iphones

    And I'd never go back any more. Due to the insane 18 month contracts they force you into I'll be paying for my current one until next year, though, even though it'll be in a box somewhere.

    sorry, but the iphone aint all that any more.. apple have consistently failed to address the failings that were pointed out to it right at the start of the release of the iphone 2G, missed the opportunity with the iphone 3G, and still show no signs of doing so. In the meantime other manufacturers *have* been listening and have produced some very nice phones. My current phone has a higher resolution screen, video recording, better camera, supports flash, MMS, copy and paste, streaming TV, both Java and Native apps, Tethering.... and cost *considerably* less than the iphone.

  44. cphi
    Gates Horns

    pavlovian response to WM

    sorry - after three Windows Mobile devices over the last 6 years I now feel physically sick when I see that windows logo. all that time I felt like an abused spouse - 'No it's going to change, it just needs more time...'

    now my (brand new) iPhone - that's a thing of beauty

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