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| By Callum Povey |
Toshiba TG01 Smartphone.
This isn't actually that old, (2009) but I did quite enjoy this smartphone. Rocking a 4.1-inch Wide-VGA screen (480 x 800 pixels), Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, 3D user interface, Shake control, internal memory of 256 MB- upgraded via SD to 32GB, camera- 3.15 MP, 2048x1536 pixels, autofocus, 3G enabled and a 1Ghz processor (Qualcomm's Snapdragon chip) all packed into an ultra slim 9.9mm frame.Sounds pretty good, right? As ever, there's a catch.
The device runs on Windows Mobile 6.5 (originally 6.1), and it just sucks ass. Toshiba did their best and added their own skin over the top (much like the HTC Sense), but you always ended up going into the god awful WinMo OS.
To add insult to injury, the 4.1" a resistive affair, but once you get used to pressing that bit harder, you do get used to it, and it is actually pretty responsive.
Had Toshiba been smart and loaded the TG01 with Android and a capactive screen, it may have fared better in the world of smartphones, but sadly, it remained a smartphone no one really knew about.
Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy the TG01, and with a little research, you could add the SPB Mobile Shell 3D, which vastly improves the usability of the device (and looking rather pretty at the same time).
If you're a fan of apps, the Windows Marketplace doesn't really offer anything outside of, well, rubbish, so a little hacking knowledge may be required to add decent apps.
All these low points aside, I found myself rather fond of the TG01. It seemed to be a device that deserved to be known, even if it didn't live up to it's expectations. The XDA Forum is actually home to a great many fans of the device, with people hacking and porting Android over to it.
Overall, I'd never recommend the TG01 over todays offerings, but I'd never bad mouth it. It had dreams, and if Toshiba can get behind the nostalgia, they might just surprise us with a smartphone that gets the crown the TG01 wanted.
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