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Toshiba’s TG01 Challenges iPhone 3G

Toshiba’s TG01 Challenges iPhone 3G

The Windows Mobile smartphone uses the powerful Snapdragon chipset from Qualcomm, and it also has Wi-Fi, 3G, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Toshiba has announced a touch-screen smartphone that could be a viable alternative to Apple’s iPhone 3G and the BlackBerry Storm.

The TG01 is a Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone that has a large 4.1-inch WVGA display, one of the biggest screens on a mobile phone. At 0.38 inches thick, the TG01 is also far thinner and sleeker than its rivals. Toshiba has layered a homegrown 3-D interface on top of Windows Mobile to make navigation easier, and the handset can respond to gestures and shaking to do things like answer and end calls.

While the design may be attractive, the most appealing feature may be what’s under the hood. The smartphone is one of the first to useQualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)’s Snapdragon chipset, which the companies have said will bring near-laptop speed while reducing power consumption. At the core is the 1-GHz Scorpion microprocessor, paired with a 128-bit multiple-data capability and Qualcomm’s 600-MHz digital signal processor for multimedia applications.

Because it has Windows Mobile, the smartphone will have a familiar suite of applications to view and edit documents, play music and games, and surf the Web. The handset should come with Internet Explorer Mobile 6, which will have full Flash support. Users will be able to surf the Web, trade instant messages, and download e-mails with a 3G connection or via integrated Wi-Fi.

The TG01 will come with GPS and assisted GPS for location-based searches, turn-by-turn navigation, and other services. It also will have one-click access to YouTube, Facebook, and other Web-based services, and users can expand the phone’s memory up to 32 GB through the microSD slot.

Toshiba hasn’t revealed any details on pricing, but it said the TG01 should be available this summer. The company said it would release more details at this month’s Mobile World Congress.

[Thanks: http://www.informationweek.com]

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