Toshiba TG02 – Taking Power One Step Further
The Toshiba brand has something of a long-standing reputation in the mobile phone industry for manufacturing some of the biggest devices on the market and their new model, the TG02, is not really much of an exception packing, as it does, a massive 4.1-inch touchscreen. Including the weight of the battery, the device weighs 129 grams and its dimensions come in at 70mm x 129mm x 9.9mm.
As might well be anticipated from such a large screen display the pictures it hosts are certainly very impressive, with a screen resolution of 800×480. The device also comes complete with an excellent capacitive touchscreen and it is here that the TG02 immediately marks itself out as a definite upgrade from its predecessor model, the TG01. Interestingly, the TG01 was launched in 2009 to fairly wide acclaim and hopes were high for the sleek and feature-packed device. Unfortunately for Toshiba sales of the TG01 were rather disappointing so it comes as no surprise to see that the new TG02 is both much lighter and easier on the eye than its predecessor.
The TG02 also packs some pretty decent specifications, although you would not really describe them as groundbreaking. There is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor which has been seen in previous devices and always seems to captivate users with its incredible speed and it seems that the TG02 will be little different in this respect. It packs 512MB of ROM as well as 256MB of RAM – fairly standard. It also features Quad-band GM frequencies, excellent for those roaming the world and demanding excellent connectivity at all points – as well as normal GPS support, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The device also comes with a microSD card, allowing for some upgrading the storage capabilities of the device for those photos and music files.
The TG02 also has a sliding bar on the screen, placed between the home and return touch keys that make navigation fairly pain-free. In fact the navigation specs appear on initial usage to be rather similar to the navigation seen on the HTC TouchFLO 3D device, although further exploration will be required to fully investigate. Sadly for US customers there will be no 3G included, although the European release will support 3G and there is also a high-speed download capability of 7.2Mbps as well as 5.76 bps upload speed. It looks at the moment as though the operating system will be Windows 6.5.3, and this is one of Microsoft Mobile’s latest operating systems. (It’s not the very newest, however, as the newest was launched in Barcelona last Monday.)
The device’s integral camera is 3.2 megapixels and comes with a decent auto-focus capability as well as a 0.3 megapixel secondary device, meaning that photos aren’t really a major priority for the TG02. There is also assisted and quick GPS and geotagging, enabling the user to know exactly where they are anywhere in the world at any time as well as the ability to continually update their friends and family with news of their global exploits. The device also comes complete with an integral accelerator which affords easy switching between horizontal and vertical screen displays with no slow-down.
One big appeal of the TG02 is that it is also encased by a waterproof shell which is vaunted to protect the phone from smaller water droplets. This feature will be interesting to follow, as there have initially been one or two problems reported with the feature. It will be very interesting to see updates regarding this as the release date draws closer, although there is not currently a definite release date. At present, early April is the likely release date, and there is currently no news regarding prices.
