Toshiba Smartphone To Take On Touch-Screen Titans

touch-screen titans 3G smartphone

Details were scant, but reports indicated the Toshiba TG01 smartphone is sure to create a ruckus as it battles the iPhone and other touch-screen stalwarts like the HTC Touch HD and the BlackBerry Storm.

Clocking in at a mere 9.9mm thick, the TG01 is a slim touch-screen alternative that packs in a 4.1-inch WVGA 800 x 480 384k pixel resistive touch-screen. The device ties in 3G HSPA connectivity along with Wi-Fi, GPS and A-GPS, while also featuring Toshiba's own 3-D user interface. The device features a microSD card slot with support for up to 32 GB of additional memory. It also includes Internet Explorer Mobile 6, which features Flash support.

The smartphone is also the first device to use Qualcomm's 1GHz Snapdragon QSD2850 chipset, which can support high-definition video decode, 3-D graphics, a 12-megapixel camera, mobile TV and XGA display support.

Along with the Qualcomm chipset, the Toshiba TG01 adds in a new GUI intended for one-handed use with vertical panels that can be swiped through. The smartphone also responds to motion like tilting and shaking to answer and end calls, scan Web pages and return to the home screen. An accelerometer enables the device display to rotate between portrait and landscape modes. Track support eases navigation of Web pages.

The Toshiba TG01 is expected to be available in Europe around summertime. So far, the price and timing for international availability have not been released.