TechRadar is right on the money today, reporting that Orange is going to be the exclusive carrier for the Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) TG01. I won’t go in to any detail on the TG01 (since we’ve covered it to death here before), only to say they could have come up with a more snappy name…!
Apparently the device is going to be available from 10th July, and will be free to those who are willing to be locked in to a 24-month plan at £39.15/month. For that price, subs will get 1200 mins, unlimited texts, anytime internet browsing, plus Orange Maps – so not bad actually.
What will be interesting (to me at least) is what volumes this device does – it has the potential to do good numbers, but with the iPhone 3GS and Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre (soon to be) residing at O2 (NYSE: TEF) (along with the Samsung i7500 Android), that’s one big battle Orange has on it’s hands – Orange is bringing it’s own Android device in the shape of the HTC Hero, so perhaps that will even things up a bit…..
When it comes to super-slim and sexy smartphones with enough computing power to take over the world, the Toshiba TG01 takes the cake. Thanks to a power-packed Snapdragon chipset, the TG01 speeds along at 1Ghz clock speeds while playing with a hefty 256MB of RAM and a 4.1-inch WVGA (800 x 480) touchscreen display. The kicker – the TG01 stuffs WiFi, GPS, 3.2-megapixel camera and 3G data connectivity into a package barely 10mm thick! And, it’s coming to the UK next week.
We’ve been keeping an eye on the Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) TG01 ever since we had a chance to put hands on the super-thin smartphone in Barcelona. Despite having pulled the plug on Japanese production, Toshiba looks to be going strong with their TG01 roll-out. Check out our in-depth Toshiba TG01 hands-on here.
While those of use in The States will have to wait for the Toshiba TG01 to get all official, it looks like the UK will be the next market to get the Windows Mobile 6.1 smartphone. Come July 9th, Toshiba will be showing off something really cool in London. Given Toshiba’s Summer launch window for the TG01, it’s highly likely we’ll see Toshiba unleashing the Toshiba TG01 on British soil next week.
Today, Nimbuzz has announced that its native preinstalled version will be available on the highly anticipated Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) TG01 handset, launching with O2 (NYSE: TEF) Germany in mid June 2009.
The Toshiba TG01 was first unveiled earlier in the year, coming with quite a few head-turning features. With O2 securing the first-to-market launch for the TG01 in Germany this will be marked by a series of promotional events at its flagship stores in Munich and Berlin and a full marketing campaign rolled out across Germany.
Nimbuzz CEO Evert-Jaap Lugt commented: “Software enriches the value chain for the mobile ecosystem. Users, who are looking for a device that fits their lifestyle, operators, looking for new ARPU magnets, and handset manufacturers looking for a value add to differentiate, all profit from Nimbuzz’s mass market solution. Adding 900,000 new users a month, we welcome all O2 customers and TG01 users to Nimbuzz.”
Hiroyuki Goto, Technical Director, Toshiba Information Systems (UK) Ltd, Mobile Communications Division added: “We chose the best of breed mobile content to accompany such a strategic handset for our business and are delighted to offer the TG01 with Nimbuzz as our social messaging partner for the launch of the device with O2 Germany.”
Overall then, looks like a good deal for O2 subs in Germany – just hope there is going to be some UK love soon!
Word from France is that that Snapdragon-toting TG01 will cost 99 Euros from Orange, which works out to around $139 US. Not a bad deal for something with a 1 GHz processor, a 4.1″ WVGA screen, and measuring in at an anorexic 9.9mm thin. Whether or not that pricetag translates to other carriers is totally up in the air – service providers have the final call on how much they’re willing to subsidize, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see them try to squeeze out something closer to the $200 mark for this calibre of hardware.
The ravishing TG01 from Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) will be landing in Spain by way of Telefonica (NYSE: TEF) and Japan through NTT DoCoMo (NYSE: DCM) between June and July. It wasn’t long ago that O2 (NYSE: TEF) made the same announcement for Germany, but what about North America? No love just yet? We’ve had a brief glimpse of the sequel handsets, which will also be running on Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)’s impressive 1Ghz Snapdragon chip – maybe we’ll see them locally here in Canada and the U.S. while the TG01 makes its rounds on the other side of the pond. The specs for the TG01, if you haven’t seen them, are quite impressive:
An unfortunate decline in Japanese mobile phone demand has squeezed Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) out of its home country. Toshiba has announced that economic pressures have forced the company to pull the plug on the production of mobile phones in Japan. That means, come this October, Toshiba’s Japanese cellphone production operations will cease.
The decision to stop manufacturing cellphones in Japan follows a stark drop in Toshiba’s cellphone sales. Toshiba saw just 140 billion yen ($1.5 billion) in revenue for the year ending March 2009, as shipments of Toshiba mobile phones dropped to 3 million units from 6 million units from the previous fiscal year. The company’s financial performance mirrored its drop in cellphone sales – Toshiba has posted a record net loss (the first in seven years) of 343.6 billion yen for this fiscal year, compared to a net profit of 127.4 billion yen for the previous year.
On the bright side, Toshiba says that its mobile phone sales only account for 3% of its total operations. Toshiba will continue mobile phone production in China and will out-source manufacturing operations. And, the company says that employees involved in production will be reassigned to other jobs.
It’s never good news to hear that a mobile phone company is going through such economic bad times that they have to close factories, but we’re still looking forward to some exciting products from Toshiba. The Toshiba TG01 (pictured here) will soon usher in a new age of super-slim and power-packed Toshiba smartphones like the TG02 and TG03. Hang in there, Tosh, you’ll be fine in the long run.
It wasn’t that long ago that we saw sequels to Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF)’s slim, powerful TG01 on a product roadmap, and now we’ve got a closer look at the TG02 and TG03. It goes without saying that they both look as awesome as their predecessor. Here’s what we had learned about the devices earlier.
TGO2
4.1? WVGA touchscreen
1GHz processor
Windows Mobile 6.5
3.2 megapixel camera
HSDPA
GPS
Splash resistant
9.9mm thick
TG03
4.1? WVGA touchscreen
1GHz processor
Windows Mobile 6.5
5 megapixel camera
HSDPA
Though there’s no fresh info on the TG02, the TG03 will apparently have 5.1 channel audio, as well as the ability to stream video from your computer to the device. Hot stuff, overall – hopefully we’ll be seeing them in the market in late 2009.
Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF)’s monstrously awesome TG01 isn’t even out in public hands, yet here we are, already looking at follow-ups on a leaked roadmap. Here’s a quick run-down of the specs:
TGO2
4.1″ WVGA touchscreen
1GHz processor
Windows Mobile 6.5
3.2 megapixel camera
HSDPA
GPS
Splash resistant
9.9mm thick
TG03
4.1″ WVGA touchscreen
1GHz processor
Windows Mobile 6.5
5 megapixel camera
HSDPA
As far as release dates are concerned, we had heard Germany would be getting the TG01 this summer, which lines up with the mid-Q2 release date pictured here, while the TG02 and TG03 should be coming out in early and mid-Q4 respectively. The calendar also mentions Windows Mobile 7, so it’s entirely likely that any of these handsets from Toshiba will be compatible once it’s available. The roadmap also shows three mobile internet devices (K01, K02 and the fuel cell-powered L01) coming out in late ‘09/early ‘10, if you’re into that kind of thing. On the whole, it’s awesome to see Toshiba throwing in a few more chips with Qualcomm (NSDQ: QCOM)’s buxom Snapdragon processor, especially so soon after initially testing the waters. Many manufacturers would likely wait to see how the test case panned out before moving forward, but I guess Toshiba is good and sold on the chip.
If the massive 4.1-inch WVGA screen and Snapdragon processor behind Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF)’s TG01 weren’t enough to rope you in, maybe Windows Mobile 6.5 will. At MWC ‘09 we were hopeful that 6.5 would make the cut, and now we can see on video that at very least it’s working in the labs. The bulk of Windows Mobile 6.5’s changes are aesthetic, but there’s no reason why the TG01 shouldn’t have the latest and the greatest from its chosen platform. Europeans should keep an eye out for this one sometime over the summer.
To be perfectly honest I never liked the Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) G450. The awkward keyboard and the small screen are not my cup of tea, yet I could imagine younger generations loving it for some reason. Still, I’m having a hard time envisioned it as a bestseller, and was kinda surprised to see the Chinese handset makers cloners doing “their thing” with it. As a result, they’ve prepared virtually identical device, which could be yours for $67 on DealExtreme. We must warn you, though, about the spotty quality and a lack of 3G (HSPDA) radio — the so called M688 is a dual-band GSM handset working on 850 and 1900 MHz bands. Music player and 2GB of internal memory are on the specs list, too…
TechRadar is right on the money today, reporting that Orange is going to be the exclusive carrier for the Toshiba (OTCPK: TOSBF) TG01. I won’t go in to any detail on the TG01 (since we’ve covered it to death here before), only to say they could have come up with a more snappy name…!
When it comes to super-slim and sexy smartphones with enough computing power to take over the world, 
Today, Nimbuzz has announced that its native preinstalled version will be available on the highly anticipated Toshiba (
