G810 is the second one to appear at retail in about mid June and will become the most mass-oriented smartphone by Toshiba, looking a bit alien against the background of the WM product line of the manufacturer. Being the closest counterpart to HTC Touch Cruise, the Japanese new gadget is remarkable for a number of points. It’s the first handset running WM6.1, the slimmest smartphone in its class, one of the few devices based off the Microsoft platform and sporting touch controls, etc. Innovations are really great in number, but let’s repeat once again that the product is oriented at the mass market. The price being about 50 euros lower than that of Touch Cruise, the new Toshiba gadget has every prospect of success; the crux of the matter is just a proper realisation of these possibilities.

At present the company isn’t a notable Windows Mobile market player at all. However if speaking of QWERTY-models alone, the situation is quite different here; G900 is a rational purchase even nowadays taking into consideration the corrected price for the model; G910 is also looking quite nice for its price. The volume of sales isn’t so much great yet. We suppose the market share of Toshiba to grow considerably after the release of G810, but remain below the level of not only the E-TEN and ASUS "second-echelon" leaders, but also the succeeding Gigabyte.

The sales package is planned to be typical: the handset itself, a charger and a headset, as well as a printed manual and a software disk. No memory card is expected to come bundled, which is quite traditional for Windows Mobile smartphones. And nothing is known about the navigation software yet, for this aspect is being negotiated (half a month before the date of release, which is quite odd). Qualcomm gps is shipped to Europe and Garmin is preferred for a number of other local markets, but it’s an intermediate variant and one cannot say for sure that it will remain ultimate. By the way, everything isn’t quite all right with the above-mentioned Touch Cruise here; the HTC smartphone comes with a preinstalled CoPilot application provoking much censure (after TomTom has been replaced because of the lack of localization).

Design and Ergonomics

Toshiba G810 is implemented in the classical candy bar form-factor most widespread with the WM devices. The only available coloring is black. The PDA-phone employs a soft-touch coating everywhere, except for the front panel (glossy plastic) and the side edges (matte plastic). The face panel of G810 is most remarkable; it’s smooth, like with the Touch series models by HTC. But in contrast to the latter ones, there are no transitions at all here because of the set of touch controls. It looks interesting and unusual for WM.

The touch controls are backlit with a bright blue light, which adds stylishness to the handset’s design. The elements don’t get lost in the sun’s glare, since they are doubled with a stencil on the substrate. The idea of replacing hardware keys with touch-sensitive controls is rather ambiguous and has both the supporters and opponents. The number of the latter ones is larger, that’s why the Nokia world telecom leader doesn’t go further than NaviWheel. Having begun from LG Chocolate, the technology remained mostly a prerogative of the Korean companies.

In our opinion, the concept of Sony Ericsson is most correct. It combines both the technologies, endowing the touch controls with optional functionality. The recent C902 cameraphone can be considered a vivid example of such approach (Sony Ericsson C902 review). Its touch controls are dedicated to "quick" functions of the key feature; the functions can be called through the context menu as well, which is reasonable. As to G810, there is no alternative here, but let’s repeat that it’s quite rare to see touch controls on WM gadgets in general and the main credit for such models goes to Toshiba.

Besides the aesthetical aspect, one more advantage of implementing touch controls in G810 is that you don’t need to make any efforts when pressing the navigation or call controls; the so-called light touch is enough. And as for disadvantages, they are greater in number. Let’s begin with the lack of a blocking button; moreover, the system isn’t capable of blocking touch controls while in talk mode. Besides, you won’t manage to quickly turn on the smartphone by pressing any key; you need only the respective one on the left edge, which is in charge for that. By the way, it’s small and inconvenient, its location being not too reasonable. The ergonomics suffers as a result.

The stylus design can be also considered among disadvantages. For some reason the Japanese genius thought the traditional approach to it too plain and implemented the element as a part of the body edging. As a result the pen just sticks out a little bit above the right edge surface. You will encounter a big problem of taking the stylus out of the pen holder with wet or greasy hands and nails won’t help you. The pen itself is curved to fit the casing, which doesn’t add to the ergonomics either. Is all this a good substitute for such an unordinary solution and the aesthetic pleasure of having a stylus combined with a casing? In our opinion, the Toshiba wizards have made a clear mistake here.

The arrangement of side-positioned elements is typical. We’ve already mentioned an awkward location of the power button, the rest doesn’t cause such problems; everything is ok. The sound volume rocker is put nearby on the left edge and the soft-reset socket is a bit higher, while the memory expansion slot - a bit lower. The latter features full support for hot-swapping. On the right edge besides the awkward stylus holder and the pen itself in the upper part, the voice recorder and camera rocker button is placed a bit lower as well as the interface slot. The latter is of the miniUSB standard (with Mass Storage support) and is combined with an audio output. What kept the designers from using a separate 2.5 mm headset slot remains a puzzle, but such solution proves not too practical.

The camera lens and the nearby block (a flash and a small self-portrait mirror) stick out a bit above the back surface of the casing. This may cause serious photo quality degradation due to the worn protective cover; the truth is, nothing of the kind occurred for two weeks of testing. But this projection prevents sound from being distorted (the speaker is placed nearby). The rear side doesn’t tend to get easily soiled thanks to the rubberized coating whereas the solution of the front panel isn’t much practical from this point of view – it suffers from fingerprints and other marks all over the surface, which spoils the appearance.

Let's compare to HTC Touch Cruise:

Let's compare the cameras in Toshiba G810, HTC Touch Cruise and Diamond:

HTC Touch Diamond / Toshiba G810

HTC Touch Cruise / Toshiba G810

Connectivity

Toshiba G810 is based off the Qualcomm platform having considerable potential, particularly in the matter of connectivity. As a result it’s rather difficult to find any fault here, everything is perfectly implemented indeed; there is even an FM-tuner. The gadget is designed to operate in GSM 850/900/1800/1900 and UMTS 850/1900/2100 networks; it supports GPRS/EDGE as well as HSUPA. The company put an especially strong accent upon the latter feature, but the data transfer rate depends greatly upon the networks and in some regions is much lower than the standard 3.6Mbps.

The wire communication is done through USB1.1 that makes use of the miniUSB slot. The data transfer speed is average; it’s typical of Toshiba. On the other hand Mass Storage is supported, which allows using the smartphone as a card-reader. There is a separate USB-to-PC setting with the following variants of USB Mode:

• RNDIS Sync Mode
• Serial Sync Mode
• Mass Storage Mode

The wireless communication is represented by a Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) unit and Wi-Fi. Both work without any problems whatsoever. A2DP enjoys a perfect implementation - the sound is loud, of a high quality, the signal never gets interrupted. Unfortunately, the audio signal transmission doesn't stop on the release of connection; the integrated speaker is automatically activated, which is typical of WM. In addition to A2DP, the following Bluetooth profiles are supported:

• File Transfer
• Generic Access
• Generic Object Exchange
• Handsfree
• Headset
• HID
• Object Push
• Personal Area Networking
• Serial Port
• A2DP
• Audio/Video Remote Control
• SAP (SIM card access profile)

The wireless communication is represented by the Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR (Enhanced Data Rate) module and Wi-Fi. Both work without any problems whatsoever. A2DP enjoys a perfect implementation - the sound is loud, of a high quality, the signal never gets interrupted. Unfortunately, the audio signal transmission doesn't stop on the release of connection; the integrated speaker is automatically activated, which is typical of WM. In addition to A2DP, the following Bluetooth profiles are supported:

Storage

G810 comes with a total of 256 Mb ROM and 128 Mb RAM. It’s quite sufficient for basic functionality, but no more than that. Unfortunately, no memory card comes bundled, so it is to be purchased separately. The memory card slot uses the microSD standard, the most popular variant for the time being; the officially announced card capacity maximum is 4 Gb. SD 2.0 full compatibility is stated. As we’ve already mentioned, the handset keeps a full support for hot swapping.

One shouldn’t think that only exacting users need 128 Mb of RAM for "heavy" tasks; pitifully enough, but these are demands of the times. Suffice it to remember that a simple IE takes 4-5 Mb a page and many people use expansions for launching up to four tabs simultaneously, which makes as much as 15-20 Mb. WM itself takes no less than 25 Mb without applications.

In the upshot it becomes clear that 64 Mb is quite sufficient, provided you pay attention to the list of launched applications – you should promptly shut the "heaviest" of them. You cannot avoid such multitasking compromise without 128 Mb. That’s why it was very nice of Toshiba to catch the tendency from the times of their first G900 smartphone and remain true to themselves until now.

Screen

The element is powered by the TFT technology, has a diagonal of 2.8”; the color depth is 65K colors. The image quality is good, but yielding to the said Cruise in color rendering – the white color doubtlessly tints blue. For this very reason G810 looks a bit brighter, but things fall into place at an angle – the HTC brainchild is ahead.

Brightness and view angles: Toshiba G810 / HTC Touch Cruise

The view angles are good, but Cruise is better again. The screen info stays quite legible in the sunlight; nevertheless the picture tends to get noticeably distorted. For the present WM is lagging seriously behind the said Nokia smartphones in this aspect. Even HTC hardly makes any progress here.

In the sunlight: Toshiba G810 / HTC Touch Cruise

Software

Toshiba G810 is a WM 6.1 based smartphone, that’s why it sports all the basic functionality of the updated software set from Microsoft (Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional: the new OS update spotlighted as native part of Toshiba G810). The preinstalled firmware applications are the only difference and in our case they are nice.

Image to Text, as you can easily guess, is an image recognition function that works using photos taken with the camera and is equally compatible both with namecards and ordinary texts. Cyrillic support is available. The ability of recognition moderate; so you’d better not be counting on any decent results. We hope that Toshiba will improve this aspect. The same concerns the Image Editor application – a simple graphics editor that allows you doing only primitive actions.

Finally, the G810 software set includes Spb Mobile Shell 2.0 and Spb Touch Screen that make an alternative to TouchFLO and spare Toshiba the necessity to develop their own shell. That’s a doubtlessly useful addition.

Camera

The element is one of the key features of Toshiba G810. The model is equipped with a powerful 3Mp autofocusing camera, which is quite a match to the previous-gen cameraphones - Nokia N73, Sony Ericsson K790i and Samsung D900. It’s quite decent for a PDA-phone; even the latest hi-end model by HTC - Touch Diamond - is equipped similarly. The solution is new for Toshiba; the units were simpler before – 2 Mp. Meanwhile, the closest Cruise has comparable specifications and it’s practice that differs – the HTC device is just a little bit ahead.

As we’ve already mentioned, the objective sticks out a bit above the surface of the casing that’s why it’s highly advised to handle the gadget with care - the dirt getting on the glass may cause serious photo quality degradation; there is no lens guard. The shooting aspect is horizontal; a large touchscreen is used for controls and settings. The button is two-positioned; the exponometer settings are very flexible. The phone is able of taking pictures at resolutions up to 2048x1536 and shoot video clips at resolutions up to 352x288. A 4x digital zoom is available.

Photo samples taken with Toshiba G810 at maximum quality settings:

HTC Touch Cruise / Toshiba G810

HTC Touch Diamond / Toshiba G810

It’s evident that the new HTC smartphone sports a good quality of shooting, but no more than that. It is doubtlessly yielding not only to the best solutions on the market, but to similar 3 Mp handsets as well. The value of G810 is in the integrated approach - in addition to a large number of functions you also get a camera of a rather high quality – it looks more like a compromise. The solution can be taken for an achievement only in the framework of the Windows Mobile platform, yielding a bit to Cruise as it has been already mentioned. And the main screen interface is rather ambiguous, not too convenient because of the minimum of icons; it can be clearly seen even on the screenshots:

Performance

The hardware part of Toshiba G810 is based off the Qualcomm MSM7200 CPU operating at a frequency of 400 MHz – exactly the same one is used in HTC Touch Cruise; the more interesting it is to compare the models. The ARM11 core is providing for a decent performance. Cruise is lagging a little behind in all testing modes due to the weaker implementation of Qualcomm and the previous version of the operating system.

Battery life

The new gadget makes use of a 1530 mAh battery. Our testing revealed excellent results: the device in fact stays without recharging for about two or three days of standard duty cycle.

We compared the results of looped multimedia playback to HTC Touch Cruise; the Toshiba brainchild is ahead.

Marketing Prospects

Toshiba G810 is planned for release in mid-June; the delay is reasoned by carrying over the beginning of G910 sales into the end of May. The retail price is expected to make 485 euros (RM 2,470), which is about 50 euros cheaper than that of the closest competitor - HTC Touch Cruise. The price 'trump' plays a significant role when the other specs are equal. And the latter ones are even superior here, especially the battery lifetime.

In any case the HTC handset will enjoy more public attention because of a more powerful and recognizable brand and an earlier release. However, if Toshiba will be able to correctly present the main advantages of their product, they will get positive sales volume for the class; there is sufficient potential for that.

Unless delivery is delayed, G810 will become the first WM6.1 gadget available in retail. At the same time it’s one of the few WM-smartphones sporting touch controls. Finally, the casing is slimmer than with the majority of the rivals of the same class (such as Cruise), and the battery lifetime ranks among the best ones due to the more capacious battery and the new optimized version of the operating system.

The new Japanese handset isn’t a unique product, but therein lies the value. It’s a well-known time-proved combination offering you some nice bonuses, which we have noted out. The model will become most popular in the company’s portfolio, but on the scale of WM it will enjoy just good sales, at least because it starts selling second after Cruise, the price for which will be gradually getting down.

Editor's Opinion

Toshiba G810 is a top-class navigation smartphone for exacting and well-to-do users. It’s an alternative to the more eminent and earlier-released HTC Touch Cruise implemented in a different design and offered at a €50 lower price. In any case before purchasing the handset we’d advise you to personally try out the ergonomics (first of all a stylus/stylus-holder and a touch-sensitive navigation panel). G810 is rather controversial in these aspects.

+ Appealing design
+ Wi-Fi, GPS, FM radio
+ 128 Mb of RAM
+ Good camera
+ Reasonable price
- Touch navigation panel
- Inconvenient stylus/stylus-holder

Originally posted at Smape

• Tags : Toshiba Portege G810