Due to the Qualcomm Snapdragon chip it includes

Jul 18, 2009 07:43 GMT  ·  By

Windows Mobile-based smartphone Toshiba TG01 is the first mobile phone to come to the market packing inside Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform that boasts a 1GHz processor, and it seems that the chip maker is more than proud to have its product inside such a handset. Jean-Varaldi, senior director of marketing and business development at Qualcomm, stated in a recent interview with Mobinnaute that the Snapdragon was meant to power Smartbooks, while reiterating that TG01 was the first handset to feature the powerful chipset.

“This platform is mounted between the mobile world and the computer world. It team[s] a new category of products that we call ‘SmartBook’…. The last equipped Toshiba TG01 Snapdragon is actually one of the first devices marketed with this technology… The idea is to bring the power of a Notebook but to have a device connected to internet permanently as a Smartphone. He stays always on so no need to restart his machine to receive her emails. It is possible to read and receive real-time via Push technology,” Jean-Varaldi stated.

The handset is, indeed, the first one to feature the chipset, yet other devices sporting the Snapdragon should land on the market in the near future, some of which are expected to make an appearance before the end of the ongoing year. The Toshiba TG01 has just become available for purchase in Europe, running under Microsoft's Windows Mobile 6.1 operating system, and will see the next iteration of the platform, WinMo 6.5, as soon as it comes to the market.

All in all, the device looks great, and it seems that the Windows Mobile 6.5 flavor works just fine on it, as the video below shows. However, for the time being, there are no exact details on whether the phone will become available for purchase in the US as well, yet there are great chances that it will do so. In the meantime, we should also look around for the Acer F1 smartphone, another Snapdragon device running under WinMo, which rumors say might land somewhere in September this year.