Toshiba handheld hits 1GHz with 'Snapdragon'

Has the era of the 1GHz smartphone arrived? It has for Toshiba, which has tapped Qualcomm's new Snapdragon silicon.

Toshiba smartphone uses a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor.

The Toshiba TG01 Windows Mobile phone was unveiled Tuesday, according to reports. Based on Windows Mobile 6.1, it is designed to take on the iPhone 3G.

Only 9.9mm thick, it uses a 4.1-inch WVGA 800 x 480 384k pixel resistive touch screen and comes with support for 3G HSPA, Wi-Fi, GPS and assisted-GPS.

The TG01 is slated to be available in Europe this summer. The price, at this time, has not been disclosed. (Acer and Asus are also expected to bring out Snapdragon-based products.)

The Qualcomm silicon supports high-definition (720p) video decode, 3D graphics (up to 22M triangles/sec), XGA display support, a 12-megapixel camera, and mobile broadcast TV.

Qualcomm has been talking up the Snapdragon (aka QSD8250) since November 2007 when the company announced initial shipments of the chipset. (Let's be clear: the chip was on the brink of falling into the vaporware category.)

The chip's claim to fame is that it's an ARM design that runs at 1GHz. Typical ARM architecture chips used in mobile phones peak at about 500MHz.

And Qualcomm won't stop at 1GHz. The San Diego, Calif.-based company will eventually push Snapdragon to 1.5GHz, according to Manjit Gill, director of product management, Connected and Consumer Products Group, in a recent interview with Nanotech: The Circuits Blog.

Speaking about the company's plans, he said. "There was a need to go do something beyond this. So, we went and got the architecture license (from ARM) and we have this team of about 50 CPU designers and we put them to task. So, four years...later, we have a CPU that actually works better than the (typical) ARM CPU."

The future Qualcomm QSD8672 will be a dual-core Snapdragon that features two CPU computing cores capable of 1.5GHz performance, and will include HSPA+, up to 28Mbps download speeds, 1080p high-definition video, Wi-Fi, mobile TV, and GPS. The graphics core is based on Advanced Micro Devices' ATI unit's technology.

[xylyx3d]

but why the @#$% did they put windows on it? now it's a piece of %$#@.

Palm Pre, don't disappoint, you're our only hope!

[Eddie-c]

Palm already screwed themselves by doing a deal with Sprint.

[The User]

Perhaps, because WinMo is the most capable OS on the market? Since it can do everything that BlackBerry, Apple, Palm, Android and Symbian can together, while none of them come close in terms of the features, it probably makes sense to use WinMo, don't you think?

[Eddie-c]

TheUser: actually, considering ActiveSync on the current "WinMo" can't even sync Outlook-frigging Notes, MS needs a DAMN good kick in the rubber parts. What the hell use is corp. e-mail synch if you can't get notes on it? Yah yah there's a 3rd-party app ... companies are trying to save money. They don't want to pay craploads * $20 to cover their devices.

[spacydog]

Eddie, would you like some cheese with that "whine"?

[Eddie-c]

spacydork: when you know something about mobility you can post something ok? I provide mobile solutions and support for a global tech corporation. Both GoodLink and BES do a proper sync job with outlook, that includes "Notes". The current version of Activesync does not. To tell several thousand users "hey, you don't have access to Outlook Notes anymore" does not sit well with them, or management. Plus, if you weren't aware, companies are trying to save money as much as possible. Having several thousand people request a 3rd party app because Microsoft were stupid enough not to include this functionality when other solutions do is, simply, cost-ineffective and a reason not to move to it or MS' mobile management.

[spacydog]

I guess that means you'd like some cheese then. Seriously, there will always be somethiing people will complain about on mobile phones. Case in point: the iPhone's lack of copy and paste. I'm sure there are reasons why these mobile vendors didn't ship with certain features. Work with them and you'll go a long way to getting them in... or at least find creative solutions instead of just complaining.

[lil-yankee]

Microsoft doesnt seem to learn......
It doesnt matter how manny pixels, it doesnt matter how big is the screen.
Make some programs to sync if you want to sell some mills.
Ala iPhone?, Na, Ala simpler, easier, common sense.

[CrashPad63]

Ummm this is Toshiba's entry, Not MS. Just wanted to clear that up for you.

[lightningrob]

With that kind of CPU and graphics power, if you have the ability to dock the unit to a KVM setup, it can serve as a laptop replacement for some folks.

[joe3x]

haha you said folks

[whiplash55]

looks good can't wait to see it. winmo 6.5 looks okay but when's 7 coming out. the pre with it's keyboard looks interesting. i tried an iphone, don't see how people can use that keyboard.

[seven7dust]

all I can say is nice job covering the WinMO UI
it's like openly saying WinMO sux and we need to hide it at all costs
Even samsung, HTC & SE r doing the same
tells you something is not right !
MS needs to come out with WinMo 7 ASAP

[goodspeed8701]

well when you put it on what do you see? Simple its windows mobile and they did not cover anything just that winmo is tweakable to suit your product. thats why macs cant sell outside the STATE. 3% worldwide is too little.

The iphone is a nice fone. but i steal cant compare it to my X1(xperia) My friend just bought the HTC HD and its so sweet. the iphone is still a nice phone but not for tech savvy guy like me.

[seven7dust]

godspeed imagine those same phones with Android
Windows mobile is a joke of a mobile O.S
it's been out for ever and never managed to have a decent market share
why because it's unusable {even S60 is a better OS IMO}
having features isn't a great thing
making the user use them is wat Innovation is about
if your as tech savy as you claim
you need to use Android the open source mobile O.S
and why r Macs even a part of this Discussion
why does everyone make everything into a Mac vs PC argument

[goodspeed8701]

this fone is so nice. check out the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdmPyZ5a0vo

[AppleSuxLeo]

Put Palm`s WebOS on it and I`m in !
Win Mo ? No go !

[seven7dust]

ok we get it you love palm
but this is getting old
I've always though of Nokia fanboys as annoying
but you palm fanboys take the cake

[AppleSuxLeo]

http://mobiledivide.com/2009/01/24/palm-pre-ces-09-part-1/

[jtklein]

Hey Verizon, this just might give you a shot at a phone that people will really want! What a concept.

[GodWish]

Oh crap another windows mobile, i hate windows mobile, its first step of dead creativity.

[aMUSICsite]

Twice as fast processor, then you go and put WinMo on it to slow it down ;)

[CrashPad63]

Have anyone of you here worked with an Axim 51v? Anyone? 624 processesor, 53mb memory and the thing screams. HTC build by the way and 4 years old.
Dont come here and say 6.1 bogs it down, a little customization witness this Toshiba and off to the races.
MS has always supported customizing. Seems simular too say Linux?

[htcuser]

I think what alot of are forgetting is that this is a device that is small enough to fit in your pocket with more computing power than almost most of the netbooks on the market, some of the laptops and even desktops have lower processor power. But then you get to looking at all the things a device like this can do and you really begin to out weigh the need to have a computer period with the newely released bluetooth pocket projectors your able to have up to 50" of screen bluetooth keyboards and mice have already been available for many ppc's and pda's for many years now this is changing the way we live. I started typing on a apple 2e this phone makes that look like a dinasaur technology is advancing jump on the bandwagon or get in to the 2 step with your grandparents.

[jsanua]

battery life must be a bummer

[may269may]

I got the right info about hp dd880 battery on http://www.adapterlist.com/hp/dd880.htm hp dd880 battery ,i sure it will fit my notebook .