Toshiba TG01 was one of the most frustrating near misses of last year: powerful, a stunning form factor and infuriatingly handicapped by a poor choice of UI and custom skin. Has Tosh learnt its lessons?

On the evidence of its dual showing at WMC, my first impressions were: a bit. On the plus side the company debuted two new models: the ‘TG02′ (left) and the ‘K01′ (right) both with huge 4.1in capacitive touchscreens, slim dimensions (just 9.9mm and 12.9mm respectively) with the latter packing in a sliding Qwerty keyboard.

Despite the numerous calls for an Android version of the original TG01 though Toshiba has stood firm and both the new models will run the new Windows 6.5.3 OS. That said, while this latest attempt to kick Windows Mobile 6.5 into a more usable shape is a definite step in the right direction it is fair to say all we really want to see from now on is Windows Phone 7 Series. Then again, after the mess of the TG01’s original custom skin, I’m a little disturbed at the custom ‘highly-intuitive 3D menu’ Toshiba has stuck on this time around and it seemed unwieldy to me.

On the plus side, the TG02 and K01 both manage to stock up on the usual 2010 smartphone goodies: HSDPA, GPS, WiFi, microSD expansion slots and still bound along thanks to Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon chipset. Toshiba wasn’t giving away availability details, but late Q1/early Q2 seems inevitable.

So hit or miss? Still miss, but at least less so this time…