Toshiba is still in the process of establishing itself as a smartphone manufacturer and it made a good stab at doing so in 2009 with the TG01. Now the K01 is on the table and it copies many of the TG01’s tricks, but adds in a full QWERTY keypad to make the leap into the professional messaging sphere. It has a larger screen than a Nokia N900 and uses the Windows Mobile 6.5 operating system, so it will be an interesting high-end competitor to take into consideration.

The Toshiba K01 is the first smartphone from the manufacturer to use an OLED screen. Whilst Samsung and HTC have taken advantage of this technology in the past, Toshiba is using the K01 as a trial to see whether OLED is something that they are happy with. The K01 is arriving alongside the TG02, which has a 4.1 inch screen of comparable size, but relies on older TFT LCD display technology. There is a very good reason that the K01 uses OLED and the TG02 does not and it lies in the inclusion of a QWERTY keypad. Typically a QWERTY keypad will add weight and bulk to a smartphone and in the case of the N900 it can leave it feeling a bit of a brick. However, by using OLED technology there is no need to rely on inefficient, anti-slimming backlighting to make the onscreen images visible and so full QWERTY smartphones can be as slender as their touchscreen-only siblings. This is precisely the case with the Toshiba K01, as it is said to be only 1.2 centimetres thick.

The K01’s screen uses capacitive technology as well, so there is no need for a stylus or a brisk fingernail for interaction. Toshiba has applied its own three dimensional user interface over the top of the standard Windows Mobile 6.5 offering, which makes the phone a lot more user friendly. Given that the touch screen is large, you will find that pressing some of the fiddlier buttons is a lot easier than on some other WinMo-based smartphones out there.

The Toshiba K01’s keypad is hidden beneath the top half and oriented in a landscape fashion to give you the maximum amount of screen space when typing messages and emails or surfing the internet. As with other full QWERTY keypads most of the primary key functions are supplemented by an alternative and the number pad for dialling is also integrated, although most will want to use the onscreen option for this purpose.

At the moment the full technical details of the K01 are not available, as Toshiba is keeping them fairly quiet for some reason. Rumours suggest that a 1GHz processor is going to be the centrepiece of the hardware and this would be an eminently sensible play on Toshiba’s part. The main reason for the importance of a 1GHz processor is not just the smooth operation of the phone, but also its future-proofing. The minimum system requirements for Windows Phone 7 Series, which will replace WinMo 6.5 later in the year, make mention of a 1GHz processor and if Toshiba wants the K01 to remain relevant it will be planning a software update when this platform becomes available.

The Toshiba K01 will have Wi-Fi, GPS, 3G and HSDPA connectivity for networking, downloads, navigation and of course communication. When the prototype made an appearance at the MWC event earlier in the year most observers were impressed with the expansive screen and competent implementation of the basic software package and Toshiba has proven that it can create excellent mobile phones in the past. It will be hoping that the K01 and the TG02 are able to capture consumer attention when they launch later in 2010.

Tags: toshiba, toshiba k01

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on Tuesday, April 6th, 2010 at 2:21 pm and is filed under Mobile Phones.
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