First Review Toshiba Portege G900

[Nurhisham Hussein]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.solopalmari.com/recensioni-hardware/toshiba-port-g-g900-recensione-solopalmari.-anteprima-asso.html' target='_blank'>http://www.solopalmari.com/recensio...prima-asso.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"After nearly three years of absence from the scenes, Toshiba returns on the market of the PDA with the G900, an equipped PDA phone of monitor WVGA from 3 inches and keyboard QWERTY to slips. The smallest exponent of the prestigious Portégé family, that it numbers notebook and subnotebook of succeeding, is proposed as evoluto and works them professional instrument, even as same alternative to the portable computers in employs simpler and immediate."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/hisham-20070709-toshiba_portege_g900.jpg" /><br /><br />First off the mark, Solopalmari have scooped the first review of the newly released G900 (that I know of anyway ;)). While it's not too in-depth, Gianvi did manage to run the device through its paces...get a load of those benchmarks! If you're tired of sluggish WM devices, the G900 <i>has</i> to be on your radar scope. Read through the funky English translation <a href="http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.solopalmari.com%2Frecensioni-hardware%2Ftoshiba-port-g-g900-recensione-solopalmari.-anteprima-asso.html&langpair=it%7Cen&hl=it&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&prev=%2Flanguage_tools">here</a>.

[Menneisyys]

I also heartily recommend http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=314433 for some user reports.

In a nutshell,

- the WVGA screen is compatible with almost everything; most of the non-gaming titles use the entire screen area. Some games, however, have problems.

- there are reports of the device's not switching on after a (prolonged) suspension without a soft reset.

- the screen is absolutely useless outdoors (MUCH worse than the 2.8" HTC screens used in most HTC PPC PE devices - if you own one of them, you surely know how bad they behave outdoors; the h900 is reported to be even worse); it seems to be transmissive, NOT transflective. Otherwise, the screen is beautiful indoors.

[wardy]

You may also want to checkout the Expansys Forums under this device. Loads of problems and very unhappy users returning these units

[tj21]

Mine's going back this week as well. Great possibilities but ultimately a very unfinished device. As others have noted it refuses to wake from sleep a lot, usually 8-10 times day even after disabling error reporting. The poor quality battery cover has to be removed each time to soft reset it. The cover feels like it would break whenever you open it.

When it does it work it's an amazing device. Outdoor screen performance is poor but usable at full brightness. Much worse than my 8525 though. Screen is just gorgeous! 800x480 is tough to give up once you've used it. Easily the best screen on any phone I've owned, at least indoors.

TomTom doesn't work at all on the larger resolution. SlingPlayer works but the aspect is wrong. Most others seem to be fine. PocketSky is very nice. Pocket IE has a High Resolution option. Opera is supplied but crashed on virtually everything for me.

Other issues: Hardware buttons can't be reprogrammed. There is an option to do so but changing the button didn't change anything. The IE launch button is so small as to be useless. Obviously no 850mhz or US 3G. Voice quality is terrible. WiFi turns itself on continuously whether you want it or not.

The good: It's very fast. Lots of RAM. I find the size nice and it feels solid. Keyboard is good and springs open.

Lots of potential for this device but just not ready for market yet. It clearly needs several software updates to be useful.

[SteveHoward999]

Mine's going back this week as well. Great possibilities but ultimately a very unfinished device.
.........
Lots of potential for this device but just not ready for market yet. It clearly needs several software updates to be useful.


Wow. That's a terrible shame. Everyone it making it sound like Toshiba didn't do any real user testing at all :-(

I hope they can fix this fast. I want to see more devices like this. I love my Toshiba E830, but it's about time to retire it.

Of course, my next new toy doesn't have to be Toshiba, but I do like the specs of this device (aside from no 850 band!).

[JamesS]

It's really disappointing... I've been waiting for this device for a couple of months, it sounds great, just sounds like it's not ready... :(

Hope Toshiba sort it out quickly... I for one am going to hold off from buying until I see confirmation it's working ok.

[Anath]

I also heartily recommend http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=314433 for some user reports.

In a nutshell,

- the WVGA screen is compatible with almost everything; most of the non-gaming titles use the entire screen area. Some games, however, have problems.

- there are reports of the device's not switching on after a (prolonged) suspension without a soft reset.

- the screen is absolutely useless outdoors (MUCH worse than the 2.8" HTC screens used in most HTC PPC PE devices - if you own one of them, you surely know how bad they behave outdoors; the h900 is reported to be even worse); it seems to be transmissive, NOT transflective. Otherwise, the screen is beautiful indoors.

Menneisyys

Whilst games seem to be compatible with the screen there is a big problem with the Dpad and other buttons. They do not seem to respond so cannot be mapped.

I have tried various games and also emulators such as morphgear and pocketsnes. The buttons do not work.

A shame because if you apply the hires aware patch to morphgear it works very well. Although interestingly if you set thread priority to low the buttons do respond for a while and then start doing random things.

Would be interested from anyone that has got dpad and buttons working okay with games

[rob_ocelot]

[quote="SteveHoward999"]
Wow. That's a terrible shame. Everyone it making it sound like Toshiba didn't do any real user testing at all :-(
[\quote]

Unfortunately this seems to be a Toshiba thing. The E800's VGA was half implemented, there were button mapping problems, and battery issues. When we got the 2003SE upgrade it was half baked and S L O W.

On the plus side it looks like Toshiba is including the USB host cable, something you had to shell out for in the past. USB host is rare enough these days without having to buy a $50 cable.

[tj21]

[quote=SteveHoward999]
Wow. That's a terrible shame. Everyone it making it sound like Toshiba didn't do any real user testing at all :-(
[\quote]

Unfortunately this seems to be a Toshiba thing. The E800's VGA was half implemented, there were button mapping problems, and battery issues. When we got the 2003SE upgrade it was half baked and S L O W.

On the plus side it looks like Toshiba is including the USB host cable, something you had to shell out for in the past. USB host is rare enough these days without having to buy a $50 cable.

USB Host is a great feature but it's very power sensitive. 2 of my 3 flash drives worked fine but neither of my card readers will work, not even the single card minisd reader from SanDisk works. The 8gb thumb drive mounted just fine though.

[Gti]

... While it's not too in-depth...

Hi Nurhisham Hussein, I've a question for you. But before the question, I will make some simple calculation.

The G900 review has about 18.486 characters (space included - tons of tests, pictures and graphs not included).

The article you wrote about our review (it's not mine, but of Gianvi, new Editor in Chief of SoloPalmari) has about 361 characters (space included - quoted text not included).

Now, I'm a daily reader of PocketPcThoughts, and I love its news. Because of that I know that the average number of characters per contents is about 300/400.

Ok, we have a news, with 361 characters, and a review, with 18.486 characters. If you divide 18.486 by 361, you have the number of news you will have to write to do the same work Gianvi did (excluded tests, photoes, graphic editing, ecc.).

Finally, here is the question: are you really sure that 51 news to write x 361 characters, that is equal to a review with 18.486 characters, could be said a "not too in-depth" job? Do you know that, to write 51 news you must work for more then 2 weeks, covering daily all the home page of PocketPcThoughts, Saturday and Sunday included?

Do you really consider your work so poor? I'm sure it's not.

Let me know, please.

Gianni.

P.s. Some other graphic jobs (not included):

The "not too in-depth" review
http://www.solopalmari.com/images/stories/007/06/Nurhisham2.gif

The news about the "not too in-depth" review.
http://www.solopalmari.com/images/stories/007/06/Nurhisham1.gif

[Gti]

Whilst games seem to be compatible with the screen there is a big problem with the Dpad and other buttons. They do not seem to respond so cannot be mapped.

I have tried various games and also emulators such as morphgear and pocketsnes. The buttons do not work.

A shame because if you apply the hires aware patch to morphgear it works very well. Although interestingly if you set thread priority to low the buttons do respond for a while and then start doing random things.

Would be interested from anyone that has got dpad and buttons working okay with games

It seems that these applications work fine:
Developer One Agenda Fusion 8
Developer One Agenda One
Age of Empires PPC Edition
Astraware Atomica
Astraware Bejeweled
Astraware Bejeweled 2
Astraware Cubis
Astraware Solitaire
Astraware Sudoku
Astraware Zuma
Microsoft Live Search
Microsoft Office One Note Mobile
Microsoft Crossbow Sounds 02
PocketXpdf
Qusnetsoft NewsReader 3.3
SBSH PhoneWeaver
SBSH Pocket Weather
Resco Explorer 2007
Resco Radio
Resco Photo Viewer Standard
Resco Photo Viewer Professional
Skype 2.2
SlovoEd English – Italian
Spb Backup
Spb Pocket Plus
Spb Traveler
Spb Wallet
SplashData SplashID
Sprite Backup
VITO VoiceReminder 2.0

These don't work, for now:
TomTom Navigator 6.030
TCPMP 0.7.1

Tests are in progress:
http://www.solopalmari.com/smf/index.php/topic,18884.0.html

Also, it seems that Toshiba knows the "dead standby" problems. We hope the right firmware will be released soon.

Ciao, Gianni.

[LPC]

For all things G900 for now and the future try out myg900.com :).

[juni]

Too bad it has so many bugs. I've been (sort of) on the look-out for a new VGA device. I guess my hx4700 will still have to do (still one of the best devices out there). :)

[Nurhisham Hussein]

Hi Nurhisham Hussein, I've a question for you.

Gianni, sent you a PM!

(it's not mine, but of Gianvi, new Editor in Chief of SoloPalmari)

Duly noted and amended, thanks.

[DaleReeck]

An 800x480 screen sounds sweet, but after seeing the pictures, the screen seems awfully narrow. Great for widescreen movies, but running applications may seem awkward to me. 800x600 would get you back to a more normal-looking PPC experience.

[Gti]

Gianni, sent you a PM!

Thanks for your kind answer, Nurhisham. I need some time to reply with a PM as detailed as yours.
Ciao, Gianni. :)

[Anath]

Whilst games seem to be compatible with the screen there is a big problem with the Dpad and other buttons. They do not seem to respond so cannot be mapped.

I have tried various games and also emulators such as morphgear and pocketsnes. The buttons do not work.

A shame because if you apply the hires aware patch to morphgear it works very well. Although interestingly if you set thread priority to low the buttons do respond for a while and then start doing random things.

Would be interested from anyone that has got dpad and buttons working okay with games

It seems that these applications work fine:
Developer One Agenda Fusion 8
Developer One Agenda One
Age of Empires PPC Edition
Astraware Atomica
Astraware Bejeweled
Astraware Bejeweled 2
Astraware Cubis
Astraware Solitaire
Astraware Sudoku
Astraware Zuma
Microsoft Live Search
Microsoft Office One Note Mobile
Microsoft Crossbow Sounds 02
PocketXpdf
Qusnetsoft NewsReader 3.3
SBSH PhoneWeaver
SBSH Pocket Weather
Resco Explorer 2007
Resco Radio
Resco Photo Viewer Standard
Resco Photo Viewer Professional
Skype 2.2
SlovoEd English – Italian
Spb Backup
Spb Pocket Plus
Spb Traveler
Spb Wallet
SplashData SplashID
Sprite Backup
VITO VoiceReminder 2.0

These don't work, for now:
TomTom Navigator 6.030
TCPMP 0.7.1

Tests are in progress:
http://www.solopalmari.com/smf/index.php/topic,18884.0.html

Also, it seems that Toshiba knows the "dead standby" problems. We hope the right firmware will be released soon.

Ciao, Gianni.

Gianni

i have just tried Astraware Zuma and Atomica and the buttons or DPad cannot be used not sure whether you can classify them as fully compatible

[Gti]

Gianni

i have just tried Astraware Zuma and Atomica and the buttons or DPad cannot be used not sure whether you can classify them as fully compatible
I've forwarded this topic to the persons are testing the device, thanks.
Ciao, Gianni.

[rebecker]

Too bad it has so many bugs. I've been (sort of) on the look-out for a new VGA device. I guess my hx4700 will still have to do (still one of the best devices out there). :)
Juni,

I also have an hx4700. I bought the G900 as a replacement. I sent it back today. Aside from the lockups, Notes not syncing from Outlook and poor hardware quality, I found the screen size unusable (maybe my old age :wink:). I've decided to go with the HTC Kaiser with its QVGA screen now that I've had a chance to play with a small screen PDA/phone. I'm not sure any of us hx4700 users will ever find a VGA screen on a phone that we'll like; the physical size of the screen is just too small.

BTW, has anyone succeeded in getting Outlook 2003 Notes to sync on the G900? Is it a Toshiba issue or a WM6 issue? Having just pre-ordered another WM6 phone, I'm hoping it's not some Microsoft ploy to get me to buy the newest Office package. :wink:

-Bob-