yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[General Topics] Bulldog:
It is really nice device, I like the large screen / keyboard combination
[General Topics] PhilipL:
Hi

It doesn't look like it will arrive today due to the post office strike, so either Monday or Tuesday now:mad: After waiting all this time it's very annoying that a post office strike delays it even more.

Regards

Phil
[General Topics] BrigateGB:
It is time to make the G900 wiki?
[General Topics] maevro:
Kaiser is 192 grams, this G900 is 196 grams. Insane, they just keep getting heavier and heavier.
[General Topics] dajtw:
Not as great as I hoped

Managed to buy the G900 from Inkino in London for 430 on Saturday when they managed to get hold of it. Was dirt excited and even more so when I held it in my hand to find it more or less the same size as my existing (but dying) Vario II! No exact measurements, but G900 will fit into the Vario II supplied belt pouch comfortably.

There's two major niggles. Firstly is the single frequency coverage of G900 (2100) compared to the 3 offered by Vario II. Hopefully not too much of a big deal but already I'm noticing how areas where I usually get full 3G coverage is now showing single bar etc. Though I have to admit this fluctuates quite a bit even on the spot. I have a feeling the aerial of the G900 is very weak.

Here's the biggest niggle: the screen doesn't appear to be transreflective so under even bright sunshine, you can forget about using it. This is sooo disappointing, I thought all screens are transreflective these days on pocket pcs??!?

Bar the niggles, it is seriously more responsive... Notes ink are instantaenous compared to the unusable lag on the Vario II and Calligrapher also performs beautifully. Not to mention that stunning killer 800x480 screen... there's also a lot of bloatware involving that finger print scanner. Camera software seems to be Toshiba's own version which I think is less customisable than Vario II (Was using WM6 ROM on Vario II).

Anyway, it's ok for me at the moment which is bad having waited for nearly 4 months or something? That screen is driving me mad...
[General Topics] BrigateGB:
I have a HTC TyTN and under the sunshine it is impossible to see anythings...

At the end who win TyTN vs. G900?
[General Topics] X_Farhad:
Hi, PhilipL, so you finally got your phone..sorry about the niggles, now would you be nice enough to look into some of the specs and also do some tests for us? here's a bunch of questions,

what is the CPU frequency? 416 or 520 mhz?

does the camera have Auto Focus function?

How does TCPMP or CorePlayer work in WVGA?

Any signs of a graphics accelerator?

Could you run some tests with SPB Benchmark?(+)

..Many Thanks in advance!
[General Topics] Slaguru:
Hi Guys,

New here.

I should be getting a g900 tommorow (if all goes well), so I will drop a quick review here when is in hand.

I have a Mio701 at the mo, and combine that with a Nokia N800 for web stuff, so I will have to see how it stands up.

More later
[General Topics] Huck33:
How lucky you are.

what are the software provided with the G900?

thanks
[General Topics] dajtw:
Trust me, your Tytn screen in sunshine would kill the G900. My vario II is dodgy in sunshine but you can position it in a way to still see relatively clearly the screen. There is no position the G900 can be in to show you it's screen in bright sunlight. :'(
[General Topics] scott_donald:
i get mine tomrorow too...

better come before i go golfing... anyone know what screen protector to get????
[General Topics] colh:
Mine's on order too. Strange the lack of reviews around for this phone.

I like the usb host function. This may be a dumb question (newbie alert), but anyone have a view on whether this phone would work with a portable hard drive (if separately powered)?
[General Topics] PhilipL:
Hi

Due to post office strike I didn't get it at the weekend, due on tomorrow now as was only collected today.

Shame to hear it's not a transreflective screen, as while they may not be brilliant in bright sunlight at least you can see the screen. Maybe with the very high resolution being transreflective didn't help much as each pixel is tiny to get light in to reflect back out again?

Regards

Phil
[General Topics] PhilipL:
Hi

I think in Europe only 2100 is used for UMTS so the lack of the other two would not effect the signal strength as far as I can tell.

It may just be a reporting issue with the single bar on 3G if it works okay that is :)

Keep us up to date with how you get on with it.

Regards

Phil
[General Topics] dajtw:
Can tell you some stuff... cpu frequency is 520, camera software isn't as good as Vario II cause it's Toshiba's own software and it does not have autofocus nor macro (which Vario II has)!

Coreplayer if made to go full screen seems to end up showing the video in-between 2 black bars, like watching 4:3 on a 16:9 screen. Mind you, I've not core player playing properly either.

Not sure about gfx accelerator but initial impressions are that it may have since a lotta gfx functions seems faster.. the techie owners can correct me on that...

Not had chance to do spb test yet; haven't even set it up properly... I think the screen display in sunlight just dampened my spirits on the thing.. :P
[General Topics] dajtw:
I can confirm that the G900 will be able to access even a 3.5" hard disk if separately powered... according to the docs, the mini-usb port can only supply 100mA and not the full 500mA given by normal usb ports so I guess power will need to be supplied to even 2.5" hard disks which normally can be powered directly from a normal usb port. Still neat though but I wish I didn't need a dongle..
[General Topics] srmz:
To all the lucky people who got their G900

There was some confusion around the RAM size. Some sites said it was 64 MB while others mentioned 128 MB. Now that you have got yours up and running could you kindly confirm the RAM size.

My second question is around the keyboard slider. Is it spring loaded like on some of the HTC models and the upcoming Kaiser or is it friction based like the Hermes where you have to push the slider all along the way to get it fully open and close.

Thanks in advance.
[General Topics] The_Chrome_Coyote:
Could you also please test the MiniSD capacity.

Toshiba's site list's it as having a 2GB card capacity which seems really strange. Can larger MiniSD cards be used at no loss?

Also, will lacking the 850mhz bandwidth hurt my coverage in any way? I read somewhere that 1900 towers were not being built anymore and that even T-Mobile would be switching over to a 850 based network in the next couple years.

Thank you! and you should know Im completely jealous! ^_^
[General Topics] dajtw:
Not sure about being lucky but anyway...

Total storage is 39.28MB, Total Program is 12.51MB as reported in Settings.

You're absolutely right on the keyboard slider, it is spring-loaded which does give it a nicer feel than the Hermes. I believe it also has more keys than the Hermes which is also why the keyboard feels smaller and cramped than the Hermes, probably takes time getting used to it. Each key is also of a greater 'button-height' than the Hermes giving it a better 'feel'. It's missing the light-sensor that the Hermes has and the top row of buttons can be difficult to hit because it's so close to the top edge of the top-most adjoining screen panel.

BTW, slight digression, given that the Jasjar was a 3G band 2100 as well yet it's operation in Japan was very very flaky (for me, it only worked when I was in any train station!), does this mean the G900 being a 3G band 2100 too will be the same? It would be strange because I believe the 2 major 3G providers in Japan, Softbank and Docomo, operates on 2100. The Hermes with 3 3G bands operated flawlessly in Japan for me and I had always thought it because it's got all 3 3G bands. Be great if anyone might be able to shed some light... I beleve this G900 is due to be released by Softbank as well.
[General Topics] dajtw:
Unfortunately I only went and bought a 2GB card so can't verify if larger minisd cards can be used. Not sure about the lack of 850 issue though but as I mentioned, I definitely get a lower signal on the G900 compared to the Vario II.

Just noticed... can't find the IR port on the G900, doesn't seem to be anywhere obvious.
[General Topics] Huck33:
here some Photos from unboxing of the phone here

http://msmobiles.com/news.php/6497.html

i'm not sure the G900 is able to use SDHC card (up to 4GB) even if toshiba is manufacturing SDHC card
[General Topics] dajtw:
Some noticeable comparisons with Hermes

After a few days usage, here's some bits and pieces I noticed with this G900..

It only comes with one stylus, no spares compared to the spare one given by the Hermes (Vario II anyway).

The stylus is distinctly longer than the Hermes making it more comfortable and is also telescopic.

More programmable buttons on Hermes (total 6 compared to 4 on G900).

No backlight keyboard sensor on G900.

No jog wheel on G900.

Wireless manager much less detailed, only 3 controls on G900, phone, wireless and bluetooth.

Office mobile doesn't come with OneNote mobile (then again the Hermes WM6 rom I have isn't exactly offiicial anyway).

Reset button is actually under the battery cover though you could reset by keeping the power button pressed for about 4s to power off and then manually power back on.

No macro switch for camera lens which is a little bit of a pain.

Camera button needs to be depressed for a a second or so to activiate camera app as opposed to instant start of up camera app on Hermes.

Camera app is Toshiba app so looks different (colourful) but IMHO, less usable. Can't shut the stupid shutter sound, no metering mode, some settings made aren't retained

Opening keyboard automatically switches device on.

No apparent Softkey change application but could use some Softkey program some one provided for WM6 Hermes rom to get past this deficiency.

Non-transreflective screen on G900 (as I harped on and on earlier)

Smaller keyboard but more keys with better feel.

Still haven't achieved perfect mobile status yet... what a pain.
[General Topics] srmz:
So I think memory is going to be a concern. My Hermes has 56.46 MB total storage and 48.80 MB total Program as opposed to 39.28 MB and 12.51 MB respectively as given by Dajtw.

Now the Hermes is a 128 MB ROM meaning that 71.54 MB is used for storing the operating system leaving 56.46 MB to the user. Similarly the Heremes as 64 MB of RAM meaning that 15.2 MB is used by the operating system on startup leaving 48.80 MB to the user.

Typically when the Hermes is freshly rebooted I have about 29 MB of available RAM and we complain about lack of RAM on the hermes. Wonder how the G900 will perform.

Please do keep us posted on this and Regards
[General Topics] pgamble:
Display ?

Do you that the display is reflective rather than transflective ? Are you saying that because it appears poor in direct light so you're assuming it is different to other recent PDAs.

I'm staggered that Toshiba would source a display type that is five years out of date.

I'd suspect it was more likely the display was faulty and perhaps not set to a sensible contrast / brightness. I'm in no way suggesting this is because you have set it or because the display isn't exhibiting the issue you say ... just that there is probably a fault or the firmware isn't setting the display properties appropriately.

If the display is uniformly lit in a room, then it is almost certainly transflective .... this would be worth testing.

I'm off to Toshiba in Camberley today to try some of my software with the odd aspect ratio before committing to buy. I've asked the marketing / sales person to check with their product management re display type, SDHC support and WM5 app support on the 800x480 display. I will make a point of taking the device outside to check the display.

I know this sounds awful ... but I hope it is yours that is faulty.

Contrary to what many have said in the forums (young people probably .... ) Toshiba have not only been in the PDA market for years (with a recent prolonged break ... but they also pioneered the best VGA display on the market. A problem with phone integration or sliding mechanism may be understood, but display performance ... that would be utterly unforgiveable !!!!

Best regards

Paul.
[General Topics] dajtw:
Ooops!! Major typo alert! Was getting late so my typing was below par. The Total program should be 112.51MB. Sorry about causing any unnecesary alarms!
[General Topics] dajtw:
In a way I wish what you say is true, but my feelings are that the thing I've got isn't faulty... don't think there's a way to set contrast but if I was to set brightness to max I can *just* about make out some of the text on screen; generally my brightness is on absolute minimal to conserve battery power and on my Hermes/VarioII, this is fine for outdoor use. As it is I have been mucking about with PDAs since the greyscale days and even owned the first Pocket PC Tosh brought out but found that to be abysmal in battery life compared to others at the time.

I'm not sure if a device being uniformly lit in a room indicates it to be transflective as in sunlight, we're going to be dependent on this transreflective property to be able to see the screen; in direct sunlight, the device is rendered useless and I have owned devices in the old days when this was true for the new generation of colour displays.

But who knows, I don't know the construction of transreflective screens, maybe they forgot to put the reflective material at base of the LCD or something but if there's any other member who has this G900, I'd be interested to hearing if they have difficulty in sunlight too! I notice immediate degradation the minute I go outside, stronger the sunlight, the worse the display.

Let us know how you get on with Toshiba's demo model (hopefully not specifically souped up for you! :) )
[General Topics] jwhitham:
I've just ordered one too from http://www.handtec.co.uk/product.php?xProd=689 £388 including delivery and VAT.

Only had my Hermes two months but was getting really frustrated with the 320x240 screen as remote desktop is so nearly usable with 1.3mbps 3G connection.

Better get my Hermes on eBay.....
[General Topics] ripnetuk:
I got one... a few points

1.The screen is a little crappy in sunlight, but no where near Sony T610 status

2.There is NO remote desktop client in rom. Ive used the warez'ed one thats floating on the web, and it works, but only at 640x480, and it always seems to connect landscape

3. Its VERY fast...

4. Having Opera in rom really helps, as that saves loads of storage space

5. USB host works good, but only up to 100ma. The drive shows up as 'hard drive' in the filesystem

6. The spring loaded opening of the keyboard is very nice. Feels much better engineered than the hermes (tho only time will tell)

7. None of my software is incompatable with the wvga screen :) the worst case I have is it using a huge font, ie a scaled up version of 320x240. Most of my software seems to be able to use the big screen well

8. I actually LIKE the tosh camera software better than Hermes

9. Did my hermes really have autofocus? how come it took such crappy shots then :)

10. Again, in contrast to dajtw, I love the press-and-hold feature on the camera button - its not the software being slow to load (I changed it to run another app, and it was the same) - its a fix for the really annoying accedential presses of camera on the hermes that I got EVERY time i pulled the thing from my pocket. thank you tosh :)

11. Im liking the keyboard now. By default it had some crappy word completion that always completed the wrong word. Turned that off, and now much better than hermes keyboard

Any questions?

g
[General Topics] Slaguru:
Hi All

Just got my g900 this morning and been playing for a few hours.

First thoughts,

The screen is very good, and states in the user manual that its a TFT LCD with Touch Screen (if thats any help)

Putting in the battery is frightening because the back plate is thin plastic, the first time I opened it I thought I had broken it.

Lost of apps pre installed, had one crash so far and am in the process of dropping all my other apps to it. It has about 40mb of mem available to add things to, but I put a 1Gb card in and use that (as I assume many will).

It seems fast, but only slightly more than my Mio701. However this is the first phone I have had thats Mob 6, so still need to get used to it.

Photo's are ok, but no awards for that.

Fingerprint scanner works very well as pointer, I was surprised how quick I got used to it.

Wifi reception is quite low, maybe thats more to do with my old test router, but I have to say that my N800 gets better reception and has a better screen.

More later.
[General Topics] stesa:
yes thx , my question is about phone and system loudness , is hermes like or not ?
[General Topics] ripnetuk:
Not as loud as hermes

Its not as loud as hermes.

At first I thought it was unacceptably quiet, but that was because I am an numpty and had the camera protector film still on which covered the speaker.

but still, no where near as loud as hermes

g
[General Topics] pgamble:
Software

I ripnetuk.

I'm hopefully going to have a play with one this afternoon. What are your thoughts re the display ? Is it similar to the TyTN inside and out ?

Software was a huge worry for me and I'm encouraged by your comments.

I have Stowaway BT KB/Mouse, PocketInformant 2005, FlexMail 2007, FlexWallet 2006, PocketBreeze, iLauncher, PocketWeather, imov, Skype2, Resco Exp/PhotoViewer, Handy Switcher/ Menu,Tweaks2k2, SKtools, Sprite 5.1, CPL6, Memory-Map v5, 1-calc v3, BPPro, JB, CashOrganiser 2007, Phatnotes, 40iplay, Clearvue Pro, Softmaker Office, Newsbreak, PiePlus 2.1 + 15 or so leading games (Flux Challenge, Gamebox classics, Rats, Boneyboy, Bejewelled 2, Bubbleshooter, Broken Sword, Galaga, Invaders, Guardians, 4Winds Mahjong, Billiard Master 3 etc).

Most developers said it either wouldn't work or they had no idea how it would look. The exceptions were SBSH and Softmaker who said no problem and PDAMill who said they were developing 800x480 specific versions.

Can you try as many apps as possible and post results ?

Cheers

Paul.
[General Topics] Slaguru:
Cant really say about the Hermes, don't have one.

But its ok on sound, but not overly loud.
[General Topics] Slaguru:
Another annoying bit.

The little flaps that cover the USB and the SD card are quite fragile (it seems). Might be losing them with heavy use.
[General Topics] gogol:
To "happy" G900 owners,

Could you please make some screenshots of the screen while browsing to a website?

I need to see how the 800x480 makes a lot of difference compared to 320x240 :)

Thanks!
[General Topics] Hirudegarn:
Is it possile to playback movies and music directly from a usb memory? That would definitely rock. Any thoughts on battery life?

Thanks!
[General Topics] Slaguru:
I will get some shots of the screen later, but all I can say is that it looks great with Opera (IE Sucks).

Mobile Shell 1.5 fails to open the now screen. Looks like I'm not the only person this happens to.

Just pluged in a USB key and it fails to load as it draws too much power. I will try some others, but no idea around this yet.

Currently phone us on GPRS (push with exchange) and battery is lasting ok. Been on wifi and thats ok as will. I have no 3G connection here so I will have to see how that goes.
[General Topics] ripnetuk:
screenshots of opera

I posted some to this thread

http://www.modaco.com/index.php?showtopic=256654

g
[General Topics] Slaguru:
Opps

Just had a second crash (needed a hardware reset this time)
[General Topics] JamesSt:
Hi,

Apologies if this is a stupid question - this is new to me - is it possible to buy a sim for one of these and get unlimited internet access in the UK? eg the t-mobile web'n'walk package? If so, which networks / call packages do you recommend?

Thanks,

James
[General Topics] Slaguru:
@James

I think so.

I'm on o2, but I think the web and walk works for T-mob here
[General Topics] Hirudegarn:
Any chance of getting pictures of software displayed on that fantastic screen?

Thank you guys, this phone rocks!
[General Topics] dajtw:
Yes, I played back a movie on a independently powered 3.5" hard disk last night via USB host. Not sure how long it'd last, was just curious. I doubt the USB host on G900 would be enough to power a 2.5" hard disk all by itself unfortunately, otherwise the G900 could effectively have a hard disk!
[General Topics] dajtw:
Interesting... I plugged in a 2GB usb memory key and it worked fine. Had thought all USB memory keys drew same amount of power, guess I was wrong. Opera does look better and operates better though I hear from ppl it can be slower than IE? Not done any serious surfing but I do see screen lag in high resolution mode...
[General Topics] Hirudegarn:
Thanks for the reply. Having 4gb from a usb key is more than enough for my needs. Does a plugged usb keyboard work with the usb host 100ma limited capabilities? (you'd wonder why I need a keyboard when I have one sliding one, though).
[General Topics] Hirudegarn:
I've talked with the guys of Durasec in order to get a screen protector. They just need accurate measures of the height and width of the screen.

Could some tell me?

Thanks ;-)
[General Topics] Hirudegarn:
The screen info is seriously dissapointing. Can't believe toshiba screwed it so badly... I'd like to see some pictures of the G900 outdoors before judging it, though.
[General Topics] dajtw:
You seem more pleased with the device than I am. :) But I think a 'little crappy' is an understatement for the screen. Maybe it's because I'm going to be using this device in Tokyo and anticipating tonnes of bright sunlight that makes me somewhat more miffed with the screen. Screen itself in a room is absolutely gorgeous of course, better than the Jasjar I had, but man, without operational status outdoors... imagine hiking and trying to pinpoint your GPS location on the thing... I wonder if there's any anti-glare type protectors? But frankly I'm glad that you also found it non transreflective as another forum member thought it to be ridiculous for Tosh to use non-transreflective screens.

Didn't quite realise it's speed though, but I do acknowledge that the ink mode in the Notes application is considerably fast, fast enough to be used! The Hermes was far too slow with tonnes of lag in the Notes ink mode.

Funnily enough, over the few days of usage, I found myself staring at the camera application unintentionally, despite the button being press and hold to activate. I believe you also liked Tosh's camera application? I just found it to be pleasing to the eye but the Hermes camera app (HTC standard) on WM6 was much more powerful and flexible. The simplest is disabling of that stupid shutter sound, anyone got any ideas? There's no option for that in the camera app. Registry editing required now?

One major issue for me comparing both Hermes and G900 camera is the fact that G900 doesn't have macro mode lens setting. Might not be the most useful to people but is quite important to me as I use a QuickMark program that utilises the camera to identify "Q-codes" that are widely used in Japan. Without the macro feature, it means I can't get close enough to use the G900's camera to identify the Q-code. bummer.
[General Topics] scott_donald:
anyone feel the sound level is very low for ring tones???
[General Topics] zwuncki:
i'm looking for some photos of the hermes and g900 next to each other, comparing sizes (portrait mode and with slideout keyboard).

thx very much.

ps: someone wrote about 12MB program memory... that can be without any programs in background. what is the program memory directly after a softreset without any open programs?