Toshiba Portege G910 Review: Software
So we've reviewed the Toshiba Portege G910's exterior - let's check out what's inside.
The Toshiba G910 is based on Windows Mobile, and so the user interface is exactly what you'd expect of a Windows Mobile device.
Unlike the Samsung Omnia or Sony Ericsson Xperia X1, both of which are Windows Mobile devices that have heavily customized user interfaces, Toshiba have added nothing whatsoever to the design the standard Windows Mobile UI.
If you've seen one Windows Mobile device, therefore, then the G910's user interface will be completely familiar to you.
Still, given that this is the first hands-on Windows Mobile review I've done on this site, it's worth pointing out some of the software you get with a Windows Mobile device, as well as some of the extra stuff that comes with the Toshiba G910.
The G910 comes with a mobile version of MSN Messenger, and it is rather good. It can sync your contacts, communicates with the other person with ease, and even shows a pic of the person you're chatting to.
It should be noted, however, that this is a feature of Windows Mobile, not of the G910, and so is something you'll find on every Windows Mobile-based device.
One of the advantages of a smartphone with VGA screen and HSDPA and WiFi connectivity should be the ease with which you can browse the Web - or at least, so you'd think. The reality on the G910 is a little different, though.
Mobile Internet Explorer is, quite simply, useless. MobileMentalism, as you can see, renders appallingly, and it's not just my site that fares badly.
A real challenge for smartphones is TechCrunch, whose homepage is big (over 4MB), contains lots of images, and relatively small text. On the E90, reading the small text strains the eyes after a while, but it's perfectly legible, and the WebKit browser handles the Web page with aplomb. With Mobile IE, the rendering is horrible.
The header is all screwed up and the Web page won't fit the dimension of the screen, meaning you keep having to scroll sideways to view the images properly.
Fortunately, Toshiba must be aware of this and so included Opera Mobile as well. This renders the page much better (although for some reason it wouldn't load MobileMentalism at all, despite Mobile IE and the E90's WebKit browser having no such problem), but it's still far from usable due to the G910 itself. Put simply, the Qualcomm MSM7100 chip inside the G910 just isn't fast enough for the job.
After the page finally loads, scrolling down takes an age. It's so slow, in fact, that you'll inadvertently keep clicking down, thinking that the machine hasn't recognized your key press. But it has, and will scroll down again and again for every key press - seconds after you actually pressed the key.
The end result is that the page finally settles and you start reading, only for the G910 to catch up with one of your previous key presses and scroll the page down again.
Frustrating isn't the word! Again, the page doesn't render across the whole page, meaning you still have to scroll to the right to see all of it. Browsing the Web is possible, therefore, but it's seriously limited.
The G910 comes with Solitaire, which I've never seen the point of, and Bubble Breaker, which although not exactly graphically rich, is something I could quite literally play for hours on end!
Why it's not installed on every mobile phone I'll never know, as it's the very definition of a time hoover (or should we say time Dyson these days!). Again, both these games are standard with Windows Mobile, though, and so are not specific to the G910.
One of the benefits of using Windows Mobile is that you get to use Microsoft's pocket office, which enables you not only to view Office documents (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), but also to edit them.
Actually, that's not strictly true, as you can't edit PowerPoint documents, only view them. The applications themselves seem pretty functional, but again the keyboard lets it down. You wouldn't want to write a document on a keyboard that forever has you hunting for a semi-colon!
This wouldn't, of course, be a problem for the youngsters out there, whose nimble fingers are used to multi-function buttons and odd key combinations from the years they've spent on their PlayStation (not to mention the fact that punctuation, like grammar, spelling and even the ability to write, seems to be beyond them these days - sorry, that's the lecturer in me coming out !); but the G910 isn't aimed at young 'un's, it's pitched squarely at the business community, who are, as a general rule, over 18!
I tried it with my card, and "School of Systems Engineering" came out as "Sdmol ofsystenzs Eningeerjng", and every single entry was listed under "memo". In order for me to correct it, I'd have to recorrect all the typos and assign each line to its proper field in the contacts book. It's actually quicker to write the text in yourself from scratch though, making the application entirely redundant.
In this case, it's not the poor quality camera that lets the application down, it's the Image to Text application's fault, as I sent the same image to the amazing Evernote.com, and it recognized all the text within the same photo flawlessly. If you're going to add a feature, Toshiba, at least make sure it works!
Read the rest of the Toshiba G910 Portege review:
The Toshiba G910's User Interface
The Toshiba G910 is based on Windows Mobile, and so the user interface is exactly what you'd expect of a Windows Mobile device.
Instant Messaging
The G910 comes with a mobile version of MSN Messenger, and it is rather good. It can sync your contacts, communicates with the other person with ease, and even shows a pic of the person you're chatting to.
Web browsing
One of the advantages of a smartphone with VGA screen and HSDPA and WiFi connectivity should be the ease with which you can browse the Web - or at least, so you'd think. The reality on the G910 is a little different, though.
Fortunately, Toshiba must be aware of this and so included Opera Mobile as well. This renders the page much better (although for some reason it wouldn't load MobileMentalism at all, despite Mobile IE and the E90's WebKit browser having no such problem), but it's still far from usable due to the G910 itself. Put simply, the Qualcomm MSM7100 chip inside the G910 just isn't fast enough for the job.
Games
The G910 comes with Solitaire, which I've never seen the point of, and Bubble Breaker, which although not exactly graphically rich, is something I could quite literally play for hours on end!
Microsoft Office Mobile
One of the benefits of using Windows Mobile is that you get to use Microsoft's pocket office, which enables you not only to view Office documents (Word, Excel and PowerPoint), but also to edit them.
This wouldn't, of course, be a problem for the youngsters out there, whose nimble fingers are used to multi-function buttons and odd key combinations from the years they've spent on their PlayStation (not to mention the fact that punctuation, like grammar, spelling and even the ability to write, seems to be beyond them these days - sorry, that's the lecturer in me coming out !); but the G910 isn't aimed at young 'un's, it's pitched squarely at the business community, who are, as a general rule, over 18!
Image to Text Function
This application sounds rather nifty. Simply take a photo of a business card, and the G910 will extract the card's text from the image and automatically insert it into the appropriate fields of your contacts book. Sounds nifty, but doesn't work!- Toshiba Portege G910 Review: Introduction
- Toshiba Portege G910 Review: Main Features
- Toshiba Portege G910 Review: Software
- Toshiba Portege G910 Review: Conclusion
