O2 MOBILES

A Toshiba phone in the O2 line of products

You probably know about the TG01, the Toshiba phone that was said to be the best-looking (but not only) Windows Mobile-based smartphone of this year. Well, for all of the German people out there, I have the greatest news of them all: the device will be sold on an exclusive basis by O2.

This means that people who love handsets like the iPhone 3G will have another alternative, a better one, we’re tempted to say. Not only when it comes to the features list, but also as far as the design is concerned, because the TG01 is a little bit thinner than its competitor, measuring only 9.9 millimeters in thickness.

You’ve all been assaulted with all sorts of details about this new Toshiba phone, but it won’t hurt anyone if I refresh your memory. Therefore, the features this phone is equipped with are the following: quad band GSM and HSDPA connectivity, a 4.1 inch touchscreen display with a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, a 3.2 megapixel camera with autofocus, an accelerometer, GPS, Wi-Fi, Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD2850 processor at 1GHz, 512MB ROM and 256MB RAM.

<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->

Now, as for the availability, the only thing we know is that the Toshiba TG01 will start selling in Germany sometime this summer via O2 (a precise release date isn’t at our disposal, unfortunately). Whether it will become available or not in other countries, is still a mystery. Details about the price? Maybe in the following weeks. Not for the moment.

O2 Xda Guide, the latest Xda device
Focusing on low- and mid-end mobile phones in the past couple of days, I kind of neglected another important area that people are very eager to find out about. I’m talking about the smartphones, which are cutting-edge devices that combine all sorts of incredible feature that you would never have expected to see.

Another smartphone is the one that Telefonica O2 Germany has recently announced, the Xda Guide, the successor of another similar cell phone, the Xda Orbit 2. This is an improved version, as you can easily figure it out for yourself, adding all the features that you couldn’t find on the previous on.



Following the pattern of the Xda devices, Guide was also built by HTC, having a very cool design and a couple of impressive features that convert it into a high-end cell phone. The most important specs of the Xda Guide include: it supports GDM/EDGE/GPRS networks and UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA connectivity, it runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional, it has a 2.8 inch TFT touchscreeb display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. In addition, it is equipped with Wi-Fi, an integrated GPS receiver, TomTom Navigator 7 that provides the user with maps for countries such as Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Bluetooth 2.0 connectivity, 3.2 megapixel camera.

<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->

More than that, the O2 Xda Guide comes with a 528 MHz qualcomm MSM 7225 processor, 256 MB RAM, 512 MB ROM and microSD card support of up to 1 GB card, which is included in the package.

This latest Xda device that you most surely would love to have it for yourself is expected to become available first in Germany, via O2, starting Feabruary 2009. Unfortunately, the price wasn’t yet announced. Still, after the German release, chances are good for the O2 Xda Guide to reach other countries, such as the United Kingdom.

O2 Cocoon
Cocoon is a cool cell phone from O2,a leading provider of mobile communication devices and solutions. It received Bronze at the International Design Excellence Awards 2008 for an innovative feature that allows the user to access a hidden LED display on the front of the clamshell, which reveals current phone’s status. If you are listening to the music it shows track details such as the artist’s name, track info and radio information. When you are receiving a call or text message it shows the caller ID.
Also, the LED lights flash when you miss a call or when the battery is low.
You can set it to show the time or use it as an alarm clock in its Nest that’s also a charger.



The inspiration source was the designer’s answer to the question "what inspires you, and what do you want from a mobile phone?" - Something emotional. Original. That doesn't look like a phone or a music player - something more natural, that's visually stunning and functions perfectly.

<-300x250 Medium Rectangle - center->

It’s main functionality is of a music phone, so O2 Cocoon comes with an advanced player with dedicated music keys for instant access to your playlist, FM radio, support for 2 pairs of headphones via the special adapter, pre-loaded tracks, videos sand ringtones from popular artists such as The Doors, as well as enough free space for up to 500 high-quality songs. You can create playlists, fade music during calls, playback music for up to 15 hours, and the Cocoon mode that sets the phone to record all missed calls and messages while allowing you to listen to the music undisturbed.
The built-in digital camera is not missing at this phone model. There is a 2MP camera with video recording, flash, zoom, autofocus and self-timer capabilities.



For personalization, you can see the phone to change the wallpapers every minute or hour.
Cocoon has an organizer, calculator, Bluetooth, USB, games, handsfree, the Windows media player 11 application, and Quicktime player for video playback.
It has 2GB internal flash memory, support for up to 2GB via a microSD card, and provides up to 5 hours of talk time, and 350 hours standby time.





to Release XDA Stellar and XDA Orbit II with 3MP Camera
O2 will release until the end of this year two new mobile phones called O2 XDA Stellar and O2 XDA Orbit II.
O2 XDA Stellar will come with a 65K colors touchscreen and a display resolution of 240x320 pixels, measuring 112x59x19 mm and having a weight of 190g.

The most important characteristic of this phone is the advanced built-in 3.15MP camera with 2048x1536 pixels resolution for photos and with recording capability.

From the few specs that we know at the moment, the QWERTY keyboard and the handwriting recognizing features and only two of the features that make this phone at least interesting.
In addition, the phone runs on a 400Mhz Qualcomm MSM7200 processor, and Microsoft Windows Mobile 6.0 Professional. Its Li-Ion battery of 1350mAh allows for 7 hours of talk time and 365 hours in stand-by.

The second phone model is the O2 XDA Orbit II that has the same basic features of the previous model, but it is a little bit smaller measuring 110x58x15.5mm, and weighting 130g.
It also comes with the 3.15MP camera with autofocus, but the battery life in this case is shorter, of 5 hours in talk time.

Let’s wait and see what other specs will follow next regarding specifications, price and availability.