Source: Tom's Guide US | Keywords: Toshiba, TG01, HTC, TouchPro2 | Themes: Windows Tech Talk, Smartphones
4. TG01: Shake, Rattle, and Roll
With so few buttons, the TG01 needs another option for controls and it uses the accelerometer in some unusual ways, as well as for rotating the screen. The accelerometer is obviously sensitive as it works very quickly and smoothly for rotation—you can switch a video into landscape view or browse a wide Web page. You can also turn the screen around to read a story and see it in landscape format almost immediately. You have to turn on these more advanced gestures, probably to avoid strange things happening when you're first trying it out and they’re not quite as successful.
You can opt to physically shake the phone to access the Call or Today screens (by default, the Toshiba interface) or to answer incoming phone calls. This feature is a nice idea in theory, but to avoid inadvertently activating functions by shaking the phone when you carry it around, it’s tuned so that you have to shake the phone so hard that you might as well just press the Home button.
You can also double-tap on the back of the phone to get the Task Manager. You have to tap quickly or do a drum roll with your fingers on the case and not on the screen and it can take a few taps to make this work. However, sometimes you’ll find you’ve shaken the device hard enough for this to work as a tap. There’s no option to change the tapping gesture to do anything else, but since there isn’t a task switcher on the front screen, you’ll probably want to use this option to change between apps anyway (although irritatingly, the list of running apps is really too small to tap comfortably unless you dig out the stylus).
The tilt option is supposed to scroll down through Web pages and flip through the interface. We’ve seen it work with no problems on other devices, but it didn’t work as reliably on our review device—tipping or tilting the screen did nothing but occasionally flip the screen orientation. Even if the 3D gestures worked, they wouldn’t replace a couple of extra buttons and more consistently responsive finger-touch options.
- Previous page TG01: Touch and Tap, Swipe the Stripe
- Next page Touch Pro2: Design and Usability
Ill still stick with the pre
The Touch Pro2 is a hot phone. The local T-Mobile has been out of stock since the day it was available. Unfortunately there aren't enough complaining customers to make T-Mobile offer great upgrade pricing for people in the middle of their contracts. (Like AT&T and the latest iPhone) No phone is worth $500+ but for my needs (and wants) the Touch Pro2 is pretty close.
I'll stick with my Storm until WinMobile 7 comes out and then I will decide if I should switch over.
Why isn't Google Android taking off yet? Its been a disappointment.
Got burned big time with windows mobile 6.1 on my HTC Diamond. Worst phone and interface ever. So they're really going to have to wow me to get me to get another windows mobile device.
that touch pro 2 is too bulky for me. i like a slim phone (i miss my moto RAZR) that's why after having to replace my touch dual i went with the HTC touch diamond because of of its slim size and is the same size as a kit-kat bar.
the phone handsets sure are pretty. too bad they have WinMo stuck on 'em. i'd be down with basically anything but WinMo. chug, chug, chug, reboot. chug, chug, reboot. remove battery. chug, chug, yawn.
I love my Tilt phone running SPB shell
Just waiting on the second gen Tilt 2 (touchpro 2). Screen size is important to me. You can see more in a single look, more room to type, enjoy media files, etc. Can't wait!