Barcelona (Spain) - Toshiba will begin shipping its first HSUPA phone in the second quarter of this year: The Portege G810 not only enables users to download data at up to 3.6 Mb/s, but also upload data at up to 2 Mb/s.

While most of us are still debating whether it makes sense to purchase a 3G phone and subscribe to wireless broadband services, users in Europe will soon get phones that support an upgraded version of HSDPA. HSUPA, is somewhat comparable to EV-DO Rev A, as it can be simply added to existing cellular networks to improve data upload bandwidth. The specification of the currently foresees seven categories with upload speeds ranging from 0.73 Mb/s to 11.5 Mb/s.

The new Portege 810 will support download speeds of up to 3.6 Mb/s (HSDPA) and uploads as fast as 2 Mb/s (HSUPA) in 850, 1900 and 2100 MHz frequency bands.

Other features include a 2.83" display with a resolution of 320 x 240 pixels in 65K colors, a 3-megapixel camera, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity, integrated GPS and Assisted GPS (A-GPS), as well as a RDS FM radio. The phone is slightly smaller than lighter than Apple’s iPhone. On the downside, G810 owners will have to plan on purchasing microSD memory cards in addition to the phone, as there is virtually no storage capacity available. According to Toshiba, the G810’s memory is limited to 256 MB ROM and 128 MB RAM.

Based on Windows Mobile, Toshiba claims that the phone enables users to stay in touch with their Office applications via an "intuitive" user interface.

The G810 will begin shipping in Q2 in Europe. Pricing has not been released. A launch of the G810 in the U.S. is not planned at this time.