Labs

Toshiba is relatively new to the smartphone game in the UK, but it's made an audacious start with the big, beefy Windows Mobile 6-based G900.

This is a phone that has almost everything: a full-sized sliding QWERTY keyboard; Wi-Fi, 3G and HSDPA for super-fast mobile broadband and wire-free synchronisation in the office and hotspots; and even a fingerprint reader.

There's no GPS, but other aspects make up for this, most notably the highest resolution screen on

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test at 800 x 480. There's also a 2-megapixel rear-facing camera for snapshots, a front-facing one for video calls and a host of handy software extras.

It's all wrapped in an excellent ergonomic package boasting good performance for a Windows Mobile phone: the sliding keyboard's domed keys have excellent feedback and compares favourably with the best on test, while the 520MHz Intel processor pushes most activities on at a fair old lick.

What isn't great is that the G900 is a bit of a bloater. At 22mm thick, it's second in size only to the Nokia E90 and it weighs in just 4g shy of a fifth of a kilo - this doesn't make for a great in-pocket experience.

This, coupled with the fact that the G900 isn't available direct from any of the mobile networks, thus bumping up the price considerably, puts the G900 out of the running this month.

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