Toshiba TG01 review

The camera on the Toshiba TG01 is a 3.2MP effort with no flash to speak of, thanks to the efforts to keep the frame slim. Usually in these cases there are a plethora of photography options onboard, but that's not the case with the TG01.

There's the standard photography mode, with a variety of resolution options on offer. There's also timer mode, for those self-involved snaps, and burst mode, which takes nine shots to apparently capture 'fast-moving objects' according to the user guide.

Bizarrely without a flash there's no night mode to speak of, so the phone simply won't be any use in low light (although if you're buying this for the camera plastered to the back we'd have to wonder why).

There's autofocus on board, activated by the small button at the bottom, although the green square to indicate focus achieved is in the corner rather than the centre which make you believe you can set the focal point. But you can't.

The video recorder records to either 3GP or MP4 in either QVGA or VGA quality, which is pretty nice and more than enough for a phone of this build. However, pressing the button to start video makes a cacophony of noise (although you can change this in the maze of the settings menu) and takes a few seconds to start up after being pressed - not something we'd expect with a processor of this power.

Even starting the camera using the dedicated button on the side takes a while, which we simply can't work out. Surely we don't need to hold it down for around four seconds to activate the camera? Why can't it just be one? The phone should be locked in the pocket, and there's very little chance of accidentally starting the program up.

How our Toshiba TG01 camera compares to a fancy Olympus SP-565UZ:

Toshiba TG01: The colours and detail of a brightly lit shot are washed out compared to the vivid hues and sharp edges of the Olympus.

Olympus SP-565UZ

Toshiba TG01: The TG01 handles the bright light well, keeping the exposure down well. However, the Olympus manages to draw out the detail in the darker portion of the shot too.

Olympus SP-565UZ

Toshiba TG01 (Burst shot): The Toshiba TG01 has a fairly slow burst rate, meaning motion will need to be pretty long to be easy to capture. The Olympus by comparison has a minimal time delay between each shot so sport shots are easy to maintain.

Olympus SP-565UZ