Toshiba Portege G500 Review

Performance:

Although it is a smartphone with Windows Mobile, G500 must perform well as a phone in order to have high ratings. We test the signal reception, actual battery times and call quality.

The signal reception is below the average which doesn’t make us happy. Scoring 4 out of 10 the G500 like its bigger brother the G900 is not the phone for areas with weak signal.

We were not able to test the battery times as the review unit had stability issues and restarted itself every few minutes. We discussed this with Toshiba and they assured us that this was just a bad unit and they have not received any complaints about this. Please be aware that the G900 unit also had stability issues, and according to posted on Expansys UK, the firmware will soon be available to alleviate this issue.

The voice quality during a conversation is fine, but there is a lot more to be desired. The incoming sound is very weak, making impossible to hear your partner in noisy environment. When it is silent around you, the voice is clear and the voices are realistic.

The other party hears you much stronger, with volume above the average level. The microphone makes your voice sound little metallic and sharp, which is not pleasant.


Conclusion:

The G500 is a cute phone but a fat one. It is definitely not the smallest smartphone on the market, which is a disadvantage considering its functionality. Rather well-packed, it is a shame that Toshiba has used WM5 instead of version 6, which is way better. If you can live with these drawbacks, the Portege G500 will offer you high-speed data, Wi-Fi, fast processor and functionality of a WM smartphone.