Toshiba Portege G500 review

There's a secondary 0.3-megapixel (VGA) camera on the front for video calling. Video calls worked as expected and displayed the other person as clearly as is currently possible on most 3G video calling handsets.

The G500 runs on Windows Mobile 5.0 so it can be set up to instantly send and receive emails via Microsoft Exchange. You have the option to view a variety of documents using Picsel viewer or installing a third-party app like Documents To Go. Windows Mobile 5.0 also lets you install third-party maps, dictionaries and other applications.

You can listen to music using the media player, which supports a variety of formats including MP3, AAC, MPEG4 and WMV.

Performance
Audio quality during calls wasn't great. There was noticeable feedback and the mic annoyingly picked up every sound, including our fingers touching the casing. The loudspeaker sounded tinny and wasn't particularly audible in loud environments.

On the plus side, data speeds were fast over HSDPA and Wi-Fi, with no noticeable problems. Applications were also smooth to run and we didn't notice any major lags or crashes during the testing period.

On the back there's a fingerprint reader, which doubles up as a touch-sensitive scroll mechanism

Battery life was acceptable and lasted for over two days when we didn't use Wi-Fi or HSDPA, otherwise it only lasted a day. Toshiba quotes it at 290 hours (3G) or 250 hours (GSM) on standby, and 140 mins (3G) or 280 mins (GSM) of talk time.

Conclusion
This isn't the most attractive or the slimmest handset out there but it has a lot going on inside. From the connectivity options to the fingerprint scanner, it's great if you want to stay connected and keep your data secure.

Our only niggles with the G500 are its chunky size, which won't suit everyone, and the audio quality on calls, which isn't great. Those points aside, it's worth checking out if you need email access on the move.

If the G500 doesn't do it for you, similar devices worth considering are the Motorola Q 9 for its HSDPA connectivity and full, easy-to-use keypad, and the BlackBerry Pearl, which is a slim, email-ready handset that has a nifty trackball.

Edited by Jason Jenkins
Additional editing by Kate Macefield