Toshiba touts slimline business phone

More colourful 3G handset too

Toshiba's TS32 isn't the thinnest of candybar mobile phones, but at 10.3mm thick it comes very close. Launched today, the tri-band GSM/GPRS handset sports a 1.9in, 176 x 200, 262,144-colour display, Bluetooth 1.2 and a 1.3 megapixel camera.

But thin though the 79g TS32 is - the other dimensions are 11.3 x 4.7cm - it also offers limited battery life: just 2.5 hours' talk time and 150 hours on stand-by. Its memory is a mere 5.5MB, though it's expandable using MicroSD cards of up to 1GB in storage capacity.

Toshiba also unveiled the TX80, a 3G clamshell handset that's curvacious and consumer-friendly where the TS32 is angular and businesslike. The TX80 has 40MB of memory, a 2.4in 240 x 320, 262,144-colour display and sufficient battery life for more than five hours' GSM talk time and just over three hours' 3G talk time. On stand-by, the battery will last for up to 470 hours. Toshiba claimed.

The 111g TX80 has a 76,800-pixel camera for video calls but a 3.2 megapixel job for photography. It's offered in a choice of colours: black, white and pink. The TS32 has a more subdued colour scheme: two models are black with purple or grey accents, while third is silver and gold.

All six handsets will be sold into the Hong Kong market. ®