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Apparently now you don’t even need to hit the internet before your brand new device can be infected with a virus. O2 in Germany has confirmed that it has stopped shipping the Snapdragon-based Toshiba TG01 smartphones because in addition to it’s other killer features the handset comes with a virus built right in, standard. No need to download it yourself, it is right there when you configure the phone. Now THAT is convenience.

No one is sure how the virus ended up on the phones yet and there are currently conflicting reports about the nature of the virus; some reports indicate it was preloaded on the Windows Mobile 6.1 file tree and others say it was on the MicroSD memory cards installed on the phone. There is also no information about what particular virus it is, but all seem to agree it is harmless, or relatively so. WHY they are recalling all the phones for a harmless virus is less clear, but better safe then sorry.

Toshiba is not commenting beyond saying that they are investigating the matter, but O2 said it will have new, virus-free TG01s out next week and will replace all infected models. If I had a TG01 in Germany right now, i wouldn’t be holding my breath. This looks to be a major black eye for both 02 and Toshiba in the highly competitive German mobile market.

(First Source: The Register, Photo Credit: Unwired View)

Zealot (444 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook

By day a department manager and writer for a major network device vendor...by night Zealot stalks the mean magnetic streets, striking fear into the hearts of bandwidth abusers and theme park mascots. Zealot has been involved with mobile devices for more than a decade now, starting off with dumb phones, moving to PDAs and then to smartphones, notebooks and netbooks with the odd PMP thrown in. Most of his mobile time currently is spent on a Treo Pro, Zune HD, Thinkpad T61, Gigabyte M912M or a Hackintoshed Compaq Mini 704. He proudly groks the Geek community and considers himself a Neo Maxi Zune Dweebie (thanks Will Wheaton!).