Toshiba’s 7-inch Thrive available now

I’m sure there’s at least one person out there who absolutely loved everything about Toshiba’s 10-inch thrive Honeycomb tablet (even the headache-inducing commercials) except for its to-inch size. Well rejoice, One Guy, because the long-leaked 7-inch variant is available from Toshiba now, and should be hitting US retailers in the near future. The 16GB and 32GB versions will set you back $379.99 and $429.99, respectively.

Under the hood you get the same 1Ghz Tegra 2 dual-core process and 1GB of RAM, speedy enough to handle the vanilla Honeycomb 3.2 interface with ease. The display is an impressive 1280 x 800 pixels, matching competitors like the T-Mobile Springboard and the upcoming Galaxy Tab 7.7 for resolution and density. Expansion options are varied, with a mini USB port (not micro USB), HDMI out and MicroSD card support, plus a physical lock switch. Unfortunately a proprietary port is the only way to charge and sync, and that probably means no trickle charging from a computer, either. WiFi is the only way to access the Internet, but the junior Thrive does feature Bluetooth 3.0. It inherits the rather chunky profile of its big brother, and Toshiba claims six hours of battery life. Built-in apps include Kaspersky, Silvercreek’s suite of board games, MOG Music, QuickOffice and (sigh) Need For Speed Shift.
Don’t break out your wallet just yet, folks. Aside from the fact that the excellent Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus lies right in between the 16GB and 32GB models as far as price goes, Toshiba’s razor-thin Excite tablet is expected in February of next year. If portability and weight is a concern, the new model will definitely beat out the Thrive, though the battery life issues experienced on the former may still be a problem.
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Toshiba Excite AT200 gets a February 2012 release in Canada

Many were somewhat underwhelmed with Toshiba’s Android tablet debut, the 10-inch Thrive, even with its fabulous marketing strategy of telling consumers how smart they were through Tony Bennet-style singing. The second revision, now renamed the Excite, is headed for a release up north in February of next year. Mobile Syrup quotes an anonymous source that contradicts its January date on the website. Canadians looking for a super-slim Honeycomb tablet, try to contain your excitement.

All joking aside, the Excite AT200 is a pretty impressive piece of hardware, cramming a 10.1-inch display into a 7.7mm thin body. That’s just barely thicker than the skinny part of the DROID RAZR, and beats out the upcoming Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime by .6 millimeters. It’s a considerable improvement on the Thrive, which got a lot of complaints for its 16mm profile. On the inside you get a 1.2Ghz dual-core processor and either 16GB or 32GB of storage, with 2 and 5 megapixel front and rear cameras. Despite the svelte frame, Toshiba still found room for a MicroSD card slot and a Micro HDMI jack.
The tablet will launch with Honeycomb, which is a shame, since at that point Ice Cream Sandwich will have been available for about four months. There’s no word on an upgrade. Technically there’s no confirmation of a United States release either, but it seems like a given considering the FCC filing. If Toshiba had only gotten this attractive hardware out before Christmas, and at a price lower than the Transformer Prime and Galaxy Tab 10.1, it might have made a splash this year instead of next.
Be sure to check out our hands-on video of a pre-release Toshiba Excite.

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Toshiba Thrive Receives Android 3.2 Upgrade

We’ve just received word that the Toshiba Thrive has received the upgrade to Android 3.2 that was promised back in October. It’s build 3.2.1.31.5.0002 and it brings with it the following major changes:

• Enables an improved compatibility mode enhancing the way applications originally designed for smaller screen devices appear and function on the larger tablet display.
• Improves screen rotation acceleration.
• Adds extended screen support API, giving developers more precise control over the user interface across a range of Android-powered devices.

Unfortunately, we’re also hearing that this may break and block the root method that was found earlier on. We’d say hold off for now and wait until the development community gets its hands on it. Head to the source link for instructions on how to upgrade if rooting is no concern of yours. [Toshiba, Thanks Randall!]

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Toshiba AT200 Excite Tablet hits the FCC

Toshiba recently unveiled their brand new super thin Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet named the AT200. We’ve seen it a few times being rumored as the Toshiba Excite. Today it has cleared the FCC making this ultra-thin slate headed to the U.S sometime soon. This is the next tablet coming from Toshiba and will replace its larger brother, the Thrive.

Coming in at just 7.7mm thin, this will be one sleek tablet that is for sure. Being thinner than the Galaxy Tab 10, unless someone else beats them to market with something thin this will be the thinnest tablet around. Clearing the FCC is a good sign of things to come. An interesting note: the FCC documents from the listing show this device to have been constructed by Quanta, the same Chinese OEM that’s about to be responsible for the Amazon Kindle Fire.
We have a 10.1″ 1280 x 800 resolution display Android 3.2 Honeycomb Tab, powered by a TI OMAP 4430 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM. Toshiba will be offering the tablet in three options: 16GB, 32GB, and even a 64GB flavor. The Toshiba AT200 (Excite) is said to be coming in Q4 for a holiday release, no pricing or official date has been set but with it passing through the FCC we should be hearing more soon.

Toshiba AT200 hands-on video:



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Toshiba Thrive 7″ Tablet Announced, coming this November

Toshiba has just announced their new Android Honeycomb tablet offering, the Thrive 7″ to go along with its bigger brother. In case the original 10″ Thrive was a bit “large” for some of you the 7″ variety will be much smaller, and thinner. We have plenty of pictures provided nicely by Toshiba so check them out below.

Just like many tablets currently available we have a pretty solid device. Running on what we already suspected and that is the NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor, with 1GB of RAM and the Thrive 7 will be offered in both 16GB and 32GB flavors. Rocking a 7″ 1280 x 800 Autobrite LED display, dual HD cameras and Android 3.2 Honeycomb powering it all. We’ll get a 5 megapixel around back with LED flash, and 2MP on the front for chatting and more.

Measuring just .47″ thick and weighing under one pound at .88 lbs the new Thrive 7″ will be portable and powerful while maintaining a slim design. The Thrive 7″ will feature many of the same specs and ports as the bigger 10″ version but micro versions to keep things small, along with the same slip-resistant Easy Grip finish around back. Around the devices built-in ports we have Mini USB, Micro HDMI and a Micro SD card slot, giving consumers plenty of choices for connectivity and options.
One small change is the back is now non-removable and the battery will not be replaceable like the bigger sibling, but I’ll take the thinner package any day — wouldn’t you? The Toshiba Thrive 7″ Tablet will be available mid November well before the holidays although no pricing has been revealed yet. As soon as we hear more we will update with exact dates and pricing. For more information check out the Thrive 7″ product page at Toshiba.com, as well as the full gallery of images below.
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Toshiba AT200 Official, 10.1-inch display and 7.7mm thin

Toshiba has just made it official. The AT200 is the codename for their brand new ultra-thin Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet. Could this be the Excite? According to the official press release they’ve nicely been passing around now the device is on display somewhere at IFA 2011, we can expect this tab to come in at only 7.7mm thin. It is not only lighter, but will also be thinner than the Galaxy Tab 10.1

This could very well be the Toshiba Excite we’ve heard about recently, not to mention the up close picture posted yesterday. If previous rumors are correct most likely these are one and the same, since it was also being talked about as ultra-thin.

Reading through the Toshiba press release we can see a few exciting features are listed. As usual we have a 10.1″ 1280 x 800 resolution display, 1GB of ram, but this wont be NVIDIA. It’s said to be powered by a 1.2 Ghz dual-core Texas Instrument TI OMAP 4430 processor. Come in three different sizes — 16GB, 32GB, and even 64GB. Pair all of that with a 5 MP rear shooter with LED flash, and a 2 MP camera on the front for video we have a great tablet. All that power, boosted camera and CPU while staying thinner than anything else on the market — Well done Toshiba.
We are also hearing 8-10 hours of battery life. Toshiba was not able to provide pricing or availability at this time but we should see this device soon, and before the end of the year but they better hurry.
[via SlashGear]

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Toshiba Excite Ultra-Thin Tablet Pictured at IFA

Beyond what we’ve seen thus far in what new apps we’ll be getting to see on these USA versions of the Galaxy S II, there are a sparse (and perhaps thankfully sparse) few additional new apps to behold on each of the devices. One app that we’re refreshingly GLAD to see added to the lineup comes on AT&T’s version of the Galaxy S II, an app called “Featured Apps”, it being an extremely simple system for AT&T to be showing off applications that it suggests specifically to the device it’s featured on, thereby helping the (perhaps new) owner with finding out with what their device is capable of.

Inside this extremely easy to understand tiny application, we’re able to cycle through several pages of suggested apps that include an icon and a short description of what they’re all about. Once you tap an app you’re interested in, you’re brought straight to the Android Market. Notice also, separate from this app, that the Android Market appears to be coming up as the newest version (version 3.0.27 as seen back in this post by Cory a week or so ago), this meaning you’ve got the ability to essentially lock anyone who isn’t you out from purchasing apps with your account should they somehow gain access to your device.

The AT&T Featured Apps app has only a few apps per screen, only a few screens here at the outset, and a simple About page for you to learn what version of the Apps App you’ve got running. This will almost certainly play a bigger role in AT&T’s future relationship with apps of all sort should it prove to be successful here on the Galaxy S II. It all depends on if YOU plan on using it.
Also note that this video was filmed at the GSII event in NYC that we attended earlier this week. Find all the Galaxy S II content your heart could possibly desire by hitting our [Galaxy S II] portal.

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Toshiba’s new ultra-thin tablet to be called the Toshiba Excite

With IFA kicking off any day now we are starting to see leaks of upcoming devices a bit early. Just yesterday we learned about the new Toshiba tablet coming to market soon that is said to be much much thinner than the Thrive. We are now hearing the follow up to the Thrive will be much thinner, and lighter yet still offer things like the full-sized USB port.

Thanks to a few tips the upcoming tablet may very well be known as the Toshiba Excite come launch date. Sources are saying it will be super sexy, ultra-thin, lightweight and running Android 3.2 Honeycomb. We don’t have too many further details but if we see anything at IFA we’ll be there live to report all the juicy details.

While there isn’t anything close to official details suggesting the tablet will indeed be name the Excite, the photo above and a few FCC filings are making us think this will most likely what we all will soon be finding out about. You can expect something along the lines of a NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core CPU, possibly 4G LTE support and more but until we get more details this is just a rumor for now. Stay tuned for more details.
[via Android Police]

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Nexus T Toshiba Tablet Next Official Google Release?

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Let’s talk about this situation and see if we can’t piece together a few factoids. First, waaay back at the beginning of this year, a mystery tablet started showing up – one made by Toshiba, having a 10.1-inch screen, and sporting what would become Android 3.0 Honeycomb (testers floating around had Froyo, of course.) Have a look at our big reveal post and continue on – does that look like a tablet that Google would officially endorse as the next step in their flagship series? That very much appears to be what may be happening now!

Our good pals at Metalev have a few clues gathered up that point directly at this device being the next in the Nexus series – Nexus T they’re calling it, and with it’s NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor, prismatic lithium-ion battery, and 1280 x 800 resolution 16:10 aspect ratio adaptive display, its definitely not out of the question.
What’s a prismatic battery? It’s a big fat battery that has 3 times the life of a standard lithium ion batter in essentially the same package. Besides sounding fantastic, why is this relevant now? Because @googlenexus has a challenge going on with their Twitter followers and the answer to the puzzle on the 2nd of May was PRISMATIC. – this puzzle put together by metalev’s Luke Hutchinson
@googlenexus’ challenge ends right before Google I/O – perhaps some free tablets are in the works for the masses of developers attending?
This tablet has been up for preview at Best Buy for some time now, but without a name and without much branding to go with it. Have a look at the video here and see if you think it’s possible that this is the next in line for Google’s infamous pack of powerful bigtime blasters:

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Toshiba's ET100/WT100 Honeycomb tablet clears the FCC

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Toshiba's forthcoming Honeycomb tablet is already headed to Japanese stores as the Regza AT300, but it's been a bit slower in arriving stateside. Now it seems the company could be close to shipping a real, working product here in the US. The still unnamed slate -- dubbed the ET100/WT100 for now -- has won FCC approval for its 802.11n and Bluetooth radios. To recap, the slate will have a 10.1-inch (1280 x 800) display, run on NVIDIA's Tegra 2 platform, and sport dual cameras, HDMI and USB ports, an SD card reader, and, possibly, a removable battery. We say, bring it on.

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