Toshiba has joined the tablet game with its new Thrive, which is based on the Google Android 3.1 Honeycomb. The new Thrive tablet comes in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB storage options.
Toshiba Thrive is listed on online retailer Amazon’s website at $430 (Rs 19, 350 approx) for 8GB, $480 (Rs 21,600 approx) for 16GB and $580 (Rs 26,100 approx) for 32GB version. Loaded with dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 SoC, the tablet is now available for the grabs, albeit for US-region folks only through Amazon.
Toshiba Thrive comes with 10.1-inch, IPS technology based, LCD display that supports 1280×800 pixel resolution. Under the hood, it has dual-core 1Ghz Nvidia Tegra 2 system on a chip along with 1GB DDR2 memory. This tablet runs Android 3.1 Honeycomb by default so we can expect it be less glitch free than those running 3.0 version.
At the back panel, Toshiba has added a 5.0 megapixel camera with Autofocus and a 2.0 megapixel front facing camera for video chat. The tablet can accommodate a memory card of up to 32GB. Featuring Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and the Bluetooth 2.1 interface, the tablet offers range of connectivity options — USB 2.0 port, mini USB 2.0 port and a HDMI port.
This could be the tablet users were looking forward to since it has range of physical connectivity option and users can load to carry around their files. Toshiba Thrive will compete with Motorola XOOM, Acer Iconia and upcoming ASUS Eee Pad Transformer tablets for the 10-inch tablet segment.
In a way, Toshiba Thrive directly competes with feature rich ASUS Eee Pad Transformer since both have USB 2.0 and HDMI connectivity options but the former lags behind in terms of the dock.
Toshiba Thrive offers 7 to 8 hours of battery life which still is less compared to the Apple iPad 2. However, the specifications and the features might give the iPad 2 owners some jitters.