Toshiba enlists in the Android Army: high five for the Thrive?

Alex Zaharov-Reutt
Friday, 03 June 2011 13:01

Your IT - Home IT

Google's Honeycomb hive has a new contender for Queen status: the Toshiba Thrive, with competitive US pricing, multiple colours, easily removable battery, fast charge times, full ports and more - although there's apparently no 3G option.

With Toshiba being one of the absolute pioneers in portable, mobile computing, it certainly has been very quiet on the Android tablet front.

Sure, there was an Android 2.x Toshiba tablet launched last year in select overseas territories, which wasn't particularly spectacular, but it doesn't look like it was something that was meant for a worldwide audience, or we'd have seen them in stores down under.

Android 2.x isn't a proper tablet OS anyway, with the focus having quickly shifted this year to Android OS 3.x tablets, several of which have either been announced and released, or announced for impending release, as is the case with Toshiba's 'Thrive', which Toshiba presumably hopes will send its tablet sales soaring, and those of its competitors dive.

Toshiba has put together a somewhat iDevice-esque advertisement over at its US 'The Toshiba Tablet' site, showcasing the tablet's various colours, removable battery with long life, 16:10 HD screen, full USB 2.0 port, mini-USB port, full HDMI port, full-size SD port, Android 3.0 and more, along with a full list of specifications (which we've linked to and reprinted on page two).

There's also Toshiba's 'Resolution+ Upconvert' technology that makes standard def videos look a lot more high-def.

Available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB sizes at the US prices of $429, $479 and $579 respectively, which are very nicely competitive with the iPad 2, and a mid-July US ship date, we've put a call in to Toshiba Australia to see if they have any info on local pricing and availability, and we'll update this story (or write a new one and link to it) if and when those details come through.

Update: Toshiba Australia has no launch or other details to share on an Australian launch as yet - presumably though they won't want to be too tardy in setting the Thrive alive in the busy beehive that is Australia. Original story continues below:

Interestingly, although news reports (including Engadget's) says the tablet comes with Android OS 3.1, Toshiba's own site (and specs) say it comes with Android OS 3.0 - hopefully a 3.1 update will either be available immediately from launch, or hopefully, not too long afterwards. 

And, while Toshiba's spec sheet makes no specific mention of it, Engadget reports the battery, which is easily removable and replaceable without special tools, delivers 7 hours of continuous HD playback and recharges to 90% capacity in one and a half hours.

Naturally, Adobe Flash content is supported, but sadly, no LED flash adorns the rear 5 megapixel camera, something that is useful as an emergency torch or to light up night time photos or videos - even if it's supposedly 'unwieldy' to use a tablet in such a manner.

The facts are that if you've only got your tablet to hand and you want a photo or video, you're gonna take that photo or video on your tablet - no matter how 'unwieldy' it looks.

After all, what matters most: getting the shot, or being afraid that some loser thinks you're a loser because you're getting the digital content YOU want with YOUR tablet?

Screw what other people think, I say. Heck, they can buy their own damn tablet and look as cool or as stupid as they want on their own time.

So, what are the specs of Toshiba's soon-to-be thriving new Thrive tablet?

Please read on to page two!