With the supply of new Android tablets far outpacing a seemingly flat customer demand, would-be buyers are treated to plenty of choice, but it's harder and harder for the hardware to distinguish itself. However, the Toshiba Thrive lays claim to a couple of boast-worthy features: full-size USB 2.0 for external devices and an easily user-replaceable battery.Our Toshiba Thrive evaluation unit just arrived today, and the first thing we noticed is that it's big, as in both wide and thick. With all the connectivity packed into this tablet, Toshiba didn't even try to go for the bragging rights of making it thin. At 10.75x0.62x6.97 inches, it's the thickest of the marquee Honeycomb tablets, and slightly wider than the already unusually wide Asus Eee Pad Transformer (see image gallery below). This size doesn't pack on a ton of weight, however. At 1.6 pounds, it's heavier than most 10-inch tablets, but the same weight as the Motorola Xoom. It didn't feel cumbersome in our hands, and the textured molding of the removable back cover gives the Thrive a grippy--rather than slippy--feel.
Besides full-size USB 2.0 and HDMI ports, you also get mini-USB 2.0 (not micro, as has become the mobile device norm), a full-size SD memory card slot, a headphone/mic jack, a dock connecter and an AC power input for the included power adapter. The dock connector helps for optional accessories like Toshiba's Multi Dock with HDMI ($60). A handy pre-loaded file manager app clearly separates files from the internal, SD and external USB storage.With the removable back cover, Toshiba kills two birds with one stone. It lets you access the included 2030mAh battery, so you can swap it out if necessary (replacement batteries are $90), and it gives Thrive users an inexpensive way to customize the look of their tablet. Toshiba sells replacement back covers ($20 each) in five colors: Lavender, Green Apple, Blue Moon, Silver Sky, and Rasberry.
After very limited use, our first impressions of the Toshiba were that the multitouch display was very responsive and looked crisp and bright, although we thought the colors on the Eee Pad Transformer popped a bit more. The performance of the Nvidia Tegra 2 SOC and 1GB RAM felt on par with the similarly spec'd Eee Pad and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Full performance testing, including the 5MP back side and 2MP front side cameras, will have to wait until our full review, coming next week.
The Thrive ships with Android Honeycomb 3.1 and all the features that come with it, such as the Google Movie Studio video editing app. No 3G or 4G versions are available; rather, all three models come with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity. Pricing looks pretty good when compared to the iPad 2. You can opt for the 8GB ($429), 16GB ($479), or 32GB ($579). Budget-minded buyers may want to go with the 8GB Thrive and supplement the storage with inexpensive SD cards.
