When you mention tablets you instantly think about Apple’s iPad but is this because Apple’s marketing budget is so vast or is it because iPads are the best tablets out there? It’s hard to to say without looking at some others. I recently came across a new tablet from Toshiba. The only reason I thought I’d have a look at it was because I own a Toshiba and although I’ve had a few issues with it all in all it’s been very reliable and a pleasure to use.
Design
So the iPad 3 is one sexy piece of machinery but the AT200 is pretty good looking too. If you are the type of person that likes the iPad because of it’s slinky looks then you might just love this tablet as well. It is 7.7 mm thick and although it’s not that much slimmer compared to the iPad at 8.8mm, the weight difference is a little more noticeable. The Toshiba is 535g while the iPad is a chunky 662g.
One of my bug bears with some tablets is the lack of connection ports but Toshiba have sorted this problem. It had a decent selection of input/outputs including a proprietary dock, microUSB and mini HDMI, plus a microphone/headphone 3.5mm combination jack.
Media and cameras
The five-megapixel camera (with flash) on the back takes great quality pictures and the two-megapixel camera on the front is ‘okay’ for video conferencing. You might find there is a little bit of lag but it’s nothing to be that stressed about, especially when you have 1080p HD video recording.
Everyone needs more memory on their devices these days. We have larger music libraries, bigger photo galleries, more applications so it makes sense that any gadget we get needs to be able to hold our life’s contents easily. The budget version is 16GB, or you can buy the 32GB for £450 OR you can buy the 16GB and simply buy a 32GB microSDHC card. Your choice, but I know what I’d do.
Now I have to honest (I don’t, but I’m sure someone will comment so I’ll bring it up now) Toshiba Places (powered by 7digital) is the companies online store. If you’re used to Apple or Android’s extensive app stores you may be a little disappointed, but it’s a start.
Screen and features
Here are the important bits first. There is no SIM card slot so you will need Wi-Fi to get connected. The screen is 10.1 inch, 1280X800. It runs a Dual-core 1.2GHz ARM Cortex A9 processor and there is 1GB RAM. It’s a shame that it’s not using the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS, but it’s 3.2 Honeycomb OS handles all of the available applications pretty comfortably. It’s battery life is good as well. You’ll get about a days worth (8-9 hours) of play time with a good charge.
And Finally
What more can I say? It’s a good looking piece of equipment and would stand any test compared to an Android tablet on the market. If you are looking for a tablet and don’t want to follow the crowd and get an Apple iPad, this could be the one for you. Just a quick note: Pocket Fruity games look amazing on it! One major flaw is that Toshiba released it at the same price as the new iPad. School boy error or is there a method in Toshiba’s madness?
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