Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 8 GB Android Tablet AT105-T108 on sale

Scott W. Hutton Say: Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 8 GB Android Tablet AT105-T108
More than pleased, 2011-08-04
This review is for: Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 8 GB Android Tablet AT105-T108
This is my first tablet (had it about two weeks), but I work in IT and have configured upwards of 40 iPads for employees to use at my job. I liked the iPads, don't get me wrong, and while configuring them for our employees, I came to see the real benefit of having a tablet. I'm a big fan of the Android OS, so I decided I'd go with an Android tablet since it offers superior customization and streamlining.I went with the Toshiba Thrive and couldn't be happier. It's fast, responsive, and the Honeycomb OS is very, very slick. I can see a lot of potential in the OS and am looking forward to Ice Cream Sandwich (the next update that will integrate phone and tablet operating systems into one) later this year.PROS* Stable - I never experienced the sleep issue at all, but installed the fix yesterday anyway, since it offered some additional performance improvements. No issues out of the performance at all. Everything is fast and responsive. A joy to use.* Responsive - Honeycomb OS is very fast, clean, and customizable. Very intuitive to use (at least for me). Adding widgets, etc. is fun and easy to layout.* Video/graphics - Videos look great in all formats, but really snap in HD. All the graphics look great, and the text in the Kindle App looks amazing. Visually stunning. Everyone that has seen it has been impressed.* Customization - You can set up the five screens any way you want. Widgets are wonderful things! Also plugged it into my laptop and it loaded up without any problems, allowing me to copy some pictures, etc. quickly.* Multi-task management - The third button along the bottom left allows you to easily switch from application to application quickly. It's amazing how quickly you can get to something once you get used to using that button!* Size - to me, this is a pro, because you feel like you're holding something and it's very easy to hold on to. You don't get the sense it's going to slip out of your hands, like you sometimes do with the iPad2. It doesn't feel cheap or cheesy, but very solid.* Battery life - I've read some mixed reviews on this, but I get a good 7-8 hours of serious use out of it before it gets below 20%. Over nights, when sleeping, it uses 2%-4% battery life. And it does charge fast, they aren't kidding about that!CONS* The charger - Not a big deal, true, but it's a small laptop power supply, which I just find annoying to have to lug around. They should have a simple adapter you can use with the provided mini-USB to USB cable.* Sound - Not really a big issue (and I may be missing something), but even with the volume all the way up on the device, it still sounds a little low to me using headphones. Maybe just a preference here, but I thought I should mention it. It does sound much better without the headphones on, though, but can be a little clinky and suffer from reverb on heavier tracks of music.* Storage - not really a "con", but more of a heads-up. You won't have the full storage amount available to use. For example, if you buy the 8 GB version, you won't have 8 GB of storage to use. Honeycomb and other things (drivers, etc) take up part of that amount. Same with the 16 and 32 GB versions. Not a big deal, but I know some people are wondering why they only have 5 GB free when they bought the 8 GB version, for example.OVERALLA wonderful tablet, performs great, looks great, and has impressed a couple of co-workers enough that they are going to buy one. The full USB port was the big selling point for both. This tablet has been everything I'd hoped for and more. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a tablet. This is a great first step into the tablet pool by Toshiba, I must say. If you're wondering if this tablet will do what you want, I'm pretty sure it will :)I give the Thrive 5 Stars.NOTES* There were a couple of image/OS updates ready to be installed right out of the box using Toshiba's SERVICE STATION app. I recommend immediately installing those updates before you do anything else. As with any new laptop, PC, phone, or tab, you should update it first before jumping into other apps, etc.* I use ADVANCED TASK MANAGER to kill open apps that don't come with a native procedure for closing them. It integrates into Honeycomb very nicely, and all you need to do is tap the icon along the bottom right of the screen to open it from anywhere. Very slick and easy.* I recommend that after updating the Operating System and Tablet image through the SERVICE STATION app, you set the LOCK SCREEN PIN (founds in SETTINGS >> LOCATION & SECURITY >> LOCK SCREEN). Also fill out the owner information (it will appear on the lock screen with the keypad). You can never be too careful, and if you do lose it, at least when someone tries to activate it, you'll have it PIN protected with your contact info right there for them to see.Thanks for reading. I hope this was helpful.

JAG Say: Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 8 GB Android Tablet AT105-T108
Super Innovative, Best tablet yet!, 2011-07-08
This review is for: Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 8 GB Android Tablet AT105-T108
I've had the 16gb Thrive for 3 days now. The Thrive is in my opinion the best tablet available. The things that set it apart from other tablets are: Removable battery, Full size HDMI port, Full size USB 2.0 port as well as a mini USB port. All on board with no dock or adapters necessary. You can take your SD card right out of your camera and plug it in to the Thrive ( Handles up to 128 GB SDXC, what?!!) . Toshiba was smart enough to include a file manager that makes it super easy to move data or media between the tablet and SD card or external hard drive, etc. Running Honeycomb 3.1 right out of the box as well. The wifi is the best I have seen, better than any device in my house and I have a lot. Tethers to my Android phone with no problem. The audio is the best I have heard on a tablet.Toshiba worked with SRS and it shows. (One note, the default volume levels are low. Go into settings and adjust right away) The screen is better than the Xoom but not quite as good as the Samsung (in my opinion) and it seems to do better with higher quality and higher resolution content. Looks phenomenal when viewing pictures from my Canon Digital with an L lens. Color accuracy is excellent,not just oversaturated like some other tablets. The screen response is great. Ran a multitouch test and it recognizes 4 separate touch points simultaneously. 2mp front camera and 5 MP back camera are both very good with good lighting. All in all this tablet offers more interoperabilty than anything on the market. It charges really fast, 90% in 90 minutes. Very, very happy with my decision to go with the Thrive. I had considered the Asus but with the horrific build quality issues and lightbleed I decided against it. I am so glad I waited because Toshiba got it right, right out of the box! This thing is solid! No creaking or flex. No loose bezel. Zero lightbleed. A tablet is the sum of all its parts and in the words of Charlie Sheen, #Winning!Update: 14 hrs today on the battery with fairly heavy surfing and some music and video. The battery gave me 6-7 hrs the first few charges. Wow, I didn't think it would improve this much! Really happy with the Thrive!

Q Say: Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 8 GB Android Tablet AT105-T108
What's an iPad?, 2011-07-10
This review is for: Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 8 GB Android Tablet AT105-T108
I won't bore everyone with the specs because, if you're like me, you know all of the features that differentiate it from every other tablet on the market. But I will say this: it puts most other tablets to shame in performance. This is my first Android device (I have had iPhones for almost four years now) because in the last few years, I just haven't been all that impressed with Android. The touch screen seemed to lag and was just generally less responsive than my iPhone. But recently, Apple has been brought to their knees and forced to beg for mercy and the Thrive is an excellent example of that. In fact, I have to say that I've become less impressed with boring old Apple and more impressed with fun and exciting Google. The touch screen is fantastic. It is just as responsive and quick as my iPhone (which means it's just as good as the poor-excuse-for-a-tablet iPad) and the screen looks great. Though, that might not mean much coming from me because I thought the Xoom's display was fine other than the back light being a little too dim for my taste.As for the look and feel of the Thrive, I will admit the Galaxy 10.1 has a classier appearance but it also feels ten times cheaper. I was going to buy a Galaxy until I actually had some hands on time with it and felt the cheap plastic backing and the cheap metallic silver trim. Plus, the thinness made me feel as if I could snap it in two if I wanted. I also noticed it had no ports (which, let's face it, defines the Android OS). I love the rubbery backing on the Thrive. Yes, it's plastic but it has a sturdy feel to it. It's just like Toshiba's laptops. I'm not too fond of the chrome piece that surrounds the camera but honestly, it's not even close to a deal breaker.There are a few things I don't particularly care for with this tablet:1. It was originally designed to run on Android 2.2 (Froyo) so it's a portrait oriented tablet meaning if you use it in landscape orientation, your hands cover up the cameras and finger prints get all over them. Also, the black bezel at the bottom is a little thicker so it could accommodate the physical buttons Froyo devices have. It pretty much seems like Toshiba didn't want to go back to the drawing board for a Honeycomb tablet, so they modified a Froyo tablet instead. It works, but the finger prints on the camera lens is a little annoying.2. The stereo speakers are located at the bottom of the tablet when its in landscape orientation. That means if you have the tablet resting on your lap, you're probably covering up the speakers. You can just flip the tablet upside down and have the speakers pointing away from you. But then they're pointing away from you and everyone else in the room gets all the sound.This next part is more of a review for the Android OS and not really the Thrive because there's only so many things you can say about hardware. Coming from iOS to Android has been a very pleasant experience for me. I don't find it confusing or hard to use and I've discovered so many freedoms Apple has restricted me from. I really like widgets, Flash, and not having applications arranged in a static row. I've now realized how boring and Nazi-like Apple is. I will even go as far as saying that the Android Market is better than the Apple Appstore. I have had no trouble finding the exact same applications I use on my iPhone in the Android Market. And for those Apple-exclusive apps, I have been able to find equivalents that are often just as good or better.All in all, Toshiba has a winner here. And since I've just spent $480 on a tablet, who wants to bet Toshiba will come out with a Thrive 2 that has a quadcore CPU in a few short weeks I'm going to wish I waited for? : )EDITI've owned this tablet for about two months now. I still love it and use it frequently, but now that the novelty has worn off, I do have some critiques. The Thrive has problems with responsiveness. I'm not sure if I have too many widgets or what, but a lot of the time, the screen freezes up for a few seconds. It's kind of choppy. Another issue I have is that it keeps turning itself on. I'll put the tablet to sleep, set it on the table, and it will wake itself up and display the lock screen. The chrome piece around the camera is quite cheap. It's not really chrome. It's plastic with shiny coating that chips away. My only other complaint is that the web browsing isn't quite as good as it is on a PC. It's more like a netbook in that it's a lot slower to load. I still think this is probably the best tablet on the market as far as functionality goes. And guess what? I was right. Toshiba has already announced a new tablet that will be released soon nicknamed the AT200. :S