Toshiba becomes the latest manufacturer to unveil a tablet when the company demonstrated it at a media event in downtown Toronto. The Android-based tablet called Thrive is now available to Canadian consumers, and Future Shop is carrying it.
The Toshiba Thrive runs on an NVidia Tegra 2 processor and Android 3.1 (Honeycomb). It has a 10.1-inch display, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera and a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera. These specs aren’t vastly different from the other Android tablets already on the market, so the difference on paper doesn’t stand out until you factor in the ports the tablet offers.
Toshiba’s Thrive has one USB port, an HDMI output, a mini-USB port, an SD memory card slot and a standard 3.5mm headphone jack. That’s a pretty good layout for a tablet, especially since it makes it easier to transfer media from external sources.
Managing that media falls to Toshiba’s File Manager app that basically aggregates everything stored on the device for easy access. Plug in a USB stick or a memory card, and whatever is stored on those can be viewed from there. What is unclear is whether the Tablet and File Manager app can see and stream files from a Network Attached Storage (NAS) device at home or an external hard drive plugged into a router. The Tablet supports DLNA but Toshiba couldn’t confirm my question about streaming from a NAS.
Other accessories will include a Bluetooth keyboard with Android keys, an HDMI-out docking station, a leather-style case that allows you to prop the tablet in portrait or landscape mode without removing it from the case.
Pricing for the Toshiba Thrive tablet is set at Future Shop right now:
8GB version - $399.99
16GB version - $429.99
32GB version - $499.99
