Toshiba announces massive Excite 13, AMOLED-equipped Excite 7.7, and mainsteam Excite 10 tablets
Summary: Toshiba is going in all sorts of directions with its latest trio of tablets.
Casting its net very widely on Tuesday, Toshiba announced a trio of new tablets, all of which wide variety of discrete niches and screen sizes. There's something quite literally for everyone.
Excite 10
Let's start with the Excite 10, a tablet that I admittedly confused with the Excite 10 LE, a similar device Toshiba released just last month. The difference between the two devices is mostly a matter of quality: The Exicte 10 is essentially Toshiba's mainstream device, and meant to replace the now-defunct Thrive. The Excite 10 LE, on the other hand, is meant to be a bit more upmarket, especially, it seems, in terms of weight and dimensions: At 1.1-pounds, it's both lighter and thinner than the new Excite 10.
Prices for the Excite 10 follow a predictable pattern, with the 16GB running for $449, $80 cheaper than the 16GB Excite 10 LE. The 32GB model will sell for $529, and the 64GB $649 when the device goes on sale May 6th.
Excite 13
Probably the most interesting of the trio is the Excite 13, a thirteen-inch tablet that is much unlike anything else around.
Which means, of course, that it's massive. Huge. Completely unportable. Built more for the home than the backpack, the Excite 13 is essentially the tablet equivalent to the desktop. And thats completely the point.
People will doubtlessly make fun of it. Much like the Samsung Galaxy Note, the Excite 13 felt a bit too big for its own good when I used it last week. But that may not be the biggest problem in the end because, also like the Galaxy Note, the Excite 13 fills a niche -- with all the size-related puns that such a filling entails.
On the hardware side, the Excite 13 offers a NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor and 1 GB of RAM, features that Toshiba says makes the device perfect for console-quality gaming. What's uncertain, however, is whether users will be able to hold the thing long enough to play much of anything. Also, because of the Excite 14's 16:9 aspect ratio, it's also possible that some apps may look a bit strange on its display.
As for price, you probably won't be surprised to hear that the Excite 13's sizable screen comes with an equally sizable price tag: $649 for the 32GB version and $749 for the 32 GB model.
Excite 7.7
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum is the Excite 7.7, the first Toshiba tablet with a AMOLED
display. Toshiba calls the Exctie 7.7's display "brilliant" and judging by what I saw, I'm wont to agree. Visuals were sharp, colors vibrant. It;s not a bad display to look at. (Notably, the device's closest rival is Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7, an identically-sized tablet that also features an AMOLED display.)
Prices for the Excite 7.7 start at $499 for the 16GB version and $579 for the 32GB version, which is a bit steep for a device of its size.
Both the Excite 10 and Excite 13 will be available on June 10th.
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Talkback
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Amazon
13?
At that point, what's the real benefit over an ultrabook? You're not significantly smaller/more mobile and with the price that the MBA knockoff crowd is trying to get to, you're not going to be significantly cheaper either.
I guess the strategy is if you throw enough feces at the wall, something will eventually stick.
Different tastes leave a lot of room for varied offerings
Personally, I'm a fan of the Galaxy Note's size in terms of portability. My phone is 4.3" and my tablet is 8.2". Neither is particularly ideal to me. 7" would be an improvement on my situation, but 5" is small enough for my pocket yet large enough to see everything on screen reasonably large enough. It would allow me to carry only a single device on a regular basis.
Of course, that's just my own personal taste, and from what I've seen, I'm in a distinct minority.
Honestly, if given the choice, I wouldn't mind having a 17" tablet for home use. Then I could realistically use it for generating artwork, gaming, surfing, video watching, etc. Any larger than though, and I'd want something table-sized like the MS Surface, and that's not at all in my price range. But it would be fun to have!
Looks to me ...
A couple of things...
Second, the ability to use a wiimote or ps3 controller with any game exists on Android so you do not have to hold the tablet to play games, just get a stand for it and have at er.
Finally, Super Amoled is a huge selling point as the 7.7" screens are running 191 PPI with superior black levels, color and viewing angles over the competition.
screen resolution
i would bet
How is the 13's 16:9 resolution different?
How is the 13's 16:9 ratio different from any other Android tablet's 16:9 ratio, or from any video game console's 16:9 ratio for that matter, or from 16:9 computer monitors? What the heck are you talking about?
the others
God Yes! Do any of ZD's Bloggers Proofread?
There's 3 huge problems with all of these tablets.
#2 They are way overpriced. Toshiba is not apple, these are not ipads, and android is not ios. Sorry but android is a crap os full of security holes that crashes all the time with a crap marketplace full of crap apps. You dont get to charge the same extrordinary mark up margins that apple does. Each of these should be at least $200 less. If toshiba cant make money on them at that price them they shouldnt get in the tablet business until they figure out how to.
#3 They do not run Windows8. 99% of those who want a tablet and dont want an ipad want W8. This is where toshiba should focus its time and effort to get some roi. Going with android in the interim is just going to get them a bad reputation for crap tablets.
Only part of what you claim to know is true
On the subject of Android tho, you are way off base. I agree that the Android OS has had it's share of growing pains, however it is now fully adult and crashes are infrequent and unlike the IPads and other proprietary tabs, if there is a severe problem with the OS it is a simple procedure to re-initialize it back to where it was when you bought it and getting your apps back is no problem.
In my opinion if you are using a toy, such as a tablet, to do any kind of real work with you deserve what you get when, not if, it crashes. I do use mine for work a little. I do things like VNC into work computers and manage things but if that ability fails I have lost no data and can easily recover.
As for Windows 8. Please! I wouldn't use Version 1.0 of any OS for anything other than to acquaint myself with the probable look and feel of the next version that might actually work.
A bizarrely confusing article. Convoluted, meandering, and malapropitious.
This is precisely because the [i]Toy Box[/i] authors , early in the product release process when there's little more to go on than the piled-on puffery of press releases, pick through the fluff to present to us, [i]Toy Box[/i] followers, the salient details about the most interesting, possibly trend-influencing, gizmos in the unceasing flood.
The above article doesn't fit that model. It misses the mark. The view into this confusing weirdo set of Toshiba releases becomes not a clarifying path to understanding but, rather, a wacko maze with no exit.
Chineese vs. American?
android itself is the problem
Nice Article