Toshiba Thrive Android tablet goes on sale in July starting at $429 for 8GB version. Toshiba has just made their Android-based Thrive slate that has been given a release date and pricing information. The Thrive is powered by the new 3.1 version of Android, a.k.a. Honeycomb, and will ship in the U.S. and starting July 10.
Toshiba’s entry also offers a slew of connectivity ports, including a built-in HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) out port, USB, mini USB and an HDMI ports, along with an SD memory card slot, resulting in a slightly thicker frame (0.6 pounds) than some of its competitors, has a front-facing Webcam and rear-facing 5-megapixel camera. The company said battery life should clock in between six and seven hours, allowing for continuous full HD playback. The 10.1-inch tablet is powered by Nvidia’s Tegra 2 chip dual-core processor and sports a back cover that can be swapped out for one of a different color. But its Internet connectivity is Wi-Fi only, which means your mobile access to the Web is limited to hotspots.
You’ll be able to pre-order the Thrive starting on June 13. At $429, the base model is $70 cheaper than the iPad 2, but you only get 8GB of storage for the price.The Thrive will be offered with three storage size options, 8GB ($429), 16GB ($479) and 32GB ($579) models. There is no 64GB flavor of the Thrive. (Pricing via eWeek.com)
With so many Honeycomb tablets set to enter the market, it will be hard for consumers to differentiate between them. Toshiba is apparently banking on its price point (about $20 less than the 16GB Acer Iconia Tab A500, but $30 more than the 16GB Asus Eee Pad Transformer) and name recognition to get some traction in what will be a highly competitive field of Android slates.
The competitive tablet market, still dominated by Apple and its iPad and iPad 2 models, helped worldwide PC shipments increase 7 percent during the first quarter, according to research firm Canalys, which includes tablets in its counts of PC sales. Apple accounted for 74 percent of the tablet market during the quarter, the report added, despite iPad shipments being down 31 percent sequentially.
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