CES has yet to even start but that doesn’t mean the news has slowed. Toshiba recently unveiled its newest tablet and it’s no Thrive 2. The Toshiba Excites brings just about anything you’d want from a high-end Android tablet these days when it comes to internal hardware but it’s really an experience to have the thing in your hands.
Upon first glance, the Excite doesn’t look like much more than your run of the mill, “us to” Android tablet. Then again, there’s only so much you can do with the front of a tablet when the screen dominates the face. Once you pick it up and look at the back of the Excite, its name becomes a little more befitting.
The first thing you’ll notice is that the Excite feels incredibly light in the hands, and while it’s just a hair lighter than most tablets of the 10.1 inch variety (1.2 lbs.), it certainly feels much lighter. Couple the Excite’s lightness with its stupid-thin profile of just 7.7mm and our ears have perks up like no other. Turning the tablet over will bring another nice surprise – the entire back has a very bright and sexy brushed aluminum finish that really makes the Excite stand out.
The 10.1 inch Excite sports the standard 1280×800 resolution but this IPS panel also sports Resolution Plus+ for enhanced color saturation through and through. This is most noticeable when viewing videos, as colors and crisp and really shine. Gorilla Glass also finds itself as the guardian of all the pixels on the beautiful screen.
While you won’t find a quad-core processor running the show on the Excite, most will be more than pleased with the 1.2GHz TI OMAP 4430 processor on board. You’ll also get all of the now standard Micro HDMI and micro USB ports, along with a micro SD card slot (expandable to 32GB), stereo speakers, 2 megapixel front-facing camera, and 5 megapixel rear camera.
Shipping with Android Honeycomb, the Excite will receive the Ice Cream Sandwich update shortly after it launches. The 16GB version will run you $530 and the 32GB version will cost $599. While that’s a bit on the pricier side for tablets, the Excite is definitely a head turner and the price may be easily justified for some. Expect to see this tablet ship sometime this quarter.
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