As the old saying goes, “If you can’t beat ‘em, just make ‘em bigger.” Oh, that’s not the old saying? Somebody needs to tell Toshiba, who has just announced a new line of Android 4.0-based Excite tablets in a trio of sizes, including a massive 13.3 inches.
The Verge is reporting that Toshiba has just announced the next phase of their Android tablet strategy -- and it’s a head scratcher. Apparently tossing aside the company’s Thrive tablet, Toshiba introduced not one, not two but three new tablets on Tuesday, and their motto seems to be “Go big or go home.”
Toshiba’s Excite 7.7 and Excite 10 seem fairly run of the mill where Android tablets go, but the Excite 13, with a massive 13.3-inch display, is definitely forging its own way with a model that’s actually larger than Apple’s iPad -- definitely the first time we can recall a consumer electronics company taking this approach.
“Like the also-new Excite 7.7 and Excite 10, the Excite 13 runs Android 4.0 under a Gorilla Glass display, and is powered by a quad-core Tegra 3 processor,” the report reveals. “Each tablet has a 5-megapixel rear camera and a 2-megapixel front shooter, along with stereo speakers, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. The 13.3-inch display on the Excite 13 is a 1600 x 900 backlit LED; the Excite 10 has a 1280 x 800, 10.1-inch screen; and the 7.7-inch model has a gorgeous AMOLED display much like the one we loved in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7. All promise at least 10 hours of battery life, and both the 10 and 13 claim you'll get 13 hours of use.”
Apparently, Toshiba didn’t get the memo on lower Android tablet pricing in the wake of the Kindle Fire: The Excite 7.7 will be available June 10 starting the familiar iPad base model price of $499.99, with the Excite 13 landing the same day for a wallet-busting $649.99. The more traditional Excite 10 will actually be first to market on May 6, starting at $449.99 for 16GB of storage.
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(Image courtesy of The Verge)
ebrainer1
April 10, 2012 at 11:17am
Toshiba and the other tech companies are still puttering along with designed that rip off the iPad, bland and forgettable names, and useless frilly addons. I mean seriously, gorilla glass for a tablet? People don't tend to put their tablet computers in their pocket with their keys and change, unlike their smartphones. The designers must be real knuckleheads.
juwanh
April 10, 2012 at 7:09am
Why is the 7.7 inch model more expensive than the 10 inch? I hope that's a typo... unless it also has phone/3G/'4G' capabilities similar to the Galaxy Tab 7.7.
