Tablet Time

Many have felt skeptical towards tablet PC when iPad first came out; but you can easily spot people using tablet PCs now. With growing demand for tablet PCs, companies are racing to bring competitive tablet products into the market. Toshiba Thrive uses Android operating system while displaying some laptop-like features for users who’ve been waiting for an easier, more standard way of utilizing tablet PCs.

Whether it would be able to catch up with Apple’s iPad in the market is still unknown. Although its laptop-like features allow easier access of data, such features allow less tablet-optimized apps for Toshiba Thrive.  The lower price of entry-level Thrive, which is $430, is appealing for those who found iPad2, which is $499, too expensive. They, however, need to look closer because it has only half of the memory of an entry-level iPad 2—8 gigabytes as opposed to iPad’s 16 gigabytes. Thrive with 16 gigabytes is not even $20 cheaper than iPad2. In terms of design, Toshiba Thrive is thicker and heavier than Apple’s iPad 2 or Samsung’s Galaxy Tab. For a complete review of Toshiba Thrive, read Tablet Strives to Plug Into Laptop’s Port Abilities (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303406104576444052144872400.html?mod=WSJ_PersonalTechnology_LEFTTop).