Toshiba's 'Thrive' Android Tablet Wants to Be a Laptop
Toshiba's new "Thrive" tablet adds laptop-like features, including a USB port, but while that may intrigue formerly-wary tablet buyers, its battery life may deter them from picking one up. "They've decided to put in laptop-like ports that some people, who have resisted buying a tablet, have been waiting for," Wall Street Journal Personal Technology Columnist Walt Mossberg told FOX Business in his weekly All Things Digital segment.
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For the most part, the Toshiba Thrive doesn't look all that different from other Android tablets, Mossberg said. It runs the Honeycomb version of Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) mobile operating system. It's also bulkier than the iPad, he added. Where it shines, however, is in the ports Toshiba has given it. There's a full-size USB port that can be used with flash drives, external hard drives, wired keyboards, a camera, or even a mouse, he said. Further, the device features a full-size HDMI port, great for connecting it to a TV to watch movies, as well as a removable battery and an SD card slot. However, Mossberg explains, the tablet falls short in a few areas. As with all Android tablets at this moment, there is a serious lack of apps optimized for them (as opposed to smartphones), he said. Finally, the device's battery life, which Mossberg tested to be five and a half hours, pales in comparison to the iPad's 10 hours.