Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch 16 GB Android Tablet AT105-T1016

My Toshiba Thrive arrived yesterday and with a full 24 hours under my belt here's what I found.I gave it 5 stars based on the specs and I'm giving it 5 stars based on my experience with the Tablet. I'll skip the specs part because you can read that below.Arrival:The quick/getting started guide does a nice job of outlining the where all the buttons are. I went ahead and took the back off so I could see how I could change the battery. Very easy to do and there's a cover lock button that makes it all very easy. There's a great wizard that fires up when you first turn it on that walks you through WiFi setup and Google account login. I added all 4 of our family accounts for myself, my wife, and 2 daughters. The Gmail app has real nice quick select option to switch between accounts so we can share the device with ease.Speed:Lightening fast for everything. Screen swiping, apps opening, screen orientation switch, you name it. No lags anywhere which makes it a real joy to use.Apps:I downloaded a few of my favorite apps from the Android Market like Astro, Pandora, Swype (I'm in the Beta program), Angry Birds, Battery Left, and so on. No issues whatsoever. I do know that some developers have done better than others adding features that support the larger screen on a tablet vs. a phone. I have an old Android Phone which is Froyo 2.2 so I'm not sure if it's the new 3.1 Honeycomb OS or the Toshiba touches but there are some great widgets that I don't have on my phone. The Bookmarks widget is very cool and places the home page of all your bookmarks in a scrollable window on the desktop - very cool.Copying Files:I hooked it up with the included USB cable to my home PC and copied over some music in MP3 format, some movies in MP4 format, some pictures in JPG format and it was super easy. The home PC recognized the device right away and I was off to the races. Everything played fine on the nice Toshiba Media Player app that the tablet came with - very nice because it handles ALL media. There's also a really nice File Manager app which makes it easy to see and manage what you've copied. I used my 16GB USB flash drive to copy over a few files and it also worked perfectly. I tried plugging in a 170GB external hard drive to copy some more movies over and I'm sorry to say this did NOT work. The tablet froze and I had to hold down the power button to do a full re-start.Simulcasting:One of the things I really wanted to be able to do was simulcast movies played on the tablet with my 60 inch HD TV. I used this HDMI cable BlueRigger High Speed HDMI Cable with Ethernet 6.6 Feet (2m) - Supports 3D and Audio Return [Latest Version] that I ordered from Amazon when I ordered the Thrive. It worked perfectly! In fact, once you hook up the cable, everything you do on the tablet shows up on the TV. The kids played Angry Bird while we watched on the TV. I can see us on vacation playing videos we make and pictures we take on the TV in the hotel room since most of them now have HDMI inputs.Form Factor:Like everyone else, I'll mention that it's a little thick but I love the rubber-like textured back which makes it easy to handle. I'll give up super thin for all of the connectivity in a heartbeat. I did buy this 360 case Toshiba Thrive Portfolio 360 Case for 10.1-Inch Tablet (PA1495U-1TWC)which is so far working out really well. I like that it can stand the tablet up in portrait or landscape mode.Battery:Pretty darn good. We've been messing with this thing a ton and I'm still working off the original charge. I do shut it all the way down when I'm done so I know that helps quite a bit.In Summary:I did my homework and I'm not disappointed at all. This is a great tablet for people like me that hate "Apple Jail". My kids don't want to put it down but my wife makes them.ORIGINAL PRE-HANDS-ON REVIEW:I've spent quite a bit of time looking at 10.1 inch tablets and I have some very specific needs that Toshiba has nailed.- Wireless-N Wi-Fi networking and Bluetooth with connectivity to peripherals; I don't want to get forced into another expensive plan from a wireless carrier (Xoom, are you listening?). I can always tether from my existing Droid phone.- Full-sized and mini USB ports as well as an SD card slot; I can easily transfer files including a bunch of MP4 movies I have to the tablet and I can expand the memory with an SD memory card (Samsung, are you listening? Asus, you were close but I needed to buy the keyboard I don't want to get the USB port).- HDMI output; One of the things I want to do is use my tablet to play MP4 movies and simulcast them on my 60 inch flat screen TV in full 1080p mode (Samsung can't do this).- User-Replaceable Battery; I have a spare battery for my Droid phone and every time I've used it I could not help but think "what would I do without this". It's just such a great option to have. Plus, as mentioned in an earlier review, eventually these batteries die.- Honeycomb 3.1; I want the tablet OS not the smartphone OS (Sorry Asus, you almost had me).I hope they release it soon and don't price it too high because I really want one.

OK, so I won't rehash here all the stuff you can read in the other reviews, I'll just give you my impressions after my hands on with my new Thrive. Note that I also own an iPad (32 GB 3G/Wifi) and several other smaller android devices and e-readers, netbooks, etc.; so I have some comparisons to judge by.Let's cut to the chase, I love the Thrive. Up and running in 5 minutes flat (or less). And after about 5 hours of fooling with it, it's everything I hoped it would be and meets my expectations in full. Now time will tell, but at this point, I am thrilled. It's comparable in size and weight to my iPad, I notice little difference as far as weight or thickness, indeed, I like the Thrive's grippy rubber backing. No need to buy one (rubber backing/case) like I had to do with my iPad.In comparing the screens, I also see little difference as far as sharpness, color, viewing angles, and so on. I do like the iPad's format better. For a tablet, the added width in the vertical orientation seems like a plus to me. That said, I did not notice any issues while using the Thrive, though I do prefer using it in landscape orientation for most things. Some apps make vertical a better choice, of course. So, to me, the Thrive is every bit in the same league as the iPad. Personally, I prefer the thicker, sturdy format, that's why I bought my iPad when iPad 2 came out. I wanted the iPad, not the iPad 2. For same reason, I did not like the Galaxy. Just personal preference, of course.Why did I get a Thrive then? Because I chafe under the "Apple Prison" and restrictions of the iPad. While having control does have some advantages, for someone like me who likes flexibility, it's a losing proposition. No standard ports? No easy way to load and play all my various video formats, iTunes is fine, but irks me sometimes.So when I saw the Thrive with Bluetooth (a must for me), 2 full USB ports, full SD card, and a full HDMI port, plus the File Manager and easy ways to share and deal with files (i.e. like every other darn device does except the iPad!), it caught my attention. A lot of research and a shot at a discount off an already good price and -- sold!Out of the box, everything has worked fine and it's even better than I had hoped. The screen seems great, decent black levels (important to me), and it is extremely easy to use. With limited previous Android experience, I find 3.1 to be a great OS, very intuitive. I have been able to figure out everything and personally feel it is easier to use than the iPad in many ways. Very happy with it. The speakers have very good stereo separation, thought they are definitely treble oriented (like every other tablet). What do you expect from tiny speakers? Still, I had no trouble watching YouTube vids. For better sound, I fired up one of my portable bluetooth stereo speakers and they paired easily and worked great. Much better bass and mid-range. Headphones sound great as well. As does my ZVOX audio system via my Bluetooth receiver there. So good sound is not an issue. (Tried it this with Creative Labs blutooth speaker system and it works well and sounds fantastic: Creative ZiiSound D3x Modular Wireless Speaker System (51MF8120AA002))As I said, even using the auto-brightness, I find the screen quite good and see no issues with it. The buttons all work great. I had no problems locating and using the power button as some have mentioned. Heck, it's right between the battery and WiFi LEDs, so not hard to locate. Much easier to use than the power button on the ipad in my opinion. Having the orientation lock is a nice feature. Just ask all the ipad users when Apple messed with that on the iPad. ;)So, absolutely great design. This is the power user's tablet, yet so easy to use, I think anyone would like it. Very snappy performance...as good or better than iPad. Battery life seems fine to me. No trouble getting 7-8 hours or more without trying. Good enough for me. I'm sure with a little effort I could get 10 or better. Basically, you can use this all day long under normal circumstances. Charges very quickly as many have noted. Swappable batteries, so no issues there. The ipad is awesome with 12-14 hours easily.)I can run my Amazon Cloud player on it, as well as Pandora and many other music apps. Nice! Covers that. Mobo app will play about any video. Included YouTube app plays YouTube HD videos well and they look super. Built-in apps good enough for most things, especially audio. Maps app works very well. Looks superb on this nice screen. Again, as good as iPad in my opinion. Web browsing works very well, superior to iPad in all respects. Performance, plus flash, and ease of use. Not a huge deal, but nice since that's a major use for me.And just so well designed and easy to use. I keep coming back to that because that's what kept jumping out to me as I explored the Thrive. I have yet to do any updates and everything is working great. I might not even update for awhile as I'm not sure I need to at this point. It's working fine for everything and I have not had any issues so far (of course, I have only used it for 5 or 6 hours, so need more time really. I may just wait for 3.2 to be released. (2011-11-19 Have now done one update, no major changes, everything still works fine. Just some minor tweaks.)Having the full size SD card was another big feature for me. I just popped in a 32 GB SDHC card with a ton of my mp3's on it and everything works as expected. Being able to back up data to your Google account and the SD card, a USB stick, or hard drive is a definite plus as well.I've had good luck with Toshiba products over the years and this will, hopefully, be no exception. Well designed and well built. As I get more time with it, I will come back and update this review if anything significant develops. (2011-11-19 -- 3 months and still loving it.)I like the iPad a lot, but feel the Thrive is every bit the equal, and is even better in many respects. Much greater connectivity and flexibility and that's very important as it means there's a lot more things you'll be able to do with your Thrive. By the way, the included NFS Shift game demo worked great and looked good.This baby has the right mix of features for me and is a great value. So, kudos Toshiba! The Thrive is a winner!---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*** 2011-11-04 update: This wireless touchpad/keyboard device works with the Thrive: Wireless Ultra-mini Touchpad Keyboard (VP6364) -- I have both and this unit was truly "plug and play" (see my review on the prod page) and everything worked as expected, touchpad, mouse buttons, keyboard, media keys, etc. all worked fine. Not something most people will need, but thought a few might benefit from knowing this. If you are a fearsome thumber, you might like it. I like it mainly for the media controls (play/pause., vol up/down, prev/next song, and so on).*** 2011-11-19 Have had my Thrive about 3 months now and I remain very satisfied with it. No issues, works well, using it more all the time. Gmail works great, better than on my laptop. GPS, maps and navigation work very well. Battery holds its charge and lasts a long time. Video, Music, Browsing are all fine, so I would still recommend this as a good choice if you like the feature mix (which I do). I got this leather case with flap/stand which works well for me and is cheap: Poetic Slimbook Leather Case for Toshiba Thrive 10.1-Inch Android Tablet, Black**** 2012-03-10 update: Many tablets come, many go. I remain very happy with my thrive. ;)----P.S. Haven't mentioned the cameras. That's because I see no real use for them and have not bothered to play with them. They could leave them off and cut the price as far as I am concerned. I have really good cameras and video cams if I need video or photos. Don't need my tablet for that. (OK, the cams work fine for occasional use.)But I do need the GPS! That's a nice plus I didn't mention above. (GPS works great!)P.P.S. About the apps advantage iPad has. Yes, many hundreds of thousands more apps. But I only need about 12 or so. Feel sure Android apps will continue to grow and I'll have what I need. iPad has almost too many choices. ;)