Review: Toshiba AT100 Tablet

By Mike Wheeler

A tad heavy is the first thing I notice about the Toshiba Tablet when I took it out of its packaging. Not as heavy as a notebook of course, but a fairly solid piece of gear, which is both good and bad. Good, in that it should handle the rough and tumble life of being a tablet, bad in that most users want their tablet’s to be light so it won’t tax them as they carry it around.

First annoying problem I had was trying to power it up. Although the button seems pretty straight forward, you really have to press down on it hard to start up the device. However, once you are in, it takes a few seconds to start up and you’re away.

The touch screen can be a little challenging in that when navigating around the different apps it’s fine, but when I played fruit ninja it struggled to keep up with me as I attempted to cut the fruit in half. Not too sure if it was clunky fingers on my part, but when I was navigating around the desktop playing with various applications it didn’t’ seem to be a problem – therefore I’m not too sure if it was the game itself or the tablet.

The unit I had was running the Android 3.01, and has dual cameras – 5MP at the back and 2MP at the front, which are designed for video conferencing. The resolution seemed fine when tested – nothing spectacular, but will get the job done.

One thing I liked was the removable battery, something you won’t get from an iPad. In saying that, by the time the battery has had its day, maybe it would be time for a trade instead. However, what it does do is put that decision in the hands of the consumer, not manufacturer. Maybe it’s only a little bit of empowerment, but empowerment nonetheless.

As you would expect connectivity includes an HDMI port, USB port and a standard audio jack. There is also an SD card reader, which is handy. 

Overall it isn't a bad unit for what it does. Will it threaten the iPad? Unlikely, but it might find a niche for those who abhor Apple on principle, but the price probably needs to drop a little.

Pros: Removable battery, good connectivity
Cons: Touch screen could be better, heavy

3.8 Shacks out of 5

RRP
$579
 

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