A brand new tablet from Toshiba is hitting the market soon, in fact you can already pre-order the new Toshiba Thrive before it hits the retails stores in July. Six months ago was the first time that we heard about the Thrive, but then it did not have a name and very few details were spoken about it. Toshiba has quite the following when it comes to their laptop selection, so why not give the tablet market a shot? Toshiba will be the third tablet to hit the market this summer, right behind the Samsung Galaxy and the HP TouchPad. The Thrive, arriving a little heftier than other tablets, still has all the bells and whistles that make a tablet very useful. An SD card slot, USB port, miniUSB port and HDMI port are found along the sides of the tablet, in addition to the docking port that is common among tablets already in the market.
The Toshiba Thrive will be running the Android 3.1 OS and hits the shelves with an 8GB, 16GB and 32GB model. The front and back camera is a typical feature on tablets now and the tablet is going to have the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor that runs at the speed of 1GHZ with 1GB of RAM. Other features include the “Log Me In” software, which connects the tablet to your home PC, the Thrive comes with an external file manager so that you can see what is on an USB drive, SD card, or other device that is connected. And for those that like to change things up a little bit, the back plate is removable and a new color can be ordered for a cool $20.
With only about 17 million tablets shipped in all of 2010, this year looks to be a huge breakout year for companies that are putting tablets on the market. Experts say that in 2011, over 44 million tablets will be distributed to retail outlets worldwide, with almost 71 million the following year. Each company that puts out a tablet is adding pressure to Apple, but experts still say they will own about 70 percent of the tablet market this year. That really speaks volumes for tablet buyers and where they find trust in the market. The 8GB version starts at $429.99, the price jumps to $479.99 for the 16GB model and settles in at $579.99 for the 32GB model. If you are looking at price per GB, then the 32GB version is perfect for you.
