After various less than favourable reviews for some of its first attempts, Toshiba has unleashed three brand new 10.1-inch Android tablets in the form of the Excite Pro, Excite Write and Excite Pure.
All three are 10 inch Android tablets which run Android Jelly Bean 4.2 out of the box, but with differing specifications to reflect their uses and prices. The Excite Pure got us a little excited as we at first thought that ‘Pure’ meant it would run pure Android, Nexus style, but that’s not the case unfortunately.
Excite Pure
The Excite Pure is a budget device, priced at £249, which features a 10.1-inch AutoBrite display sporting a 1280 x 800 resolution. It’s powered by the capable Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor and 1GB of RAM, with 16GB of internal storage out of the box and a micro SD card slot to expand upon that. Dual cameras are inbuilt in the form of a 3 megapixel snapper on the back and a 1.2MP sensor up front. Finally, there will be both Wi-Fi and 3G models available, with Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity on board both.
Excite Pro
Stepping things up considerably, the Excite Pro runs Nvidia’s brand new Tegra 4 quad-core processor and sports 2GB of RAM. The display is a 10.2-inch PixelPure panel with an iPad 4-rivalling 2560 x 1600 resolution. The rear camera is also better – 8MP on the back, 1.2MP on the front – and there will be 16GB and 32GB models available in either Wi-Fi or cellular variations. Sound quality should be pretty good too, with Harmon Kardon speakers built in. The cellular 16GB model will use 3G whereas the 32GB will feature speedy 4G. Prices will start at £349.
Excite Write
Aimed at those who like to draw, annotate and handwrite, the Excite Write is based on the Excite Pro but also has a built-in stylus that works with a digitiser panel built in to the screen, similar to the Samsung Galaxy Note. The display is the same 10.2-inch PixelPure panel as on the Pro, albeit with a layer of Gorilla Glass 2 for added protection. The same Tegra 4 chip, 2GB of RAM, 8MP camera and 16 or 32GB of storage are also present, with options for both Wi-Fi and cellular. The Excite Write is the priciest of the three, starting at £499.
Toshiba hasn’t confirmed when its trio of new Android tablets will hit the shops, although it has confirmed that here in the UK they will be exclusively available at PC World and Currys stores. There’s also a nifty QWERTY keyboard dock that’s going to be available separately, pictured above.