Toshiba may be preparing another 7-inch tablet
Toshiba just recently entered the pocketable market with their 7-inch Thrive tablet, but if today's reports hold true they may soon be pushing foreword with a new device. According to yet another leak from Notebook Italia, the device you see above is Toshiba's next iteration of their 7-inch Thrive tablet, which could be released as soon as CES.
Because it is coming so soon after the original Thrive, the 7-inch "Thrive 2" may have a better price of $199, to compete with the likes of the Kindle Fire instead of improved specifications. In fact, the screen has reportedly been bumped to a lower 1024 x 600 resolution and the camera flash has been removed to facilitate the reduction, but the tablet will still have Bluetooth, a microSD slot, and a microUSB port to differentiate from the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. It will probably have a Tegra 2 as well, while still being thinner than its predecessor.
The "Thrive 2" will probably be a relatively average tablet, but it really illustrates the way the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet have changed the market. Last summer, Toshiba released the very similar original 7-inch Thrive at $380 and expected it to sell. Now, in the face of the Fire, Toshiba apparently felt it necessary to release a completely new device to compete in terms of price.
Admittedly, it does have slightly less impressive specs than other 7-inchers, but I really like seeing competition making tablets more affordable.
[Notebook Italia]
