Now, the Toshiba Thrive is what I would consider to be of the Android Honeycomb
tablets with NVIDIA Tiger 2 technology, sort of a very PC approach to it. So,
instead of going with the elegance over functionality approach of something like
an aluminum back, which looks great, but it's kind of heavy. It's not very
durable. It scratches, it looks grungy after a while. looks great when it's
new, but after that it doesn't. The Thrive takes a very practical approach
to things that I'll get more into as I proceed with the unboxing. So, why don't
we have a look at the overall spec? Comes with 16 gigs of storage, and it is
sure as heck not a hard drive. That is solid state storage. You better believe
that they didn't ship until Android 3.1 was available. So, they kind of took the
uh we're not going to ship it until it's perfect approach to the Thrive, and
that's what they say. So, you know, hey, why why disagree until I've actually
tried tried the device itself? All right. It has a 10.1 in multi-touch LED
back lit screen. That's cool. 2 megapixel webcam and 5 megapixel camera.
All right. Gyroscope sensor. So, do they all full size USB 2.0 port. There you
go. Bam. So, that is part of what feels very PC about the Thrive to me is that
they've gone with like they've they've Okay. Honestly, you can't put a
full-size USB port on this because it's too thin. So, Toshiba has compromised
that elegance in order to give you that functionality. So, that's what I mean.
All right. Full-size SD card slot. Bam. Once again, full size SD card slot. So,
that means you can take the 16 gig, you can throw in a big old fat SD card. So,
unlike something like the Transformer where you have to plug it into the the
add-on keyboard and carry that around with you in order to have a fullsize
slot, you can just throw a fullsize SD card in here. And you I mean and and you
can carry around a USB key, which plenty of people carry around USB keys. You can
carry pretty much as much storage as you want for the Thrive. Okay. Next, HDMI
port. Bam. HDMI port. So, it has all the ports. It has all that functionality.
And we haven't even gotten to what I would consider the most um userfriendly
thing about the Thrive. Easygrip back cover. Stereo speakers. Good to know.
Box contents. They don't even say
it. Unreal. It's not even on the box. It
has a user replaceable battery. I know, right? What other tablet is going to
give you the option to actually keep using it a couple years down the road
when your battery battery life inevitably starts being terrible. You
can actually replace it on this guy. Go figure, right? Okay, so let's keep going
here. Quick start guide for the Thrive.
We got uh the locations of a bunch of stuff. Some system indicator lights,
where all the ports are, home screen information, basic setup stuff. Cool.
How to back up your data. This is all good stuff to know. We have tablet
accessories. So, you can get a bunch of different color back screens. That's really nice. That's uh functional,
customizable. You know, now you can tell, you know, little Johnny's Thrive
from Little Sally's Thrive if you have a couple of different tablets in the
house, which more and more people are starting to get into. Actually, it's got
a few other um first party accessories here. Cases, the Portfolio 360 case,
some power options, Toshiba lithium ion battery pack replacement or additional
battery for the Toshiba tablet. So cool, right? It's only 89 bucks. So, you can
actually carry an extra battery with you if you're on a long flight. Like,
imagine having that option for your iPad. Let's say they don't have a charger on there. What are you going to
do? I mean, you can carry around those little things, but those don't last that long, those little external chargers.
So, you can actually carry additional batteries. The first thing I do when I get a new camera is I buy extra battery
for it because I know I'm going to need it. Very convenient information for your
tablet device. Cool. One-year standard limited warranty for tablet device. Hey,
check this out. Comes with $10 of music downloads from e- music.
Neat. Oh my goodness, look at all this documentation. Okay, enjoy four free
ebooks. Cool. We've made the app world revolve around you. Toshiba app place is
the smart way to find the apps you need. So, they've got their own little custom app market and how to use it. Cool. Ooh,
Thrive stickers. And finally, the thing it all
came in. All right, let's see what else we got down here. Lots and lots of stuff
included with the Thrive. More stuff.
Dump out all the
stuff. Okay, first we have an AC power cord.
Then we have an AC toDC adapter. So there's your charger. It's a little on
the big side. Okay. And then finally, we have a USB to
mini USB cable. So that's uh presumably for data transfer. So the
Thrive, once again, it stays away from
that that Appleesque type approach,
which is create a custom proprietary connector. No, the Thrive instead uses a
standard DC power adapter, which you
could argue that this is less elegant. Of course, it is, but it has that
functionality. You can replace this very, very easily. Whereas, if you're
running around the office and you're like, "Oh, oh, my my iPhone's out of battery. Does anyone have an iPhone
cable?" And nobody has one, you you're
screwed. You have to go buy one for like 20 bucks or whatever they cost from the
Mac store. Okay? And then for data transfer, standard USB cable, which
means if you lose your Galaxy Tab 10.1
custom dock connector and you need to transfer some data, you don't have to do
it wirelessly. You can still sync things. You just grab another USB cable,
which inevitably you have like, you know, 20 of them at home if you're
anything like me and you've got about 20 of them at home. All
right, now let's have a look at all of
the stuff that is labeled on the
convenient screen protector that is included. They even label where to peel
it. Check that out. So, stereo speakers. You've got one. You know what? Let's
Let's get this off. Okay, give me a second. This is going to take me a bit.
So, I left on the front screen cover because it's kind of convenient to have all this stuff labeled for me. So, the
stereo speakers down here at the bottom. I'm just going to show you where those
are. That's a good location. So, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 has the speakers here
and here, which is also fine because when you're watching movies, you're
going to watch them like this. So, if you have the speakers anywhere around here or at the back here, like the
stupid iPad has its speaker there, just like
the stupidest place in the world. It's not even stereo. Uh, then you cover it
up and you can't even hear your movie. So, that's that's like ridiculous,
right? So, the stereo speakers on the bottom is a pretty good place for them. I'm I'm I'm on board with that docking
connector at the bottom. So, oh, apparently it does have a dock
connector. You just don't have to use it. Neat. Okay. And then you've got a
little plastic cover. So, you can just cover that right up if you don't want to
use it. Great. You've also got the AC power port right there along with your
headphone and microphone port. So, that's one of those combo ones. All
right. Next, you've got a cover here which comes off like that. You've
got a full size USB. Full size HDMI.
Full size HDMI. I know, right? And then
you've also got a mini USB. All right.
So, let's cover that back
up. There we go. Up here, full size SD
card slot. Okay. Up here, screen rotation
lock. That's actually a really good button to have. I do use that button.
This is the only Android 3.1 uh tablet that I've seen. I shouldn't say 3.1. I
mean, who knows what Android they'll be using a year from now when someone watches this video, but the only
Honeycomb uh tablet that I've seen that has that screen rotation lock. I do use
it on the iPad, too. So, I find that a useful thing to have. Volume adjust.
Other than being Oh, I guess it's not really backwards. Okay. So, here here's
a hint. Unlike most of the Android tablets that I've looked at so far, this
is sort of meant to be used in portrait
mode like the iPad 2. So, you look at the orientation of the buttons. So, this
is volume up. This is volume down. Whereas on some of the more landscape
oriented ones, they would have a volume up, volume down orientation, which would
be which would be different. So here it's backwards. If you're using it in landscape, it's up down when you hold it
like that. Okay. So just something to bear in mind. Also on the on the I guess
on the right hand side of the tablet, since I should hold it the way it's
meant to be used, we've got our power button. And then finally, we have a oh
back cover lock. Oh, so this takes off the uh back cover, I guess, somehow. Are
there like two locks for it or something? Because remember, it is uh it
is replaceable. So, you can uh you can put on a different color or whatever the
case may be if you want. You know what?
I'll figure something I'll figure that out later. So, uh again, in line with
the portrait orientation being the intended usage model, the Toshiba logo
on the back is in portrait mode. So, you're holding it like this. It's right
side up. Also, the camera is the 5 megapixel camera is here. And then the 2
megapixel camera is here along with the microphone input. So, let's go ahead and
pull this off. You know what? Let's do a bit of a
form factor comparison. Give me a sec, guys. So, for comparison's sakes, I have
the Zoom Transformer TF101, iPad 2, and
the Galaxy Tab 10.1 here. So, I want you to actually get get down to their level
here. And you can clearly see that the Thrive is the thickest tablet on the
table. So, it is thicker than even the Transformer and the Zoom and
significantly thicker. Actually, I should take the iPad 2 and the Galaxy
Tab 10.1 and put those out in the front. Significantly thicker than those. So,
that is a bit of a disadvantage in terms of the form factor. So, it it is thick.
It isn't unreasonably heavy, though. Like, it doesn't feel more heavy to
wield than something like the Zoom. although it definitely doesn't even
begin to approach something like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in terms of the
lightness. So, it comes down to what has really been the focus of this unboxing
for me, which is the functional, the form versus functionality argument. Do
you want that full size USB, the full size HDMI, and that full size SD card
built right into the tablet, or do you want that style