Toshiba Europe has chosen the IFA consumer electronics show to unveil its 10.1-inch Android media tablet powered by NVIDIA's Tegra II processor. The Folio 100 features an onboard camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth (with a 3G model in the pipeline) and a HDMI port for viewing content on a big screen television. The company has also announced the development of an one-stop portal to access and share online content over numerous device formats. We couldn't resist the opportunity to take a closer look.
Apple's dominance of the tablet market has started to look a little less secure with the unveiling of numerous Android contenders at this year's IFA. One such release comes in the shape of Toshiba's new Folio 100 media tablet which features a 10.1-inch (257mm) capacitive multi-touch display at 1024 x 600 resolution, 16BG of onboard storage with expansion possible via an SD/MMC card slot, and a NVIDIA Tegra II processor.
Running on Android 2.2 (Froyo) with a custom Toshiba user interface, the tablet includes Opera's mobile browser, FBReader e-book reader, Evernote, numerous media-related apps and support for Adobe's Flash 10.1. The DNLA-compliant device's wireless connectivity is provided by 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR. It has a single USB 2.0 port and HDMI-out, a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam, and of course automatic screen orientation thanks to its accelerometer.
Toshiba says that the instant-on functionality should bring the 11.06 x 7.125 x 0.55-inch (281 x 181 x 14mm), 26.8 ounce (760g) Folio 100 to life within 30 seconds and claims 7 hours of battery power between charges – based on a usage pattern of 65 per cent browsing, 10 per cent video and 25 per cent stand-by.
The media tablet is due for release in Europe, the Middle East and Africa sometime in the next quarter and will be shortly followed by a 3G-enabled model.
The Folio 100 also features the Toshiba Market Place, Music Place, Radio Place and App Place services which are said to take care of multimedia and application needs.
This links into another innovation announced at IFA, Toshiba Places. Not so long ago there were clearly defined lines on how we accessed media content. We watched television programs on a television, listened to music on a hi-fi system, made phone calls with a phone and surfed the Internet using a computer. Today, of course, there are numerous ways to undertake all that and more.
Developed by Toshiba France, Toshiba Places is an online content and services portal which allows folk to access content on numerous devices. From one interface, users will be able upload and share photos and videos, and get access to digital entertainment such as music, films and ebooks. The user experience on different devices will retain the same look and feel, but its delivery is dependent on the characteristics of the device being used – a TV might have different options to a computer which might differ again from a smartphone.
