The bad: Unlike the 10-inch version, there is no support for full ports or a swappable electric battery. Also, the camera placement is ill-conceived, the shutter pace is painfully slow, and the tablet is costly, given what it offers.
The bottom line: The Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB is really a decent tablet, but there are simply better options available for the price.
The original Toshiba Thrive 10-inch impressed us with its support for full-size ports and the truth that we could remove its battery and swap inside a new one--features that are still unmatched in popular tablets.
The 7-inch version is here now, but using its smaller form factor can it possibly offer exactly the same experience?
Design
Given a quick once-over, the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB appears like an exact, albeit shrunken-down, replica of the Toshiba Flourish 10-inch, released in July. And while the tablets share several obvious aesthetic similarities--ostensibly designed to evoke a sensation of familiarity in potential buyers--upon closer examination you will find some key differences between the two.
However, in case your eyes are on the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB , then you've probably already decided that a smaller tablet works better to your requirements, so I won't waste time comparing it using the Thrive 10-inch. Instead, whenever appropriate, I'll match the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB facing the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7. 0 Plus, among the highest-rated 7-inch tablets on CNET.
Compared with the actual Tab 7. 0 Plus' sloped back and more streamlined look, the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB looks boxier and, nicely, kind of dull. And though it's fatter-looking compared to Tab 7. 0 Plus, in actuality it's not much thicker than the Samsung and honestly, unless we're searching for it, it's difficult to notice that size difference whatsoever. The weight disparity is negligible.
The Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB is built with a multigrooved back even though that should provide enough grip to keep the tablet pretty much affixed to our hands, we actually found it slipped through our fingers far more easily compared to much smoother Tab 7. 0 Plus. When held horizontally using the cameras on the right, the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's power/lock switch, volume rocker, and screen orientation lock switch are often accessed from the top-right edge. As with the actual Thrive 10-inch, though, the inclusion of multiple ports can provide you reason to care about yet another pill. On the top-left edge is a well-hidden interface door that, when opened, reveals a Mini-HDMI interface, Mini-USB port, and microSD slot. In comparison, the actual Tab 7. 0 Plus includes only a microSD position.
The Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's left edge houses two stereo speakers on either side of the large power/docking connector. The Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's included cord is USB on one end, with the other side as being a wide, oversize connector that looks a bit from place plugged into such a small tablet. We're prepared to forgive Toshiba for this since the cord works with with both sizes of the Thrive; however, the actual sin of also including an oversize, nonproprietary power adapter that takes up a significant amount of space when plugged into a power strip is one we're reluctant to absolve the organization of.
At the top-right edge lies the headphone jack and midway across the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's right-side bezel sits a 2-megapixel digital camera, with a 5-megapixel camera directly parallel to it about the tablet's back. It's difficult to imagine a worse place for any camera on a 7-inch tablet. In this area, given that most users will hold the tablet horizontally when capturing or filming video, the camera almost seems to become a magnet for your unwanted fingers sneaking into the actual frame. Samsung realized this and as a outcome, the Tab 7. 0 Plus' cameras don't sit smack-dab in the centre and are instead positioned about an inch greater, where your fingers are less likely to end up being when holding it.
When you put the display to sleep, a white LED light begins pulsating within the upper-right corner of the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's bezel; the potentially useful feature in quickly determining, at the glance, whether the tablet is turned off or simply taking a nap.
Software features
Toshiba's too much curated app store, App Place, is available by downloading the APK in the App Place Web site and installing it. App selection is restricted, but most of the apps are exclusive towards the App Place store and can't be found elsewhere. With no search function, however, the interface feels clunky as it requires you to definitely know which category the app you want is in before you download it.
Toshiba also includes a video enhancement feature called Resolution+ that pumps in the color and contrast of standard-definition video, and whilst we did see some improvement, it's very delicate. What was more easily noticeable was the stuttering and pausing within the video when we played it with this feature switched on.
The audio enhancement feature, on the other hands, clearly improved the sound quality of all audio when switched on, enhancing the previously muffled sound to something with increased clarity. At the highest volume we still noticed some static interference, however. In addition, Toshiba says its Ambient Noise Equalizer adjusts the tablet's volume in line with the amount of noise in the area. We tested this by playing sound from other tablets right alongside it, but didn't notice a change in the amount of the music the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB was actively playing.
Overall, the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB provides a very standard Honeycomb experience, with no word yet on whether an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade is within the works.
Hardware features
The Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB comes packed with the formerly impressive tablet hardware goodies we now ignore. These include a 7-inch capacitive touch screen operating at 1, 280x800-pixel resolution, a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra two CPU, 1GB of RAM, and 32MB of expensive memory storage, with a 16GB version of the tablet being available too. The gyroscope, accelerometer, ambient light sensor, Bluetooth 3. 0, as well as 802. 11 b/g/n network adapter round out the actual hardware highlights.
Many Honeycomb tablets deliver haptic suggestions for doing certain tasks. For example, pressing the house button produces a quick vibration from the pill. However, on the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB , the feedback feels less just like a vibration and more of a sudden "pop" within the device, which we found a little disconcerting. We soon realized it was not a warning sign of its imminent detonation, but only its interpretation from the haptic vibration. It just felt weird, so all of us shut it off anyway.
Performance
We experienced that same smooth swiping when surfing the net; however, after a site loaded, scrolling quickly down a webpage on the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB produced lots of noticeable clipping. When you're surfing the Web, to make sure the CPU isn't wasting time drawing assets no-one can see, it will only draw the assets about the screen and anything not currently on the screen is going to be drawn when you scroll to it. As an effect, if you scroll too quickly you'll see property being drawn in as the tablet attempts maintain with your scrolling speed. On the Tab 7. 0 In addition, with its faster 1. 2GHz Samsung Exynos PROCESSOR, clipping was virtually nonexistent.
While the Samsung proprietary PLS screen technology plays a role in the Tab 7. 0 Plus delivering the highest amounts of color reproduction on a 7-inch tablet screen, the IPS screen about the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB still impresses. The Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's display delivers wide viewing angles, a high brightness, and very good color reproduction, if not quite as good since the Tab 7. 0 Plus.
Riptide GP, a personal watercraft game available in the Android Market, is great when comparing tablet GPU overall performance. Unlike Shadowgun, which seems to cap its body rate, Riptide actually scales, and depending on the speed from the processor running it, the game's frame rate is going to be noticeably smoother or choppier. In our tests, the actual Tab 7. 0 Plus delivered an obviously smoother experience compared to Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB . Riptide on the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB continues to be perfectly playable, it's just not as smooth.
The actual Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's 5-megapixel rear camera took decent nevertheless photos, but when compared with photos taken through the Tab 7. 0 Plus' rear 3-megapixel camera showing higher amounts of color saturation, they looked a bit washed away. Shutter lag on the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's camera had been painfully slow, sometimes lasting up to 6 mere seconds, so whatever moment you were all set to capture might be long gone by the time it snapped. The actual Tab 7. 0 Plus was, on average, regarding 2 seconds faster.
Video playback of recorded video wasn't as smooth as about the Tab 7. 0 Plus; however, the Tab 7. 0 Plus appeared to wash out the image too much. Surprising, given the way in which it handled color in pics. The Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB 's recorded video color was far better balanced.
Conclusion
Seven-inch tablets aren't cheap. Well, full-featured 7-inch pills aren't cheap. Though the Kindle Fire and Space Tablet offer very controlled experiences, if all for you to do is read a book, watch some movies, play a game from time to time, and surf the Web, they're good options if you are looking to spend $200 to $250 on the tablet.
If a less controlled 7-inch tablet experience may be worth another $200 to you, then make sure you get the one which offers the most for the money. While the Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB has more ports along with a more responsive screen, the Tab 7. 0 Plus' faster performance and much more thoughtful design make it a better choice.
The 10-inch Thrive got props for offering full ports along with a swappable battery at a very decent price. Excluding those same features here misses the point. Toshiba Thrive 7 inch 16GB is not a bad tablet; there are just much more appealing options available for your cash.